About this time last year the Times of Swaziland group of newspapers was threatened with closure after it reprinted an article from the Norway-based Afrol news agency that contained criticism of Swazi King Mswati III.
To mark the anniversary Afrol published a report about the poor state of media freedom in Swaziland on Monday (25 February 2008).
As I wrote myself the Times of Swaziland group of newspapers was forced into publishing an abject apology to King Mwasti III after the Times Sunday ran a news commentary sourced from Afrol in which the following appeared,
‘Swaziland is increasingly paralysed by poor governance, corruption and the private spending of authoritarian King Mswati III and his large royal family.
The growing social crisis in the country and the lessening interest of donors to support King Mswati’s regime has also created escalating needs for social services beyond the scale of national budgets.’
Such open criticism of the king is not allowed in Swaziland (not even in so-called independent newspapers like the Times Sunday). The publisher was summoned to the Royal Palace and told to issue a public apology or his newspapers would be closed down. The apology was swiftly forthcoming.
This week Afrol revealed that the Times Sunday didn’t publish the whole of its report. The newspaper left out this paragraph,
‘There is little confidence in Swaziland's future as long as long-awaited democratic reforms are not carried out. Investors and donors expect that a revolution may be around the corner and prefer to do their deals with the next, democratic rulers of Swaziland.’
In its report this week, Afrol reminded readers that ‘the Times is known as the most independent media in Swaziland, a country where most of the press is controlled by government and where “independent” media only survive when practicing self-censorship’.
Afrol goes on to say that media analysts in Swaziland deplored the quick and total apology by the Swazi editor. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland Chapter held that the Times failed the Swazi people, claiming the last independent newspaper in the Kingdom had ‘given up the fight for media freedom. This is a great disservice to the Swazi people,’ it added.
Afrol’s report says that in its monitoring of media freedom and freedom of expression in Swaziland, MISA has during the past few years reported on attempts by the palace to curtail independent reporting by media through sheer intimidation. MISA said the ‘interactions between a Head of State and the publisher of the country’s main newspaper’ in the affair one year ago was ‘evidence of major editorial interference’.
MISA said the issues raised in the controversial article should be ‘a matter of debate for the public and economists in Swaziland,’ adding that the newspaper was ‘obliged’ to inform the public about the analysis made.
I think MISA is absolutely correct on this. One of the main roles of a free and independent media is to give people information about what is going on around them so that the people can hold their rulers to account.
As I have been writing this week, people in Swaziland aren’t being given the true picture about their economy and because of this they are unable to direct that the government undertakes new policies to save the kingdom from possible disaster.
Never has a free and courageous media been more sorely needed in Swaziland.
See also
CLOSURE THREAT TO TIMES
LONG HISTORY OF SWAZI CENSORSHIP
UNREALITY OF SWAZI MEDIA FREEDOM
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