Editors’ Forum and he is challenging the Malawi government on the Protected Names, Emblems, Flags and Places Act, which makes it unlawful to undertake any act that may bring the presidency in disrepute. Although a decision is still being awaited on the case, a victory will be a victory for all media freedom and freedom of expression activists. For the first time MISA increased the award from US$1 000 to US$2 500 with support from the Southern Africa Trust (SAT). Another award that MISA presented during 2006 was the John Manyarara Investigative Journalism Award, which was given jointly to Sam Sole, Stefaans Brummer, and Wisani wa Ngobeni for their work on the ‘Oilgate’ series that was published in the South African Mail and Guardian newspaper and to Mabvuto Banda for his work on “Mwawa Uses Government Funds for Wedding” series which was published in the Nation newspaper in Malawi. As part of the John Manyarara Investigative Journalism Awards Project, MISA sponsored the attendance of six journalists at a Power Reporting workshop for investigative journalism. MISA chapters continued to award excellence in their various countries. Award ceremonies were held in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia. Some of the chapters, notably, Botswana and Tanzania, reported an improvement in the quality and quantity of entries that were received, which is a positive reflection on the impact of MISA’s efforts. In Namibia, the awards were re-introduced after a year of absence. Other chapters, like Swaziland and Lesotho, are still in the process of establishing the awards in their countries. Community Newspapers MISA also continued to support the establishment of community newspapers in the region. There is still a need to run a campaign for community newspapers in Botswana as people have lamented the absence of in-depth information on their districts. The national government Daily News manages to cover only some rural areas. A community newspaper circulated at a cost, and carrying community issues would be ideal. Some leading newspapers in the country have opened hubs in smaller towns to try and bring news to the people and a lot is still to be done. The planned national sensitisation workshop did not materialise because of the many activities that the officer in charge had to deal with in the Strategic Partnership Programme (SPP). MISA South Africa was involved in the finalisation of the Johannesburg community newspaper evaluation during the period under review. In early March 2007, MISA Swaziland partnered with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) in South Africa to commission a study into the possibility of establishing an indigenous-language community newspaper in Swaziland. Free Voice is funding the project and, if the study is favourable, the newspaper will be launched shortly. Membership Drive The chapters continued to register more members with Botswana registering at least 56 individual members and five institutional members in the past financial year; Tanzania’s membership increased from 150 in 2002 to 273 and the number of institutional members has remained at 14. MISA Namibia has reintroduced membership cards and Botswana has continued to issue membership cards. 42 Annual Report 2007