09 Apr 2015

The motion calling for repealing of the Media Practitioners Act has been adjourned until later late.

This followed a request by MP for Selebi Phikwe East, who is also infrastructure, science and technology  minister, Mr Nonofo Molefhi.

MP for Gaborone Central, Dr Phenyo Butale, had tabled the motion requesting government to repeal the Media Practitioners Act, which he said remained dormant because of opposition by the media fraternity to, among others, clauses of the accreditation of journalists.

 However, Minister Molefhi opposed the motion saying the act called for independence of the council to preserve the media freedom and to uphold high code of ethics.

The act also called for the registration of all journalists and to issue them with registration cards. He said he did not understand how the act should be repealed when it promoted media freedom and abode by their ethics. Mr Molefhi also said journalists should avoid a situation where everyone could claim to be a reporter.

For her part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi who was then the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology responsible for the drafting of the Media Practitioners Bill, said Dr Butale failed to offer an alternative.

She said the media in Botswana enjoyed unlimited freedom adding they do not play their role in full. “We at the BDP (Botswana Democratic Party) sometimes worry if they have placed their role the way the profession is supposed to be,” she said.

She said the media has towards the elections been bold to say ‘vote BNF (Botswana National Front)’ or ‘the BDP must be punished’. This, she said, makes them wonder if the role of the media was to entertain, inform or educate or intended to be a mouth piece for some and not for others.

The minister said Part One of the Media Practitioners Act depended on the media community to form a Media Council on their own but they did not. Dr Venson-Moitoi said there were also calls for the Media Executive Committee chosen by the media practitioners but this was not done.

She said Part 2 of the draft allowed that there should be ethics drafted by the Press Council but not the government. Part 3 and 4, the government has responsibility to protect the public, served by the media.

She said the media practitioners did not want to register all journalists yet they are professionals like engineers. She said she suspected that most of the people who write the news were not qualified.

Another area, the minister said, was the right to reply and it was also rejected. Under this, anyone wronged by a newspaper article or radio broadcast should be given a similar prominence to defend himself or herself, she added.

Journalists must have the freedom to write but at the same time members of the public must also be protected against malice, she said, hence the minister has the right to appoint an Appeal’s Committee.

The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale, who is responsible for the media, said the motion should not pass as all stakeholders were consulted.
Mr Molale said journalists are allowed to self-regulate and therefore he does not understand how a former media person could table a motion repealing the Act.

He said this illustrates that the media does not have professionals but ‘story tellers and story creators’. The minister said under good governance, no law should be repealed and the motion does not show maturity.

Mr Molale said instead the Act should be tightened as the motion calls for lawlessness. He further said the Act calls for high ethical standards but this was not the case although the journalists developed the adopted Code of Ethics.

The Act was persuasive following consultation and therefore difficult to implement and said it does not only cover journalists but also publishers. “The problem is that journalists now control the publishers,” he said.

He said there are some BDP members who have successfully sued the media houses but the news went unreported. Supporting the motion were MPs for Gaborone North, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa and for Selebi Phikwe East, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse.

MP Nkaigwa said it was clear several issues were left behind hence the Act had been gathering dust for seven years and therefore should be repealed. He said it was difficult for people to get information from the government adding people interested in the Act were protecting their own interest.

The Gaborone North legislator said the press should be left to regulate itself through the Press Council. ENDS