SWAZI PRESS FREEDOM WOES

Following the Swazi Prime Minister’s assertion that there is no media freedom problem in Swaziland, comes yet another international report stating the exact opposite.

The International Press Institute (IPI) in its annual World Press Freedom Review, published last week (8 May 2008), investigates the state of media freedom in Swaziland for the year 2007.

Unsurprisingly, for anyone who follows the media scene in the kingdom it found a lot of problems. It shares many of the concerns that were featured in the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) So This Is Democracy? report, published on 3 May 2008.

The IPI also highlighted the way the libel laws were used in Swaziland to try to silence legitimate journalistic inquiry. You can read the full IPI report here.

I noticed two points from the IPI report of 2007 that I have not yet seen highlighted in any other press freedom review of Swaziland.

The first involved a controversial pastor called Justice Dlamini.

IPI reports,

‘Swaziland’s media was this year also confronted with a more surprising source of harassment. On 2 March, Justice Dlamini, a controversial church pastor, declared during a sermon that he was praying for the death of two journalists, Times of Swaziland managing editor Martin Dlamini and reporter Nhlanhla Mathunjwa, several days after the publication of a story detailing a squabble between the pastor and one of his subordinates over a church vehicle. Dlamini, who insisted the story “lowered his dignity,” said he had prayed to God to remove the two journalists from the face of the earth “to teach the media a lesson,” adding that this would also be a lesson to other journalists tempted to write “badly” about church ministers. The remarks triggered widespread condemnation, including from Cabinet Ministers present at the sermon, a Times editorial on the matter, and a public statement by MISA Swaziland, emphasising that such threats undermined the principle of freedom of expression and calling on Dlamini to follow more appropriate channels for addressing his gripes against journalists.’

IPI also reports on a more positive development,

‘Swaziland’s journalistic community also received some favourable attention, with the Index on Censorship, an organisation that issues annual awards to those who use journalism, literature, whistleblowing, films or campaigns to defend freedom of expression, selecting Swaziland’s Siphiwe Hlophe for the campaigning award, based on her work on behalf of HIV-infected women.’

So there you have it, Mr Prime Minister, It doesn’t matter how much you try to deny the truth; the whole world knows that media are not free in Swaziland.

See also
SWAZILAND MEDIA FREEDOM DAY
SWAZI P.M. ATTACKED ON PRESS FREEDOM