Maun - An opposition party in Botswana is expected to lodge a complaint with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) against the alleged "blackout" of opposition parties in the state media ahead of polls in November.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the second largest opposition grouping, was due to hand over a letter to SADC seeking its intervention over the alleged media bias.
Botswana's Communications Minister Boyce Sebetela recently told a meeting that state media would start covering opposition leaders only after the dissolution of parliament at the end of this month.
"While the government maintains that we will be given coverage after August 31, we are not happy that President Festus Mogae and his deputy Ian Khama are given coverage on national television and radio each time they launch the ruling party candidates," Dumelang Saleshando, BCP's information and publicity secretary, said.
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"This is against the dictates of the SADC parliamentary committee that call for level coverage of political parties before elections," Saleshando said. - Sapa-AFP
- This article was originally published on page 2 of Cape Times on August 20, 2004
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