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Preface



    Southern Africa has experienced major changes over the past ten years, with free elections, multi-party systems, democratisation, the emergence of civil society, independent media, economic and political liberalisation. The gospel of Western capitalism seems to allure most of the countries in the region. Optimism and high expectations towards the future have been in the air since apartheid was eradicated.


    Yet there is reason for concern. All that glitters is not freedom. Old systems of patronage still prosper. Corruption is rearing its head in places where we did not expect it. Democratically elected rulers seem to be or become authoritarian and love the velvet more than the people. Hardly anywhere a constructive opposition can be identified. The function of parliaments in most countries is that of endorsing the actions of the ruling party. Media are gagged or silence themselves. Loyalty to the new rulers is considered more important than a critical attitude towards their doings. Self-censorship is a second nature to most journalists.


    The Netherlands institute for Southern Africa (NiZA) has a tradition of solidarity with the victims of oppression and nepotism. While in the past people suffered under the apartheid system in South Africa, under Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique and Angola and authoritarian regimes in other countries in the region, currently the same people are silenced by some of those who fought the struggle for and sung the praises of freedom. Loyalty has altered to self-censorship, freedom to its own illusion.


    This illusion of freedom makes it even more difficult for NiZA and its counterparts in Southern Africa to bring the importance of freedom of expression - one of the preconditions for democratic development and good governance - out into the limelight, in the region and beyond. NiZA runs a programme on 'Good Governance and Democratisation', in which the role of media is considered vital. In addition, NiZA, after elaborate consultations with partners in Southern Africa, has opted for cooperation with and support of organisations that are active in the fields of human rights, the position of women and children, the reform of police, justice and the legal profession, local government and political participation, and conflict prevention and solution.


    In 1998 NiZA has launched a campaign focusing on support for the media in the region and aiming at the dissemination of information on the Southern African media in the Netherlands and Europe. Attention is focused on 'community radio' in particular, since it is, by far, the most accessible medium. But what to do with those remote rural areas where there is no electricity and where the cost of four batteries equals a monthly salary? The freedom of expression is under pressure in the entire region, even in South Africa, where independent journalists are consistently being accused of racism and a critical attitude is increasingly being denounced as a lack of loyalty. This jeopardises democracy, or to put it more precisely, tends to hamper the mechanisms that allow the population to control the rulers they have elected themselves, with all the attendant negative consequences.


    We hope that this Media Cahier, which is published in cooperation with the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), will help to halt further restrictions on the freedom of expression in Southern Africa.

Peter Hermes
Director NiZA
October, 1998


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