State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 • DATE: July 2, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: T’sepiso Mncina, Thabo Thakalekoala VIOLATIONS: Beaten (injured) O n July 2 2003, two journalists were injured while covering protests by street vendors in the main Maseru bus-stop area. The street vendors were protesting to the police, who wore protective clothing and were armed with pump-action shotguns, and to Maseru city councillors about their eviction from the streets of Maseru. • DATE: July 19, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Local media VIOLATIONS: Censored L ocal media were denied access to the official visit of Britain’s Princess Anne to Lesotho even though South African media were able to cover the events. • DATE: July 23, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Mohahlaula VIOLATIONS: Legislation (sued) O n July 23 2003, the weekly Sesotho tabloid Mohahlaula, published by Makaung Print ers and Publishing (Pty) Ltd in Lesotho, was served with a summons for civil defamation by the legal representatives of Minister of Trade and Industry Mpho Malie. The summons demands that the newspaper, its editor Pofane Molungoa and the publishing company pay M200,000 (approx. US$26,500) in damages and cover the cost of the lawsuit, as well as any alternative relief granted by the court, at an interest rate of 18.5% per annum. So This Is Democracy? 2003 38 Media Institute of Southern Africa