Radio in Swaziland is to be banned from broadcasting news
and information that does not support the government’s own agenda.
All radio in the kingdom, except one Christian station that does not
broadcast news, is state-controlled and already suffers from high levels of
censorship.
Now, in advance of national elections due next year, the
government has barred all coverage of events, ‘except those authorised by
relevant authorities’.
New guidelines released this week, also bar ‘public service announcements’ unless they are ‘in
line with government policy’ or have been authorised ‘by the chiefs through the
regional administrators’ or deputy prime minister’s office’.
The guidelines say the radio stations, which fall under
the control of the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS), cannot
be ‘used for purposes of campaigning by individuals or groups, or to advance an
agenda for political, financial popularity gains for individuals or groups’.
Media in Swaziland already suffer severe censorship.
There are only two TV stations in the kingdom, the state-controlled Swazi TV
and the independent Channel S, which has a publicly-stated policy of supporting
King Mswati III, who rules the kingdom as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch.
There are only two national newspaper groups in Swaziland:
one, the Swazi Observer, is in effect
owned by the king and the other, the Times
of Swaziland, censors itself heavily so as to avoid anything that might be
interpreted as critical of the king.
There is a long history of censorship on SBIS. Strikes
and anti-government demonstrations are usually ignored by the radio. Sometimes
live programmes are censored on air. In July 2011, the plug was pulled on a
phone-in programme when listeners started criticising the government for its
handling of the economy. Percy Simelane, who was then the boss of SBIS, and is
now the government’s official spokesperson, personally stormed the radio studio
and cut the programme.
In April 1 2011, Welile Dlamini, a long-time news editor
at SBIS, challenged Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini at an editors’ forum
meeting on why the state radio station was told by the government what and what
not to broadcast. Dlamini said that at the station they were instructed to
spike certain stories such as those about demonstrations by progressives and
strike action by workers. The PM responded by saying editors should resign if
they were not happy with the editorial policies they are expected to work with.
In March 2011, SBIS stopped
broadcasting the BBC World Service Focus on Africa programme after it
carried reports critical of King Mswati
III. In the same month, SBIS failed
to cover the march by nurses that forced the Swazi Government into paying
them overdue allowances.
In 2010, Swazi police told SBIS it must stop allowing
people to broadcast information about future meetings unless the police had
given permission. Jerome Dlamini, Deputy Director of the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information
Services (SBIS), said this was to stop the
radio station airing an announcement for a meeting that was prohibited.
He said, ‘It’s the station’s policy not to make
announcements without police permission.’ The police directive came to light
when the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) tried to get an
announcement aired about one of its meetings.
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