State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 ■ ALERTS • DATE: July 6, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Botswana Gazette VIOLATIONS: Legislated (sued) T he Botswana Gazette newspaper has been sued for damages amounting to 10,000,000 Pula (approx. US$200,000) for publishing a July 2 2003 story entitled, “Protect citizen contractors against Chinese”. The article quoted Mogolori Modisi, vice-president of the Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM), addressing an annual general meeting in which he allegedly cited problems faced by citizen-owned construction companies when bidding for government contracts. Modisi reportedly attributed the problem to competition between local and Chinese companies, saying that the Chinese companies were not subject to market forces because they received financial support from their government. The statements he made about what he termed “unfair competition” have now become the basis for a claim for damages against the newspaper. Modisi is also alleged to have accused the Botswana government of supporting corruption by continually awarding contracts to Chinese construction companies, even though most of them had been found guilty of bribery. On July 16, Armstrongs Attorneys Notaries and Conveyancers, acting on behalf of ten Chinese construction companies, sent a letter to Botswana Gazette in which they said, “the article is defamatory and derogatory to all Chinese construction companies operating in Botswana.” • DATE: August 8, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Jacob Kamodi VIOLATIONS: Beaten O n August 8 2003, Charles Kidega, a freelance sub-editor for Business and Financial Times magazine, assaulted Gabz FM radio host Jacob Kamodi in the station’s reception area. Kidega alleged that Gabz FM had failed to air the magazine’s advertisements. • DATE: September 6, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Booster Galesekegwe, Kagiso Sekokonyane VIOLATIONS: Beaten, censored O n September 6 2003, the paramount chief of the Batawana tribe, Tawana Moremi, physi cally attacked Booster Galesekegwe, a photojournalist from the weekly Mmegi newspaper, and broke his camera. Moremi also attacked Kagiso Sekokonyane, acting editor of Mmegi Monitor, Mmegi’s sister newspaper. • DATE: November 13, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Radio Botswana VIOLATIONS: Censored B otswana’s government suspended a segment of Radio Botswana’s popular morning pro gramme “Masa-a-sele” (“Morning has broken”), saying, “it is not accountable.” On November 13 2003, Mmegi newspaper reported that the phone-in segment of the programme would be suspended. As a result, “Masa-a-sele” will become a predominantly “music and announcement” programme, rather than the interactive programme it formerly was. Communications, Science and Technology Minister Boyce Sebetela said that the suspension is indefinite. Sebetela claimed that the phone-in programme had “lost direction and was out of touch with journalist etiquette.” So This Is Democracy? 2003 29 Media Institute of Southern Africa