Media freedom
advocates have criticised Swaziland’s Supreme Court for awarding record libel damages against the kingdom’s only privately-owned
daily newspaper in favour of the Senate President Gelane Simelane-Zwane.
Africa Echo Ltd,
which runs the Times of Swaziland
group, was ordered to pay Simelane-Zwane, who is better known in the kingdom as
Gelane Zwane, E550,000 (US$50,000) after it published stories stating that she
had lied about her birth name.
The Swazi News newspaper had reported in
2009 that Zwane was not born a Simelane and this would make her ineligible for
her then office as acting chief of KoNtshingila. At the time she was engaged in
a battle to retain the chieftaincy which depended on her being a Simelane.
The Media Institute
of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter said in a statement, ‘This recent ruling has sent further
chills through Swaziland's already heavily censored and fearful media.’
It added, ‘The
three judges who handed down the ruling - Nigerian-born Esta Ota; American Bar
Association member Stanley Moore; and Lesotho-born chief justice Michael
Ramodibedi - emphasised the high-status of Simelane-Zwane in Swazi politics and
society, suggesting the more powerful one is the more they deserve from a
defamation case.’
MISA added, ‘In
silencing the media the judiciary is ultimately harming the prospects of the
nation. Without open and unfettered debate, progress will only benefit the
fortunate few at the top.
‘In suppressing
sincerely held opinions or inconvenient truths in the name of respect, the
judiciary is displaying remarkable disrespect for the principles of natural
justice and tolerance. If freedom of speech is continually trampled on, the image
of Swaziland in the eyes of the world will continue to decline. It is not the
so-called “disrespectful” or “offensive” speech that causes the problems; it is
the criminalizing and silencing of that speech, of that open debate, which
causes the problems.
‘In handing out
disproportionate rulings in defamation cases in the name of protecting the
powerful, the judiciary is harming Swaziland’s constitution, which should be
protecting free speech and media freedom.’
Reporters
Without Borders called the
award of damages ‘exorbitant’ and added it was ‘tantamount to a death sentence’
for the Times of Swaziland.
Cléa Kahn-Sriber,
head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa desk, said in a statement, ‘This
damages award, the largest ever made against a Swazi publication in a libel
case, is out of all proportion to the harm the newspaper is alleged to have
caused the plaintiff, said. In the light of the financial situation of
Swaziland’s media, one can only regard this exorbitant award as a government attempt
to throttle the country’s only independent daily. We call for this ruling to be
overturned as its sole aim is to gag the media.’
The three Supreme
Court judges giving their judgement said the newspaper had been reckless in not
checking its facts before publishing the stories.
See also
POLICE THREAT TO
ANTI-CHIEF PROTEST
SENATE PRESIDENT
CENSORSHIP THREAT
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/senate-president-censorship-threat.html
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