16 Aug 2020

The motion tabled before the National Assembly by Selibe Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse for Parliament to repeal the Media Practitioners Act has continued to draw contrasting views from legislators. 

When the debate on the motion resumed on Thursday, MPs from the two sides  expressed differing opinions, with the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng among those who felt the motion was unnecessary at this stage.

Mr Morwaeng told Parliament that government was in the process of engaging different media stakeholders including the Editor’s Forum, the Media and Allied Workers Union (BOMAWU) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in order for any change to fully involve the media fraternity.

The Molepolole South legislator added that the governing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had committed to working towards a free press in their 2019 election manifesto, and government needed to consult before effecting any legislative changes.

Mr Tumiso Rakgare, the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, said while he agreed that the Media Practitioners Act was a draconian law that could compromise the democratic stability of the country, he was against how the motion had been presented.

He said different media representative groups had not been consulted, with some of them having expressed that during a recent show on a private radio station. 

Mr Rakgare said he supported Minister Morwaeng’s stance that government was consulting different stakeholders first.

Mr Rakgare said different aspects affecting the media fraternity needed to be looked at, stating that journalists are generally underpaid despite rendering an important service to the country.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development, Mr Mmusi Kgafela said since independence the national leadership had deemed it fit to come with pieces of legislation to regulate different professions including the legal and nursing professions among others.

He said it would make no sense to repeal the legislation without ensuring that it is substituted for by another law.

On the other hand, Palapye MP, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi accused the BDP legislators for acting in bad faith in opposing the motion.

Mr Ramogapi told Parliament that Mr Keorapetse’s motion had been gazetted on December 13 2019, while Minister Morwaeng’s letter informing of consultations with media stakeholders had been dated August 3, 2020, and said this was an attempt to ambush Mr Keorapetse’s motion.

The Palapye legislator said the Media Practitioners Act should be repealed forthwith in order for the media industry to be self-regulating.

Interjecting to elucidate during the debate, Mr Keorapetse revealed that the Media Practitioners Act had been in place for 12 years since 2008, but had never been practically put into practice because stakeholders in the media fraternity were against it.

Mr Keorapetse said similar motions to repeal the act had been presented to Parliament in 2015 by the then Gaborone Central MP, Mr Phenyo Butale, and in 2019 by Mr Keorapetse, and on those occasions media bodies like MISA and the Editors’ Forum had been engaged.

Since there had been no changes since, he had seen no need for further engagement, but said the journalists union, BOMAWU had publicly expressed their support of the motion, while MISA had communicated their displeasure with those MPs opposing the repealing of the act. Ends