Last week a lecturer from the University of Swaziland was summoned to the Swazi Parliament to talk to the committee that’s been set up to investigate the editor of the Times Sunday Mbongeni Mbingo for allegedly criticizing the Speaker and House of Assembly.
Committee members asked for a seminar so they could learn what ‘freedom of expression’ meant. I wasn’t invited myself, but if I had been I might have thought the invitation was a hoax.
Why would members of parliament need to learn what freedom of expression was when only last year they agreed the new Swazi Constitution that enshrines the very concept of ‘freedom of expression’?
The Swaziland Constitution is as clear as can be on freedom of expression. Chapter III, section 14 (1) (b) on page 19 states, ‘The fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual enshrined in this chapter are hereby declared and guaranteed, namely – freedom of conscience, of expression and of peaceful assembly and association and of movement.’
Section 2 of the same chapter states, ‘The fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in this Chapter shall be respected and upheld by the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and other organs or agencies of Government and where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons in Swaziland, and shall be enforceable by the courts as provided by the Constitution.’
Any how, I am a professor so if there’s any one reading this who still isn’t too sure what freedom of expression means here’s a quick tutorial for you.
First an introduction to ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom of the press’. This comes from the on-line encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. It is often regarded as an integral concept in modern liberal democracies. The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, although implementation remains lacking in many countries.
Freedom of the press (or press freedom) is the guarantee by a government of free public press for its citizens and their associations, extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. It also extends to news gathering, and processes involved in obtaining information for public distribution. Not all countries are protected by a bill of rights or the constitutional provision pertaining to Freedom of the Press.
Read more at Wikipedia here
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The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) is an international organization that advocates for freedom of expression. It says threats to freedom of expression go far beyond the arrest and imprisonment of those whose writings and opinions challenge the powerful – although that still occurs with alarming frequency in some countries. Governments and other forces are employing more sophisticated methods to restrict freedom of expression.
In the aftermath of 9-11, many countries have passed sweeping anti-terrorism laws that pressure journalists to reveal their sources and leave them more vulnerable to arrest and prosecution. Criminal defamation laws are being used to hinder proper scrutiny of the activities of public officials, business leaders and others.
Meanwhile, Internet censorship is spreading worldwide as governments find new ways of limiting citizens’ expression and access to information on the World Wide Web. And violence against journalists and other media workers remains an ever-present danger in many places.
IFEX has published a Campaigning for Freedom of Expression, a Handbook for Advocates.
Download it from here
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Closer to home, Matt Mogekwu, published an article in 2001 called The Politics of Press Freedom and the National Economy in Swaziland in which he examined the extent to which the issue of press freedom has become a variable in the scheming for power and status within the Swazi nation and what this means for the economic development of the country.
He writes, ‘Dialogue is an essential element of democracy; that people need to talk to the government, among themselves and be free to express whatever opinion they may hold about any aspect of national life. Press freedom should be specifically provided for in the constitution for the practitioners to be able to carry out their responsibilities without fear of intimidation.’
Read the full article here
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The International Press Institute (IPI) describes itself as a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the promotion of the free flow of news and information and the improvement of the practices of journalism.
IPI publishes annual reports on press freedom around the world. Here is part of what it had to say about press freedom in Swaziland in 2006, ‘Journalists have little in the way of legal protection when carrying out their work and there are several laws limiting the right to report. Among them, the 1938 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act that forbids the publication of any criticism of the monarchy – as a result, most reporting concerning the king’s activities involve self-censorship.’
Read the full report here
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