State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 UPDATE • DATE: June 26, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Ali Nabwa VIOLATIONS: Expelled (update) O n June 25 2003, one day after his passport was confiscated, Ali Nabwa reached an agree ment with the Immigration Department on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. Nabwa, editor of the weekly independent newspaper Dira, agreed to surrender his Tanzanian citizenship and reapply for it as the Immigration Department had demanded in March. • DATE: September 14, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Media in Tanzania VIOLATIONS: Legislation (positive) O n September 14 2003, the Tanzanian government announced a new Media Policy that creates more space for freedom of expression and calls for an ethical, professional and socially responsible press. The Policy unveiled by the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Information and Political Affairs), Hon. Mohammed Seif Khatib, shows that the government has incorporated about 80 per cent of stakeholders proposals, but holds the need to continue having state-run media in the country working alongside privately owned print and electronic media, together with public media.’ UPDATE • DATE: September 16, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Ali Nabwa VIOLATIONS: Expelled (update) O n September 16 2003, senior journalist Ali Nabwa was banned from working on the semiautonomous island of Zanzibar. In a letter signed by Commissioner of Labour Ameir A. Ameir, the journalist was informed that he was not working in accordance with Section 26 (2) of the 1997 Labour Act. • DATE: October 10, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Huvert Sauper, Richard Mgamba, Shndor VIOLATIONS: Expelled, Victory O n October 10 2003, the Kome Kichangani village authority expelled a group of local and foreign journalists from the Lake Victoria island of Kome, in Tanzania’s Mwanza region. The foreign journalists, who are from the United States and France, and a local reporter from the East African newspaper were undertaking research on fisheries in the lake region for documentaries and feature articles. In addition to being expelled, the journalists’ passports and accreditation cards, which they had obtained from the Department of Information Services (MAELEZO), were also confiscated. • DATE: November 24, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Dira VIOLATIONS: Banned T he government of Zanzibar, a semiautonomous island off the coast of Tanzania, has or dered the indefinite suspension of the independent weekly Dira, according to local journalists and international press reports. Dira, the island’s most popular newspaper, has been So This Is Democracy? 2003 98 Media Institute of Southern Africa