Social media in Swaziland are beating mainstream media to
the punch in the coverage of the arrest
and jailing of a magazine editor and a human rights lawyer.
Bheki Makhubu, editor of the Nation magazine and Thulani Maseko were arrested on 17 March 2014
and charged
with contempt of court for writing articles in the magazine critical of the
Swazi judiciary and Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi in particular.
Posts on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, told
the world of the arrests almost as they happened and posters have been
following the case every step of the way as the two accused appear in court,
seemingly day after day.
The posts alerted
human rights organisations in Swaziland and across the world to the plight
of the two men. Within hours condemnations of Swaziland, which is ruled by King
Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, were transmitted across
the world. Amnesty
International immediately named Makhubu and Maseko ‘prisoners of
conscience’.
The articles, originally published in the Nation, which has a tiny circulation in
Swaziland, were posted on the Internet ensuring that many more people had the
chance to read them than would have been the case.
Mainstream media outside of Swaziland quickly followed up
on the stories and now the case of Makhubu and Maseko is international news.
Within Swaziland, the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA) reported that state broadcast media, which are almost every radio and
television station in the kingdom, have ignored the case.
MISA
reported, ‘It must be said that the broadcast media in Swaziland is more
censored than the print media and operates under a greater internalised fear of
the authorities. The government has in place Public Service Announcement Guidelines for the state-controlled TV and radio,
which among many other measures that restrict free speech, requires people to
get approval from their local chief before issuing a statement.’
There are only two newspaper groups in Swaziland, the Swazi Observer, described by MISA in its
annual report on press freedom in Swaziland as ‘propaganda’ for the Swazi Royal
Family and the independent Times of
Swaziland. Both have given extensive coverage to the trail of the two
accused, but neither have given their readers details of what they have
supposed to have done, beyond reporting they are on contempt of court charges.
The newspapers live in fear of reprisals from the state
if they overstep the mark and criticise the judiciary, who are handpicked by
King Mswati.
The Times Sunday
refused to publish a comment article written by its regular columnist Musa
Hlophe, himself a human rights activist, for fear of retribution. The
unpublished article was subsequently published
on the Swazi Media Commentary blogsite and shared extensively on Facebook.
The Mail and Guardian newspaper in
South Africa later
published it on its own website.
Social media sites were also the first to report the news
that the US Ambassador to Swaziland Makila James had attended the Swazi High
Court to offer her support to the two accused. The US Embassy had previously roundly
criticised the Swazi authorities for the arrests. Social media reported
James saying that the court case would have an implication in an investigation
the US is undertaking on human rights in Swaziland. If improvements are not
made by 15 May 2014, Swaziland risks losing its preferred trading status with
the US under
the AGOA agreement. This could risk 20,000 jobs in the textile industry in
Swaziland.
Social media is fast becoming an essential vehicle for
finding out the truth about what is going on in Swaziland. More and more
ordinary people as well as established democracy advocates are taking to the
Internet to get the message out.
It probably will not stop with the Makhubu and Maseko
case. On 12 April, Swazi activists will mark the anniversary of the 1973 Royal
Proclamation that turned Swaziland from a parliamentary democracy to an
autocratic kingdom ruled by decree. We can expect to get a more complete
picture of the anti-government and anti-monarchy activities on that day from
social media than ever we can from Swaziland’s mainstream media.
See also
EDITOR IS A SECRET SECURITY RISK
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