A shake-up of jobs at Swaziland’s government-controlled radio broadcaster has highlighted continuing concerns about the way the station operates.
The radio station Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS) is a government department and all people who work there are civil servants.
The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Friday (29 February 2008) that five journalists had been transferred from the station. The journalists were moved to a variety of jobs, mostly as ‘information officers’ at government departments. In some cases the moves were job promotions.
The Weekend Observer on Saturday (1 March 2008) revealed that the Civil Service Commission (CSC) took the decision about transfers without consultation with management at SBIS.
The Weekend Observer also interviewed staff at SBIS who accused the CSC of favouritism. The Weekend Observer reported, ‘the promoted employees are those that are said to be in the good books of supervisors at the station and those considered to be “bad boys” have been ignored.’
Staff morale at SBIS has been low for years. The Weekend Observer reported that in the past there was an ‘outcry’ when several journalists were sent against their will to work in remote rural areas of Swaziland.
In 2005, the Swaziland House of Parliament set up a committee to investigate the operations of the SBIS radio. In particular there were concerns about low staff morale at the radio stations and the direction the station was taking.
When the then Minister of Public Service and Information Themba Msibi tabled the report to Parliament it was rejected as inadequately researched.
According to a report in the Times of Swaziland at the time (7 November 2005) there were suspicions that SBIS management were the only ones consulted in the preparation of the report.
The minister denied there was low staff morale, but conceded ‘there may be some few individuals who are disenchanted’.
The low staff morale has been with SBIS for some time, but I don’t think morale is the worst of the station’s problems.
Government has a vice-like control on SBIS. This is seen in the way it treats its staff members, which is bad enough, but it can also been seen in what it allows – and does not allow – on air.
Apart from SBIS there is only one other radio station in Swaziland and that is the Christian radio station, Transworld Radio.
According to The African Media Barometer - Swaziland report of 2005 (AMB 2005), the Christian radio station Transworld Radio approached King Mswati III in 1974 with the request to be licensed as an operator that does not serve the local market but Africa as a whole. The King agreed and registered Transworld Radio as a mission by way of a Royal Command. In 2003, Transworld Radio (through a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between the station and the Director of SBIS) gained access to the local frequencies FM 96 and FM 101 in ‘an obvious attempt to block the spill-over from South Africa’s Radio Zulu and Radio siSwati’.
So, no local radio stations in Swaziland can be considered to be independent of the ruling elites in Swaziland.
AMB 2005 also reported that information is heavily censored on radio. For example, the report stated, when a caller to a radio talk show touches on a sensitive issue, he or she is immediately taken off air. Some sectors of society such as trade unions and political formations are officially barred from appearing on SBIS.
Both SBIS and state-controlled Swazi TV ‘hardly offer balanced and fair information reflecting the full spectrum of diverse views and opinions,’ the report stated.
AMB 2005 went on, ‘On both stations, royalty and government ministers tend to dominate air time. Whilst Swazi TV occasionally features trade unions and other progressives in their news bulletins, SBIS is a no-go area for the opposition including trade unions.’
AMB 2005 found some positive aspects of SBIS, which it believed to be ‘generally diverse’.
The report stated, ‘Whilst the opposition and trade unions are banned from appearing on the airwaves, NGOs and government departments such as police are given free time almost on a daily basis. News is packaged around the King and government ministers. When the King is engaged in a public function, the news and current affairs slots tend to be heavily skewed towards him.
‘Live talk shows are allowed only when they deal with what the government perceives as “soft” or “safe” topics. Programmes considered to be too critical of the status quo have in the past been taken off air.’
The report was produced by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter in conjunction with Frederich Ebert Stiftung. Panellists from the media and civil society in Swaziland met for two days in 2005 to discuss the state of the media in Swaziland.
When the AMB met again two years later in 2007, the panel was able to detect a slight improvement in SBIS programmes.
AMB 2007 said, ‘The last two years have seen a slight improvement at SBIS in providing balanced and fair content. The daily breakfast show, for example, presents a greater diversity of voices and airs opinions that might challenge the status quo.’
AMB 2007 also highlighted youth programmes, programmes on women’s issues and a plethora of sports programmes.
‘However, children’s programming is very scant, there are no human rights-based programmes and no programmes servicing minority religious groups.
‘In fact, recently members of the Bahai faith applied for airtime, but were reportedly denied on the basis that they do not preach the gospel. SBIS and the Ministry of Home Affairs are now negotiating their application.’
AMB 2007 reported that in terms of news content, stories are still packaged around the king and the government. Single-sourced stories are common, capturing only the views of government.
AMB 2007 reported, ‘There is a definite hierarchy that must be followed – stories about the King always lead, followed by the Prime Minister, Cabinet and then individual ministers and MPs.
‘As an example of the preference given to government stories, it was confirmed that if the choice of lead story were between the PM delivering a speech or major bush fires that wiped out hundreds of homes, the PM’s speech would always lead. MPs are allocated exclusive airtime on SBIS once a week to air their views.’
AMB 2007 also criticized a satirical show called ‘Khalamdumbadumbane’, where the presenters are frequently accused of perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes and being misogynists.
‘It was said the show does a disservice to women and to the cause of gender equality, particularly because the main presenter is the traditional prime minister and wields enormous influence,’ AMB 2007 stated.
SBIS clearly has many problems. It is difficult to see how the Civil Service Commission’s decision to arbitrarily move journalists from the station can help solve them. It is also clear that the Government has no intention of changing the way it deals with SBIS, for to do so would lessen the control it has on the station and therefore its control over what ordinary people in Swaziland can hear about, and what they cannot.
See also
SWAZI MEDIA RIGHTS STILL RESTRICTED
RADIO NEWS NOT FOR THE PEOPLE
RADIO SWAZILAND ENGLISH NEWS
READ ALL ABOUT KING MSWATI III
PARLIAMENT INTIMIDATION GOES ON
BROADCASTING FOR THE PUBLIC
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