BOTSWANA: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FACES HEADWINDS Mokgweetsi Masisi and his predecessor Ian Khama is just one of the reasons Botswana’s reputation is taking a knock. Initially downplayed by President Masisi and his government, the Council on Foreign Relations points out that this feud “persists in generating distracting headlines” and “the spectacle is depressing and pulls focus from the important issues the country needs to address to build on its decades of development successes.”(1) By Queen Mosarwe INTRODUCTION B OTSWANA’S long held reputation as the region’s most politically and economically stable country has taken a bit of a knock. The country has experienced a decline in media freedom with the government further tightening its grip on the media. The rivalry between incumbent President As Botswana’s privately-owned online platform, INK Centre for Investigative Journalism aptly described it: “The night that former president of Botswana, Ian Khama, escaped under the cover of darkness into neighbouring South Africa, marked a loss of innocence in Botswana’s usually stable, harmless politics. Tensions between Khama and his handpicked successor, current President Mokgweetsi Masisi, have spilled out into the open. It threatens to inflame tribal malaise and destabilise a country once known for its sparkling diamonds and thriving economy.”(2) At the centre of this hostility is the role and authority asserted by Botswana’s domestic spy agency — the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS). 33