WILL CONSTITUTION PROTECT ‘TIMES’?

Is the Times of Swaziland looking for a fight with the House of Assembly?

Hot on the heels of the acquittal on contempt of Parliament charges laid on the Times Sunday editor, comes another rip roaring comment column.

This time it is Vusi Sibisi, writing in the Times on Tuesday (23 October 2007).

He was reacting to the acquittal of Mbongeni Mbingo, who had written a column in his newspaper criticizing the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Prince Guduza.

Here’s what Sibisi had to say on the matter, ‘The posture once again raises the question of the wisdom of electing a prince to lead the House of Assembly, given that he is a member of the ruling family. These are all the reasons – coupled with the fact that they are not elected but appointed to Parliament – why a member of the royal family should never have been elected to lead the House of Assembly.’

Sibisi also calls members of the house of assembly ‘sycophants’, ‘nauseatingly eager to please the powers that be’ and ‘knee bending’.

This isn’t too different from the words used by Mbongeni Mbingo in his own article. He said, ‘Prince Guduza must be ashamed of himself’, and called MPs ‘foolish’. Mbingo also said the prince ‘is confirming people’s feelings that because of his royalty status, he is therefore to safeguard that interest and not that of the people.’

Mbingo was taken before a House of Assembly Select Committee on a charge of contempt. He was acquitted by the committee because, the committee said, he was expressing a personal opinion and he was protected by the Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression.

Although the committee felt obliged to set Mbingo free, it did put the boot into the media more generally by recommending that all journalists who report on Parliament should be accredited (presumably by Parliament itself) and calling for the anti-democratic Media Council Bill to be resurrected.

We must wait and see if Sibisi’s article attracts the attention of a House of Assembly Select Committee. If journalists truly are protected by the Constitution, we should expect a deafening silence on the matter.