Virtually addressing a gathering during the World Press Freedom Day in Gaborone on Saturday, Masisi said amongst the efforts that his government is making to ensure a free press is the possible enactment of the Freedom of Information law. He said the Freedom of Information Bill will be gazetted and tabled during the Winter Parliament session. Botswana is amongst African countries without the Freedom of Information law with many quarters calling for its enactment over the years.
MISA Botswana Chapter in partnership with MISA Regional, UNESCO and the Botswana government held the world Press Freedom commemorations in Gaborone on Friday and Saturday. Masisi's remarks come on the backdrop of an Aftobarometer Pan Africa survey, which has seen Botswana score below 50% in media freedom. The survey shows that a slimmer majority of Africans say the media is completely or somewhat free from government interference in their countries. According to the survey whose results were released just recently on April 30, about 57% of citizens believe that there is media freedom in their countries, although assessments vary widely by country.
However, in contrast, the survey does not portray Botswana in a good light as it scored below 50%. Botswana, which for many years was considered Africa's beacon of democracy, scored 49% and it is below Lesotho which scored 52%, while Zimbabwe and the Kingdom of Eswatini were the lowest with 46% and 26% respectively. Tanzania leads African countries with a free press score of 82%. The survey further shows that Africans overwhelmingly support media playing an important role in holding governments accountable, particularly about the scourge of corruption. "Strong majorities support the media’s right to report as they see fit, free of government interference," reads the report.
The findings also show important changes in how Africans use media to access news and information. Radio remains the most accessible medium, although digital use continues to grow. However, despite significant gains in Internet and social media access in recent years, inequities in access across gender, education, age, urban/rural, and income lines persist, and on some dimensions have grown larger than when overall access rates were much lower. Radio, on the other hand, continues to be more evenly accessible across demographic groups.
