Reporters Without Borders (RWB) joins the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)in attacking Dlamini.
RWB voiced its ‘outrage at the fact that he accused Swaziland’s newspaper columnists of trying to tarnish the country’s image at the behest of foreign interests and suggested that newspapers should be required by law to obtain the government’s permission before publishing any column’.
In a letter to Dlamini, RWB secretary-general Jean-François Julliard, said, ‘Conspiracy theory is an old refrain in the simplistic rhetoric of governments with little inclination to respect basic freedoms. Putting more obstacles in the path of journalists will only have a negative effect. Adopting such a law would bring shame on Swaziland and tarnish its image much more than any critical newspaper column.’
Julliard added, ‘We urge you to promote press freedom and free speech and to abandon any plans for a repressive media law. By putting an end to the current harassment of the media and relaxing the climate for journalists, you will help Swaziland advance resolutely towards modernity.’
In a statement RWB said, ‘In a recent address to parliament, the prime minister said he would like to see it adopt a press law that would force columnists to obtain prior permission from the authorities before any column appeared.
Julliard said in his letter to Dlamini, ‘By making government approval a condition for the publication of newspaper articles, you would stifle all freedom of expression and strip journalism of its very essence.’
Earlier this month (October 2010), Swaziland was ranked 155th out of 178 countries in the RWB annual world press freedom index.
King Mswati IIIof Swaziland has been named and shamed as one of the world’s worst predators when it comes to press freedom.
King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is cited by Reporters Without Borders (RWB)in its annual report on press freedom, published this week.
This is what RWB has to say in full about the king and Swaziland. Don’t expect to hear about this in the Swazi media.
Swaziland is self-destructing and if there is a single person to blame it is clearly King Mswati III. State-owned media only carry reports that have been checked and approved by the information minister. Independent journalists find it extremely hard to access official information.
Criticising the king is inconceivable. In November 2008, the justice minister warned that journalists who criticised the government. A journalist working for the Times of Swaziland,the only privately-owned newspaper, had to apologise publicly to the king in January 2009 after writing a series of irreverent articles.
Sunday 3 May is World Press Freedom Day, a Unesco supported annual event to draw attention to the role of news media in democratic societies.
The day is also used as an opportunity to highlight media freedom violations across the world. There will be a number of events in Africa to mark the day.
In Swaziland it is an opportunity to reflect on how media freedom has been under attack during the past year. Here are some of the major low lights in Swaziland since May 2008. You might like to get a hot drink before you read on: it’s a very long list. Click on the links for more details.
Swazi senators get select committee to charge newspapers with contempt of parliament after reports appear of a fight in public between two senators. Link
Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed prime minister, told the Swazi House of Assembly that his government supports free speech, ‘But where such speech corrupts or incites violence or civil disorder, our government will act to stop it.’ Link
Former Swazi cabinet minister Mfomfo Nkhambule, who writes a weekly column for the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, is threatened by police, and expelled from his local regiment for writing articles deemed by the ruling elite to be critical of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. Link
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter reports that Swaziland’s media freedom is under attack like never before. It issued 15 ‘alerts’ about violations of media freedom in the first two months of this year (2009). Usually, MISA doesn’t expect to issue 15 alerts in a whole year. The violations were mainly around harassment of journalists, censorship, intimidation and assault of media persons. Link
The US State Department in its annual Country Report on Swaziland reported that during the past year the Swaziland attorney general and the prime minister warned journalists and diplomats against making statements that could be interpreted as seditious. It noted that journalists were threatened, harassed, assaulted, and detained during the year. Link
Reporters Without Borders (RWB) places Swaziland in 147th place in the world when it comes to freedom of the press. Swaziland Government spokesperson Macanjana Motsa tries to rubbish the report in the same week that the illegally-appointed prime minister Barnabas Dlamini told journalists that if they criticise King Mswati III’s recent speech to parliament they will face sedition charges. Link
A journalist was harassed and barred from reporting the speech of King Mswati III at the opening of the Swaziland Parliament because she is a woman. Link 1Link 2
Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed prime minister tells Swazi journalists they have nothing to fear from him and they will enjoy media freedom while he is PM. But, as Newswatch India noted, ‘in the same breath, the prime minister banned the media from writing about political parties which the government does not recognise. These parties include the Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) whose leader, Mario Masuku, is currently in jail for allegedly supporting terrorism.’ Link
Two new magazines published in Swaziland are threatened with closure because they have not been registered by the government. Link
The Swazi Government wants to extend its censorship of the media to the Internet. Already newspapers and broadcast media are subject to censorship (and self-censorship) by government and other organs of the ruling elite. Now the Swaziland Attorney General Majahenkhaba Dlamini is looking to get a website from the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) closed down. Link
The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, in an editorial comment says, ‘Constitution or no constitution, the days of the little freedom of speech we have left in this country are numbered,’ after its columnistMfomfo Nkhambule was told to watch his mouth. Police say his writing is now bordering on Subversive acts. In short, he has been warned against expressing his opinion on how this country ought to be governed. Link
A Swazi journalist was attacked and cut with a knife by a man who was angry about something that had been written about him in a newspaper. Link
Swaziland police are accused of torturing and detaining two television reporters. The journalists, who work for Swaziland’s only independent television station Channel S, say they were arrested by police while they were following a story about a crime syndicate. Link
Journalists covering a traditional ceremony in Swaziland were harassed, banned and had their equipment confiscated by the police while trying to cover the event. Link
Swazi state police storm a workshop organised for media personnel by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and threatened to disrupt it if they were not allowed to monitor it. Link
Freedom advocates ARTICLE 19 report serious concerns about the way the Swazi Government is restricting freedom of expression in Swaziland following the introduction of the Suppression of Terrorism Act. It says Swazi journalists, political activists and human rights defenders have apparently become persona non-grata, battered and/or arrested. Link
People in Swaziland are banned from talking about King Mswati III and the war he has declared against his own people. Jim Gama, who is known as the ‘traditional’ prime minister and has more influence over Swaziland than the real PM, issued an edict to say that the king’s subjects must not refer to the king’s speech ever again. The speech in question was made when King Mswati III illegally-appointed Barnabas Dlamini as prime minister. Introducing Dlamini to his subjects, the king told Dlamini to get the terrorists and all who support them. Link
Reporters Without Borders condemns the Swazi attorney general’s ‘threatening remarks to journalists on 17 November 2008. He said journalists who criticise the government could be arrested under a new anti-terrorism law that has just been used to crack down on opposition groups.’ Link
Swaziland’s attorney general, Majahenkhaba Dlamini, tells journalists, ‘If you appear to be supporting terrorists in your reporting, woe unto you.’ He says journalists who are critical of the government ‘would be viewed as supporting “terrorists” and arrested’. Link
Swazi government officials heavily censored journalists as they prepared to interview King Mswati III on his return from a trip abroad. Journalists were told what to ask and that each journalist would be allowed only one question. This came amid anticipation that the king was going to be asked about government's extravagant spending on the country's 40/40 celebrationsheld in September 2008. Link 1Link 2 Link 3
More than 90 percent of people in the kingdom say they want the state-controlled monopoly of radio in Swaziland abolished. They want to have radio stations that are independent of government, but under the control of ordinary people. They also want radio to present impartial news and not concentrate on news about the Swazi Government or King Mswati III. Link
Research published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa into censorship and self-censorship of the media in Swaziland concludes that according to journalists and editors the biggest problem with censorship in Swaziland was the position taken by King Mswati III. Journalists are afraid to upset him for fear of retribution. Link 1Link 2
Journalists in Swaziland were illegally stopped from reporting on the kingdom’s national election. News emerged of widespread intimidation and harassment of reporters as they tried to cover the election registration process that ended in July 2008. Link
Swaziland’s traditional prime minister Jim Gama calls for a Swazi journalist to face serious punishment or even death for writing an article that was ‘disrespectful’ to King Mswati III. He said the report about the financial cost to the kingdom of holding a three-day ‘people’s parliament’ had been ‘very disrespectful to royalty and the king’. Link
Swaziland’s new official government spokesperson Macanjana Motsa must think we are blind.
She has hit out at a new international report from Reporters Without Borders (RWB) that places Swaziland in 147th place in the world when it comes to freedom of the press.
In a statementMotsa rubbished the report and said, ‘press freedom is guaranteed by the constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland. The Swazi public and the international community is well aware that local media is not repressed in this country’.
Has she been drinking? She certainly hasn’t been paying attention. Her defence of press freedom in Swaziland comes in the same week that the illegally-appointed Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini told journalists that if they criticise King Mswati III’s recent speech to parliament they will face sedition charges.
Over the past few weeks former Swazi Government cabinet member Mfomfo Nkhambulehas been hauled before police, threatened with jail and been told he will be disowned by his traditional regiment if he continues to write articles in the Times of Swazilandnewspaper thatcriticise the King and the anti-democratic ruling elite in the kingdom.
Only last month (January 2009) trade unions and other civic organizations petitioned the Swazi Prime Minister demanding that every citizen of Swaziland should be allowed equal access to the three state media organisations: the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), Swazi TVand the Swazi Observernewspaper.
The petition called upon government to ensure that these media houses’ independence was guaranteed. It also demanded‘equal access to public institutions such as halls, stadiums and tinkhundla centres which are currently the formal meeting place for people without any hindrances’.
Motsa joins a long list of Swazi Government denialists. Whenever there is a report critical of Swaziland, the government blames the messenger and lies about the message.
Bizarrely, Motsa attacked the credibility of RWB because it had once used the UNESCO logo without permission.
Motsa and the Swazi Government know this is a smokescreen. RWB is not alone among international media watchers in criticising Swaziland’s lack of press freedom.
The most recent annual So This Is Democracy?report from the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) http://www.misa.org highlighted many cases of press repression, including the case of the Times of Swaziland publishing house that was threatened with closure by King Mswati III because he objected to a report it had written on how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believed that the king’s lavish lifestyle was deterring overseas’ investors from supporting Swaziland.
MISA concluded that the Swazi Government continues to harass journalists. ‘This was evident when the Swazi House of Assembly set up a Select Committee to investigate Mbongeni Mbingo, the editor of the Times Sunday, following a commentary piece he wrote in his newspaper criticising the House Speaker for not allowing a debate to take place on possible amendments to the kingdom’s Constitution. The House of Assembly said the editor was in contempt of Parliament.’
The International Press Institute (IPI) in its annual World Press Freedom Review,published in May 2008reported how Njabulo Mabuza, the then Minister for Health and Social Welfare, ‘simply banned the media from entering Swaziland’s biggest hospital, after various publications published exposés alleging that a pattern of staff negligence and drug shortages resulted in the death of a young girl. Similar accusations had been published in the past, prompting Mabuza, a week earlier, to issue a government memo to the hospital administration, instructing the same to deny media access to the hospital premises without his permission.’
I could go on ... and on (Click here to read more on press freedom in Swaziland).
This was Macanjana Motsa’s first media release since she was appointed Government Press Secretary. It is not an auspicious start and her credibility for honesty is in tatters. She needs to be careful, I am reminded of her predecessor in the job Percy Simelane; when he tried to defend a report critical of Swaziland’s poor governance, he so outraged parliamentarians they branded him a ‘herdboy’.
