A Malawian journalist was convicted of sedition in 1964 for distributing widely circulated letters. Boniface Masonga challenged his dismissal from the Publications Section of the Ministry of Information in 1964. The case, which was heard before Ombudsman Enock Chibwana, resulted in the ombudsman's directing the Ministry of Information to pay Masonga his salaries in arrears since 1964. He did not author the material, but the material he was accused of publishing was in fact in mass circulation in 1964 following a cabinet crisis in which several key ministers rebelled against Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda's government. At this stage it is not clear whether the Ministry will comply with the ombudsman's directive or appeal against it.
Many countries use sedition as a catch-all term to include anyone who criticizes the government.
Chinese authorities shut down the dissident Web site New Culture Forum for publishing material deemed dangerous to the state. Excerpts from the site recently re-appeared on the site of Human Rights in China . Yugoslav authorities have often accused journalists there of trying to undermine the government. And Ugandan journalists recently challenged their government to scrap the country's sedition laws. Information provided by the Media Institute of Southern Africa , P.O. Box 90715, Klein, Windhoek, Namibia.