2.1.2. Free speech or hate speech? During 2006 cartoons, as a form of social commentary, stirred great controversy throughout the region, especially in South Africa and Mozambique. In an unfortunate judgement for media freedom, the Johannesburg High Court granted an interim interdict against the Sunday Times and Independent Newspapers, prohibiting the publication of controversial Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed. The court ruled that the cartoons should not be published because they would harm the dignity of Muslims and of Mohammed. Analysts warn that by granting relief not to identifiable individuals, but to a group of persons distinguishable only by their religion, the court gave unprecedented and potentially dangerous recognition to a concept of “group defamation” that had not been adopted previously in South African law. Whilst the issue did not reach the courts in Mozambique, the Supreme Mass Media Council (CSCS), the watchdog body established under the Mozambican constitution and the 1991 press law, pronounced that the publication of the cartoons in the Savana newspaper was in breach of the Mozambican Press Law. The CSCS based its conclusion on Article 4, which states that the media should contribute to national unity, to the defence of national interests and to the promotion of democracy and social justice. It also cited article 28, which calls on journalists to respect the rights and freedoms of citizens, and not to incite, directly or indirectly, hatred, racism, intolerance, crime and violence. Although Savana issued a formal apology for any offence the publication of the cartoons may have caused, Moslem leaders continued to demand the sacking of the paper’s director, Kok Nam, and its editor, Fernando Goncalves. In the final analysis, even many of those outraged by the cartoons unwittingly made a powerful point in favour of free speech by disseminating chain e-mails with the cartoons attached, to illustrate just how offensive the cartoons were. This shows the folly of banning the publication of the cartoons: what better way to highlight the racism of the Danish authors of the cartoons than by allowing the cartoons to be freely disseminated and commented upon? 2.1.3 Legislation All countries in southern Africa are at some stage of media law reform. Such developments are painfully slow and have not always yielded the envisaged results. In view of this journalists and media freedom activists are compelled to be even more vigilant in promoting and protecting media freedom and free expression rights. In an already repressive media environment where such laws as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) remain firmly entrenched in the statutes, Zimbabwean authorities tabled the Interception of Communications Bill 2006 (passed in June 2007). It empowers the chief of defense intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organization, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephonic, e-mail and cellular telephone messages. 12 Annual Report 2006