Morwaeng pays DPC courtesy call
Ryder Gabathuse | Tuesday November 2, 2021 15:46
The purpose of the meeting was to touch base with the staff of the newspapers and get an update on various issues.
Key on the issues was a promise that the President Mokgweetsi Masisi-led government will in the next sitting of Parliament live up to its promises of repealing the current Media Practitioners Act, before coming up with a piece of legislation that is inclusive and representative of the interests of media industry players.
“The new media law will be presented to Parliament in the next sitting, which commences next week. Before the law is gazetted, it will be brought to you as stakeholders. We are going to repeal the current media law. Others were thinking that we should just repeal,” Morwaeng said.
He noted that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) 2019 General Election manifesto has promised industry players to repeal the current Media Practitioners Act after interacting with stakeholders who include the Editors’ Forum, Botswana Media and Allied Workers Union (BOMAWU), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana Chapter and the University of Botswana media studies department.
He promised: “In short, the process is ongoing. If I fail to put the media law through from next week, you would [still] have a chance to look at it as stakeholders after the process of consultation with the industry players.”
He raised a concern about some of the private media practitioners in particular who report stories without giving the concerned parties the right to reply insisting that the practice was very untidy for the practice of journalism.
He encouraged the private media to desist from the business of putting people under unnecessary pressure mainly because they have a deadline to meet. He, however, appreciated that in terms of breaking news, the pressure was justifiable but not at all times.
He also promised that his government believes in the freedom and flow of information.
“We are not going to interfere with those freedoms. But, our government believes that a story has to be based on facts and not just mere speculation,” he said, pleading with gatekeepers to thoroughly check and make a distinction between facts and speculation.
Morwaeng has pledged to talk to government officers to respond to private media enquiries on time conceding that the media has a vital role to play in the enhancement of democracy.
He was insistent that the Masisi-led government would not in any way tolerate an adversarial relationship with the media. He further conceded that past reports suggest that the private media and government had a cat-and-mouse relationship to the extent that it was starved of advertising.
“I promise to enquire from the government departments and will seek evidence from placed advertisements to see if indeed, the private media has been starved,” Morwaeng pledged.
He encouraged the private media to carry stories of vaccinations against COVID-19 as, in his view, developmental reporting was key for a developing country like Botswana.
He urged DPC staff members to take the jab to help boost their bodies' immunity systems against the virus.