New appointments for SAEF to strengthen media freedom

The five interim committee members are:

• chairperson Jovial Rantao, deputy editor of The Star in Johannesburg, South Africa
  
• Mpho Dibeela, editor, Botswana Guardian, Gaborone
  
• Wilie Mponda, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Association of Editors
  
• Tangeni Amupadhi, editor-designate of The Namibian; and
  
• Elizabeth Mule, co-ordinator of the Editors' Forum of Namibia.

SAEF also resolved that countries within the region should embrace self-regulation as a best mechanism of promoting media freedom; that media ownership and control should be free of government influence and pressures; and that countries in the region should allow more access to information for their citizenry by legislating for freedom of information and access to information.