CPJ ATTACKS ‘DEATH THREAT’ PRINCE

World opinion continues to turn against King Mswati III’s regime.

The latest organisation to condemn the lack of press freedom in Swaziland is the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) which yesterday (26 July 2010) attacked Prince Mahlaba, the brother of King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, for threatening with death journalists who reported critically about Swaziland’s ruling elite.

CPJ has rallied behind the media in Swaziland, most of which is either state-controlled or in effect owned by King Mswati.

CPJ reported Mbongeni Mbingo, managing editor of the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, saying the threats were ‘dangerous’ and could not be taken lightly since the prince was a member of a highly influential royal advisory council, Liqoqo (also known as the Swaziland National Council – SNC).

Comfort Mabuza, the National Director of the Swaziland chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa condemned the threats and feared they could incite the public against the journalists. ‘We are in big trouble because his view may be representing that of SNC, which advises the king,’ Mabuza told CPJ. ‘The council is yet to call him to order and we are really concerned about their continued silence.’

CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said, ‘The government of Swaziland must immediately reject the death threats against journalists by a leading member of the ruling family,” said. “We call on the government to issue a clear and unequivocal statement condemning this murderous outburst and ensuring the international community that Swaziland is committed to the protection of all journalists.’

Prince Mahlaba had told a meeting of the Smart Partnership, ‘I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country's international image. Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die.’

· CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.

FURY AT NEW SWAZI MEDIA BILL

Even the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, is enraged by the Swazi government’s latest attempt to muzzle the media.

Cabinet has approved a Media Commission Bill that the newspaper says, ‘seeks to regulate or even censor media practitioners if found to have criticised some operations of the state’.

Three cheers for the Observer in voicing its concern, but it is not alone.

Many local media houses feel betrayed because they have been ignored by the government led by Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland. Dlamini has a long history as an enemy of freedom.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa – Swaziland Chapter (MISA) director Comfort Mabuza called the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, ‘double-faced’ because it had not been honest in negotiations with media houses. The government had said negotiations were continuing even though the Cabinet was set to discuss the final Bill.

Mabuza said the new Media Commission Bill was similar to oppressive laws of the former apartheid regime in South Africa, ‘where publications were closed at whim and such would draw the eyes of the international community to the country unnecessarily’.

The Secretary of the Swaziland Editors' Forum Jabu Matsebula also expressed his dismay over the move.

‘This is nothing but censorship. That journalists must have licences before they could practice is a flagrant disrespect of democratic norms. If they give you the licence, what can stop them from revoking it if you criticise certain actions of the status quo?’ he said.

NEW ATTACK ON PRESS FREEDOM

Press freedom is once again under attack in Swaziland as a Swazi senator called for a ‘stringent’ law to ‘deal’ with the media.

And the Minister for Information, Communications and Technology Nelsiwe Shongwe has said her ministry was doing something about the concern, but she was not specific.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reports that Senator Themba Msibi, a former Minister for Information, told a session of parliament that ‘enacting a stringent law will deal with the journalists once and for all’.

Msibi was making a submission during a debate over a newspaper article in which it was said a journalist with the Times of Swaziland misquoted the Senate President, Gelane Zwane, during a previous Senate seating.

He said asking the media to apologise for wrong articles does not help ‘because they will continue doing this. This is not a mistake but they are doing it purposely.’

During the same debate the Senate President Zwane herself verbally attacked the Times' journalist, Arthur Mordaunt, who was also present in Parliament to cover the proceedings.

MISA said an angry Zwane accused Mordaunt of having a vendetta against her and she went on to threaten the journalist.

‘I have been watching you very closely and I have realized that ever since you started writing about me you are always writing negatively. If you want to survive in your journalism career you should immediately stop it,’ Zwane was reported to have said.

She went on to say that had it not been for the fact that she was not an ordinary member of society, she would have already done something to Mordaunt and expressed in SiSwati [the language of Swaziland] something to the effect that she would have already set her ‘dogs’ upon Mordaunt to ‘tear’ the journalist apart.

In a statement, MISA Swaziland chapter said the threats not only constitute a serious attack on press freedom, but it is also plain abuse of parliamentary privilege by the senators.

MISA Swaziland National Director Comfort Mabuza said MISA Swaziland rejects the call by Senator Msibi for a law to regulate the media. He said such a call was out of place and inconsistent with the kingdom’s constitution and the universal principles of media freedom and also goes against a 1997 Parliamentary resolution to have the media regulate themselves.

SWAZI PM LIES ON MEDIA FREEDOM

When Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, told journalists they had nothing to fear from him he was not telling the truth.

Dlamini, was previously PM in 1997 to 2003 and during that time he was famed for his disregard for the rule of law and his attack on freedom of speech.

Dlamini attacked the media and two publications were closed down for reporting things he did not like.

This week comes news that the Swazi Government intends to press forward with plans for state-imposed regulation of the media in Swaziland. This could mean that the government would be able to decide whether journalists are doing their jobs properly. It could lead to sanctions against media houses which violate the government’s rules. There are even suggestions that journalists would have to be registered by the government: put simply that means that the government decides who can and who cannot work as a journalist.

At present in Swaziland most of the media is state controlled. Workers, including journalists, at Swazi TV and SBIS radio are civil servants. The only other radio station Voice of the Church is a Christian station and doesn’t deal with news and current affairs. The only ‘independent’ television station, Channel S, is owned by a former ‘praise singer’ of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Channel S is not seen as being independent from the state.

There are two newspaper groups, the Swazi Observer is in effect owned by King Mswati and the Times of Swaziland is the only independent media house in Swaziland, but when the going gets tough it bends to the will of King Mswati.

Last week Dlamini told his regular monthly editors’ forum that plans for statutory regulation through a Media Complaints Commission were underway.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland said in a statement it was opposed to government regulation. ‘We’re totally against government’s pronouncement on the issue of Media Complaints Commission (MCC),’ said Comfort Mabuza, MISA Swaziland National Director.

MISA believes the media should be allowed to regulate itself.