23 September 2025
Keynote address by Dr Tabani Moyo – MISA Regional Director at the Spaces of Solidarity Meeting
Windhoek, Namibia
Introduction
As we meet for the 2025 Spaces of Solidarity (SoS) meeting, which marks the end of the fourth year of SoS as a Forum in existence, I am happy to say that, as a people, we have every reason to be proud of our historic efforts in establishing a collective agenda in response to the challenges affecting expression in the SADC region.
It is even more historic for Namibia, the birthplace of the Windhoek Declaration on Diverse and Plural Media and its successor, Windhoek +30 Declaration:Information as a Public Good. The progress we have achieved in our first four years has established a solid foundation for the new advances we must and will undertake in the coming years.
These efforts, which you have all have been instrumental in, form the core of our annual plans of action and mobilisation.
They are designed to ensure that the people of Southern Africa actively contribute to shaping and advancing the right to express, access information, and engage with a media that is fit for purpose in the face of ever-changing contexts.
Suffice to say that our region has never in its entire history faced such crossroads in the wake of the USA’s global funding cuts, dealing with high stakes that are borne of elections and rapid technological changes.
The headwinds we faced were further compounded by the debilitating effects of international conflict, impacts of climate change, and navigating the fragmentation of progressive forces amid the rise of right-wing politics and a media ecosystem under existential threat due to these dynamics.
Analysis of current trends, opportunities and threats to the media
Indeed, the Southern African media landscape is continuously evolving, driven by triggers at both the global and continental levels, as well as within the member states.
In essence, SADC presents a mixed picture regarding media freedom. Based on the guidance of the presentations before me, it is imperative to summarise the key issues.
Firstly, I must acknowledge the strategic importance of the sample size of 100 respondents to the survey. This is a very representative sample of the regional population and allows for informed conclusions.
Secondly, there is key data indicating various indicators on the evolving landscape. However, the scope of my keynote address focuses on the respondents’ views on the prevailing climate in the member countries, the sources of threats, and organisation sizes.
These three will be instrumental in my analysis and shaping of my recommendations and future projections.
Thirdly, I will assess the key thematic areas that the Spaces of Solidarity Forum has rallied behind since its inception, namely media policy and regulation, freedom of expression and access to information, safety and security of journalists, and cyber and digital rights.
Considering the survey; 31% of respondents noted that the climate was problematic; 32% satisfactory; 19% restrictive; 8% very repressive; and 10% free.
Assessment of where the threats were emerging shows that 68% were from Governments and 16% from political parties, which collectively accounts for 84% of the threats.
Another important observation is that more than 65% of the organisations in Southern Africa are small organisations with 1- 20 people.
Engaging with these statistics reveals critical issues, as only 10% of respondents perceive the region as a free environment, while the rest experience limited freedom.
This is further problematised by the second set of statistics, which highlights that cumulatively 84% of threats are by governments and political parties. This is a very significant statistic, which shows a common trend in the region on the key problem areas.
The set of statistics reveals that most civic organisations in the region are small players; hence, my keynote message on the strategic need to reconsider how these small players can remain relevant and strengthen members within the ecosystem.
This is a key statistical finding: if we do not rethink or reconsider our solidarity and collaboration approaches, this will lead to the suffocation of these small-to-medium-sized players.
These small-to-medium-sized players are the propellers of media development in the region and the global south. I say so because at IFEX, where I’m the convener, we developed a dynamic set of collaborative principles which could help this process of reviewing how we relate in addressing these new realities.
Interplay of the four thematic issues
In Africa, 29 countries have enacted Access to Information laws, of which nine are in the SADC region. The nine reflect the slow pace of the adoption process, as the first, South Africa, enacted its own law in 2000, with Zambia being the most recent in 2023.
The remaining countries are Eswatini, Botswana, Madagascar, Lesotho, DRC, Comoros, and Mauritius. The most pressing issue is the delay in adopting dynamic regulations and effectively implementing the provisions of the acts and regulations accordingly.
Most of these challenges are being diminished or suppressed by restrictive and sometimes outdated cybersecurity laws common in the region. This indicates coordinated contrasting efforts by governments which underscores the need to strengthen resistance, as many of these laws are enacted under the pretext of fighting “fake news” while increasing surveillance.
These issues will be further intensified by the rapid advancement of AI and efforts to regulate it. In 2020, the Toronto Lab released a report that exposed Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana as customers of the Israeli spyware, Circles.
Equally challenging are the issues of journalists’ safety and security, as well as impunity.
In 2017, Tanzanian journalist Azory Gwanda vanished while probing a string of murders in the Pwani region. Men reportedly took Gwanda in a white vehicle.
Ibraimo Abú Mbaruco, a journalist and radio presenter, went missing in April 2020 in the northern Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, where he had been covering an Islamist insurgency. Arlindo Chissale was forced into an unmarked vehicle by suspected security forces in January 2025 in Mozambique.
Journalists have been killed in Lesotho and Tanzania, while dozens have been assaulted and arrested for fulfilling their duties.
Onwards
Given the foregoing, there is an imperative need for the following:
- Solidarity and Collaboration: There is a need to rethink and re-imagine our strategic approach towards strengthening the ecosystem through the IFEX collaboration principles and strengthening small-to-medium players.
- Research-based interventions: High-level advocacy and national policy formulation rely on evidence-based interventions.
- Positioning the domestication of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
- Monitoring and networking are essential elements for sharing knowledge and experience and organically advancing the struggles for the defence of expression in Southern Africa.
With this keynote address, I was truly pleased to participate in these detailed engagements and the programme, which aims to thoroughly explore the necessary structuring mechanisms in response to the convergence of these complex factors in the region and beyond.
Thank You!
