STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2022 Expression and Access to Information in Africa, States are called to take specific measures to ensure their safety, including addressing all gender specific concerns that entail harassment, intimidation, sexual and gender based violence. Harassment of journalists also increases during election times where they are subjected to arrests and physical violence as well as other forms of intimidation. However, in the case of the October 2022 elections in Lesotho, there was no violence that is characteristic of the country’s previous elections.(12) As per the 2019 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, access to Information in Africa places an obligation on States to guarantee the safety of journalists and other media practitioners including prevention of attacks, extra-judicial killings, torture and other forms of violence or ill-treatment.(13) PRESS FREEDOM AND COUNTERING TERRORISM It is the mandate of the State to ensure national security and adopt the relevant measures to address security challenges such as terrorism. In Mozambique and Eswatini in particular, this obligation has been overstretched and encroaches into the freedom of expression arena. In Mozambique’s northern region of Cabo Delgado province, several terrorist attacks have been experienced. The 2022 Law on the Prevention, Suppression and Countering Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction is likely to have a negative impact on press freedom in the country. Among acts that are punishable under the law is reproduction of statements about terrorism and spreading false information about the conflict in the Cabo Delgado region.(14) The punishment entails a 12-year jail-term. The law also criminalises publication of what is regarded as classified information pertaining to terrorism. This law is likely to stifle reporting on the insurgency in the public interest. It also has the potential to lead the media to self-censor and scare whistleblowers. 20 In Eswatini, the democracy movement continues to demand constitutionalism and rule of law. The movement is driven by journalists, other media practitioners and human rights defenders. While no terrorist attacks have been recorded, the anti-terrorism framework is broadly framed to include dissenting voices demanding the entrenchment of tenets of democracy such as rule of law, judicial independence, respect for human rights such as public participation as enemies of the State and terrorists. The anti-terrorism mission directly affects journalists. In July 2022, for instance, the government of Eswatini declared journalist and editor Zweli Martin Dlamini, a terrorist and classified his publication, Swaziland News, a terrorist entity.(15) In its anti-terrorism agenda, the government devotes resources to go after those labelled as terrorists and their enablers.(16) The anti-terrorism mandate of the State should not be unjustifiably applied in ways that unreasonably limit the right to freedom of expression, including freedom of the press. Without undermining the veracity of the damage that acts of terror can cause, any measures should be proportionate and respect human rights. Exiled Eswa�ni journalist and editor Zweli Mar�n Dlamini PIC CREDIT: Eswa�ni Newsroom via Facebook