MESSAGE FORM THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE MISA TRUST FUND BOARD During 2006/2007, we faced challenges and recorded victories in the struggle to ensure that southern Africa has a free press and its citizens are able to express themselves freely. The past year has seen a varied state of media freedom in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). There have been some positive trends in countries like Malawi, while Zimbabwe has continued to witness a deepening of repression. Sadly, the year was also marked by the murder of two journalists from Angola. These cases remain unsolved and have had a profound effect on journalists from that country. Since the turn of the 21st century, Zimbabwe has been a ‘media freedom’ hot spot and, sadly, this remained the case over the past year. Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) saw a glimmer of hope when the author of Zimbabwe’s draconian media laws, Jonathan Moyo, left government. We hoped that the incoming minister, Tichaona Jokonya, would be an agent of change but this was not to be. Jokonya changed nothing and at the time of his death had filed an affidavit opposing the registration of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the banned Daily News and Daily News on Sunday. Zimbabwe’s severe media laws, including the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), have remained in operation. The Harare government made an already bad situation worse when they tabled the Interception of Communications Bill. This bill allows the Chief of Defence Intelligence, the Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephonic and e-mail messages. Botswana appears to be taking a similar route as the government announced its plans to bring to parliament the Intelligence and Security Services Bill, which has raised concern among free expression activists around the world. In MISA’s opinion, these bills are ways to suppress media freedom and freedom of expression in the name of security. South Africa – a country that in previous years has not had many media freedom violations – registered an increase in violations. This resulted largely from the various high-profile court battles involving the media, most notably the Jacob Zuma trial. A worrying concept of group defamation was introduced when the Johannesburg High court granted an interim interdict against the Sunday Times and Independent Newspapers, preventing the publication of controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. We are seeing new tacticts emerge from those intent on violating media freedom and freedom of expression, and we are duty-bound to find new strategies to fight these media-unfriendly laws. 4 Annual Report 2007