ELECTION BAN ON SWAZI JOURNALISTS

Journalists in Swaziland have been illegally stopped from reporting on the kingdom’s national election.

News is emerging of widespread intimidation and harassment of reporters as they tried to cover the election registration process that ended this week.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), which is running the voting process, has ordered journalists to present identification when covering the election. The EBC, which has no legal powers to make the order, says it wants to be able to tell the real journalists from the ‘fakes’.

Just what a ‘fake’ journalist is not explained. In fact, what seems to be happening is that the EBC wants to control who is allowed to report and who is not.

The EBC has been under mounting criticism for its running of the election. There is still a High Court case pending to determine whether the EBC board members were appointed legally. There is increasing concern that EBC chairman, Chief Gija Dlamini is unqualified for the job. The Swazi Constitution states that the EBC chair should be a senior judge, whereas Chief Gija is variously described as ‘an electrician’ or ‘an electrical engineer’.

The Nation magazine reports this month (July 2008) that for the first time in history journalists covering elections have been told to carry an identity card and present it to ‘anyone who might ask for it’.

The Nation reports that journalists have been harassed by police and traditional authorities at voting registration centres.

The Nation also reports that EBC deputy chairman Mzwandile Fakudze said that IDs had to be introduced this year ‘for security reasons’.

The Nation quotes Fakudze saying, ‘Although we uphold the freedom of the press, we also have to ensure that we identify the genuine journalists from the fakes.’

Sihle Mavuso, president of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ), said it had received no official instruction that ID cards had to be held. This was even though journalists had been attending workshops and press conferences organised by the EBC without having to produce ID cards.

Mavuso said that it was a pity that people were suspicious about the elections ‘thus physically and emotionally harassing’ journalists.

‘This is very unfortunate because it compromises press freedom, said Mavuso, adding, ‘It gets worse when powerful bodies such as the police and traditional authorities infringe on the right of journalists to access to information.’

Mavuso told the Nation magazine that the fact that journalists were told to produce their IDs whenever they were asked by ‘anyone’ made members of the media vulnerable to any form of harassment by anybody.

The banning of journalists from the voting registration is not the first time the EBC has banned reporters during the present elections.

In April 2008, journalists were banned from a meeting in the Hhohho region, held by the EBC because the EBC chairman didn’t like the way the media was reporting the commission’s activities.

See also
SWAZI ELECTION BOARD BANS REPORTERS