12 May 2025

The media have been implored to be courageous  in their quest to unearth corruption. 

Speaking at the Botswana Editors Forum Press Freedom Day celebration in Gaborone on Friday, Chief Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe reminded the media that their role was to hold those in positions of power  accountable as an oversight body.  He said journalists required courage to investigate and unearth corruption. 

Justice Ketlogetswe however observed that challenges faced by the private media were not necessarily faced by the state media. He said the economic realities of Botswana were that government possessed more resources than the private sector and the private press needed government business through advertising and other forms of investment. 

“History will attest that when investigative journalism unearthed some inconvenient truths about those then in government, the response was to stop government advertisement in certain private media houses. The result has been a slow but noticeable death in investigative journalism,” he said.

The chief justice said the consequences of the death of investigative journalism was unfortunately governance without accountability. 

“The might of the adverts has led to self-regulation,” he observed. 

Chief Justice Ketlogetswe said the greatest threat to press freedom was self-reservation in the form of self-censorship brought about by an existential plight as the media operated in a hostile economic environment. 

Also, he said a number of statutes such as the Constitution guaranteed the right to receive and disseminate information for public consumption while the Penal Code provided for a criminal defamation. The chief justice  said absence of a duty to avail information of a public nature by those holding such information led to opacity in governance. 

“Under the veil of that opacity, there is secrecy and unjustifiable or unjustified confidentiality. Then you have the melting pot of corruption behind that veil. It thrives,” he said. 

The chief justice said behind that was the dilemma of journalists as news was a perishable commodity that required expedition in its dissemination. 

 “This made journalists to balance between meeting deadlines and protecting the rights of those affected by stories leading to criminal defamation, violation of laws protecting state secrets and personality rights of those concerned,” he said. 

Chief Justice Ketlogetswe said that has led to lawsuits against journalists. He said there has been an engagement between the media and government to come up with a more progressive legislation to improve access to information. He urged the media to fight for what was rightfully theirs, which is the right to disseminate information as the Constitution dictates. 

The chief justice further advised journalists to consider demanding that the Press Freedom Day be included in the public calendar as a holiday to celebrate the media and use it to educate the public on their role as the press. 

The Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said the media was a fundamental component of democracy, transparency and public accountability. He said the media in Botswana had nurtured democracy, public education and shaped national dialogue. 

Mr Motshegwa also said a free and objective media was an essential component of any democratic society providing the public with information to make responsible informed decisions. He said the inherited setup of state media controlled by Office of the President where the government controlled content and making less coverage of opposition and dissenting voices, was abuse of state media for self-preservation by government. 

The minister said as citizens, they were given one side of the story subjecting Batswana to missing real stories concerning their lives. Mr Motshegwa said there was need for state media to report news focused on the lives of the people with diversity. He said media should be seen as an enabler of democracy and it was therefore important to have a public broadcaster funded by government but with an independent board. 

“Let me assure you of the commitment of government to social dialogue in instances of introduction of regulatory measures so that such does not stifle the independence and functionality of media.  Collaboration is essentially cardinal between government, state media and civic society to ensure that laws protect press freedom while promoting responsibility,” he said. ENDS