The Institute of Social Communication of Southern Africa (Misa-Mozambique) and the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) condemned on Tuesday (24) the limitations imposed by civil servants on journalists' access to information..

The position comes after the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Human Development, Feliciano Mahalambe, held a press conference on Monday (23), limiting the questions that journalists should ask, allegedly because it was unethical.

"The questions should be related to the subject I'm going to deal with; those who have other personal matters should stay after this session so as not to mix them up," said Mahalambe, quoted by VOA.

He added that this "doesn't look good and isn't ethical, because it's our press conference, we invited you."

In view of this, the President of Misa-Mozambique, Jeremias Langa, said that the case constituted a violation of the access to information law in force in the country, which imposes the principle of maximum disclosure of information and transparency.

For Langa, the attitude of the Ministry of Education denotes a gross violation of the law, human rights and the role of public institutions.

In a statement, the SNJ said that the attitude of the Ministry of Education is reprehensible because it seeks to intimidate journalists in the exercise of their noble mission of seeking, processing and disseminating information in the public interest.

This is a gross interference in journalistic work and a violation of press freedom, says the SNJ.