This was an openly political motive to stifle political views from the opposition. Alternative views to government were channelled through community and commercial radio stations, because MBC and TVM shut them out. Malawians are thus denied access to a diversity of views and avenues for freedom of expression. MACRA has failed to police MBC and TVM but it has victimised community and private commercial broadcasters. It is a common secret that MBC and TVM carry politically biased programmes and news, which MACRA condones. The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (NAMISA) is lobbying parliament to amend the Communications Act so that board members are not appointed by the President. BOTSWANA LESOTHO MALAWI MACRA has been entrusted with a resource, namely the radio spectrum, which is key to effective participation of Malawians in public, economic, community and private spheres. It holds vast potential to change the political, economic and social welfare of every Malawian. But the conduct of the Authority was astoundingly an antithesis of democratic values and principles: MACRA threatened to revoke a broadcast licence for Capital FM radio because the station carried a public meeting held by an opposition political party. However, TV Malawi and the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation carry live broadcasts of ruling party functions, under the pretext of national events, without public service broadcasting licences2. The Authority induced the chairperson of the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ), Henry Chibwana, to ban political content on MIJ radio under the pretext of political bias in editorial content; and cautioned community broadcasters that airing news is illegal according to the 1998 Communications Act. MOZAMBIQUE Broadcasting NAMIBIA Such conduct and statements fanned fear among media practitioners while fuelling impunity among the perpetrators of physical and mental violence against the media. Taking a cue from the Head of State it did not come as a surprise that some government agencies were overzealous to outdo each other in attacking media freedom. The most notorious were the Malawi Police and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) as explained below. SOUTH AFRICA beaten and his equipment destroyed at a UDF mini-convention, leader of the political party, who is also Head of State issued an equivocal statement. ANGOLA State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 A major test for the efficacy of the constitutional guarantees to freedom of the press came from the police. From a litany of violations, the role of the media in a democracy appears a lesson yet to be entrenched in police practice. In January a female journalist, Penelope PalianiKamanga, was shot with a rubber bullet while covering political demonstrations. The police also beat up and verbally assaulted journalists who stumbled over a newsworthy fracas between police and a motorist who refused to surrender bags of charcoal to forestry officials. They were also ‘infamous’ for lack of judiciousness in politically motivated litigations. Without interrogating their public service ethos or the Constitution, they have incarcerated media professionals. For instance they arrested a community radio journalist, Maganizo Mazeze, So This Is Democracy? 2003 40 Media Institute of Southern Africa TANZANIA Constitution ZIMBABWE ZAMBIA Another determining feature of media freedom concerns laws and how the legislature interprets them when dealing with media. Although, no amendment has been made to provisions that directly affect operations of the media, the principle behind media freedom has been tested outside the courts by the interpretations of the 1998 Communications Act by MACRA and through the conduct of the Malawi Police. SWAZILAND 2. Legal Environment