DON’T BELIEVE A WORD SBIS SAYS

We are told that Swaziland-state broadcaster SBIS has bought a ‘state-of-the-art outside’ broadcasting unit, costing close to E2 million (US$295,000).

The propaganda outfit will used it to cover ‘various national events including broadcasting live from the reed dance site, the traditional buganu festival, as well as other important national events, which His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Indlovukazi will bless,’ according to a report in the Times of Swaziland.

I see the main purpose is to give yet more coverage to King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The unit should allow the propagandists at SBIS to get out and about a bit – which will make a nice change, because in the past they didn’t use to bother.

In case we forget (and personally I think this is a tale worth the re-telling) SBIS was the radio station that took lying to its listeners to new heights (or do I mean depths?).

Remember when SBIS got caught out claiming to be at the Iraq War, when its reporter was still in the office in Mbabane, Swaziland’s capital?

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists reported in 2003 that Phesheya Dube, pretended to broadcast reports from Baghdad, while in fact he never left Swaziland.



‘Making it sound as if he was calling from the war zone, Dube culled all of his information from foreign press and wire service reports. Once the ruse was discovered, Information Minister Ntshangase criticized Dube for making Swaziland “an object of scorn.”

Repeat after me: ‘SBIS, you can’t believe a word they say.’

SWAZI PEOPLE MISLED ON IMF SUPPORT

The Swaziland Government is misleading people about its success at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week.

Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister, and government colleagues went to the IMF to get some money so they could pay the kingdom’s bills, including the salaries of civil servants and other government workers. This money is called ‘budget support’.

But so far the Swazi Government hasn’t been given a cent. What has happened is that the IMF wants the Swazi Government to produce a workable financial plan for the kingdom and it will give some money to help it to improve its own financial management. But the IMF has not given anything for ‘budget support’.

This suggests, to me at least, that the much trailed ‘Fiscal Adjustment Roadmap’ the government boasted would show it was on top of the financial crisis cut little ice with the IMF.

So, not much has changed: the government still doesn’t have any more money, even though it assured civil servants and others that it would get some in time to pay their October 2010 salaries.

As things stand, those salaries might not be paid.

That’s the truth of the matter. However, the Swaziland Government is trying to mislead the Swazi people by making it seem it has been more successful in its negotiations with the IMF that it has been.

For the second day running SBIS, Swaziland’s state controlled radio has been running positive stories about the IMF meeting (which have been repeated by the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper).

It is no coincidence that the only information coming to Swaziland about the IMF meeting is through SBIS: it is controlled by the government and has Dlamini, the Prime Minister, as its editor-in-chief.

WHOOPS! IS ROYAL SEX SECRET OUT?

Sssssh! Don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret.

Each morning Swaziland’s state-controlled radio station SBIS broadcasts a programme from the BBC World Service called Network Africa and today (6 August 2010) it ran a report about the resignation of Ndumiso Mamba, the Swazi Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

It said he resigned, ‘following allegations that he was having an affair with one of the king’s wives’.

Don’t worry. It was broadcast at breakfast time so King Mswati III would have been tucked up in bed and won’t have heard it.

SEX SCANDAL: SWAZI MEDIA SILENT

While the world’s media tell the truth about the sex scandal involving the 12th wife of King Mswati III of Swaziland that led to the resignation yesterday (5 August 210) of a Swazi cabinet minister, local media have followed the official state line.

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent newspaper, reports that Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ndumiso Mamba resigned ‘following certain allegations circulating in the country and internationally’.

It doesn’t say that the story is about the king’s 12th wife, Nothando Dube, (also known as Inkhosikati LaDube) and Mamba being discovered having sex together last week, while the king was on an official visit to Taiwan.

The Times takes the ‘official’ line which is ‘Mamba resigned following certain allegations circulating in the country and internationally’.

The Times goes on, ‘The Prime Minister [Barnabas] Dlamini did not disclose the nature of the allegations, except to say that he had held consultations with the minister as a result of these.

‘The minister then offered to step down from his position, as well as that of senator. He was an appointed senator.

‘In his statement he said, “There are allegations circulating in the country and elsewhere involving the Honourable Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ndumiso Mamba.

“I have held consultations with Mamba, and he has decided to step down forthwith as minister and Senator in order to allow the matter to be considered by the appropriate fora.”’

‘Mamba was not present during the press briefing which lasted less than five minutes.’

Meanwhile, state radio station SBIS, which is editorially under the control of Prime Minister Dlamini, took a similar line in its bulletins yesterday evening, relegating the story to second spot after a report that Dlamini himself had hosted a dinner for previous PMs and their wives and praised the wives for having good ideas that influenced their successful men. (This being his contribution to August as international women’s month.)

DEFEND RIGHT TO FREE BROADCAST

The following is a statement from the Swaziland Solidarity Network concerning the announcement from Swaziland’s state radio that it will only broadcast announcements about forthcoming meetings if they have police approval.

SOURCE

STATE BROADCASTER GAGS UNIONS:

23 June, 2010

The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) recently fell victim to the Swazi government’s latest attack on press freedom. The Times of Swaziland newspaper reports that the state owned radio station, the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS), recently refused to announce a statement issued by SNAT for a forth coming teachers’ meeting because it had not been approved by police.

Senior personnel at the radio station allege that they always required big organisations have their announcements to be accompanied by police approval, despite the fact that this requirement has never been enforced ever since the radio station was established. The reason given for this sudden twist in policy, according to the radio station’s management, is to ensure that it does not announce meetings that have not been approved by the police.

This requirement has never been formally communicated to the relevant organisations and smacks of government’s continued suppression of all entities linked in any way with pro-democracy movements in the country. Due to the fact that this new requirement does not formally exist on paper, it is unclear, for example whether it affects other “big organisations” such as churches and soccer clubs who do call mass meetings from time to time. As yet, however, none of these organisations have reported having been asked to provide proof that their meetings have been sanctioned by police before being announced.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network wishes to advise the Swazi government that unions must always be free to publicise their meetings without undue requirements needed. We call upon all unions and governments in the Southern African region to help the Swazi government understand that this type of thing is not done in a normal society.

Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN]