DECEITFUL SWAZI WAR REPORTING

A passing reference by Prince Mfanasibili in his Times Sunday column this week (27 April 2008) about the coverage of a previous Iraq war reminded me of what must be one of the most humiliating moments in recent Swazi journalism history.

Mfanasibili praised the present government spokesperson Percy Simelane for reporting about events during the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990 when Simelane used to work for state run radio Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS).

Mfanasibili didn’t say whether Simelane was actually reporting FROM battle-torn Iraq, or merely reporting ABOUT Iraq from the comfort of radio studios in Mbabane, Swaziland.

Since Simelane was working for the state-controlled radio SBIS at the time it is fair to assume that he didn’t venture far from his home (SBIS journalists rarely do).

In 2003, a different reporter from SBIS got found out deceiving the Swazi people about Iraq.

In that year, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists reported that Phesheya Dube, a journalist for SBIS pretended to broadcast reports from Baghdad, while in fact he never left Swaziland.

‘Making it sound as if he was calling from the war zone, Dube culled all of his information from foreign press and wire service reports. Once the ruse was discovered, Information Minister Ntshangase criticized Dube for making Swaziland “an object of scorn.” However, no disciplinary action was taken against the journalist, and he was not fired,’ CPJ reported.

I assume that he wasn’t fired because it wasn’t Dube who was trying to deceive the Swazi people. His bosses at SBIS must have known very well that Dube was not at the front line. Instead, he was in one of the broom cupboards that pass for studios at SBIS making it all up.

His bosses were the ones who should have got the sack.

Now, we have another Iraq war, and this deceitful incident reminds us of one important fact: you should never believe a word you hear on SBIS News.