BOTSWANA media freedom violations AND victories 8 March 2017 THREATENED AND DETAINED INK journalists Joel Konopo, Ntibinyane Ntibinyane and Kaomboni Kanani were accosted, harassed and briefly detained by an armed patrol of the Botswana Defence Force near Mosu Village in the Central District where President Ian Khama was having a holiday home built allegedly at taxpayers’ expense. Their notebooks and cameras were seized. Upon being released, they were told never again to set foot in the area. July 2017 VIOLATIONS OF PUBLIC FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION An incident that occurred within the Botswana Democratic Party involved the Member of Parliament for Tati East who is also a member of the Central Committee of the BDP, Samson Moyo Guma. Guma shared his frustrations about the BDP with a Central Committee WhatsApp group some time during the last quarter of 2017. He commented that the current BDP government was the most unresponsive and the worst since Independence. He also questioned the propriety of one of President’s Khama’s secretaries sitting in on meetings of the Central Committee. President Khama was offended by these comments and ordered Guma to explain what he meant by them in writing.