Swaziland’s Foreign
Affairs Minister Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze is angry that copies of the Nation
magazine, which carries articles
advocating for democracy in the kingdom, were found at King Mswati III Airport
and on board a plane flying to South Africa.
The magazine, which is
legally available throughout Swaziland, was spotted by Swazi Senator Bonsile
Mngometulu.
According to a report
in the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III,
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, she, ‘questioned the vigilance of
the KMIII International Airport authorities’.
The newspaper reported, ‘She
said the March issue of the magazine carried defamatory articles about the
country yet the authorities of the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA)
allowed it to be placed there. She did not specify on the contents of the
article but said it was capable of damaging the image of the country and
further turn away potential investors.’
Among the articles
published in the March 2015 edition of the Nation
was one
about the role King Mswati
played in the closure of an iron ore mining company at Ngwenya.
Mngometulu said police
should have prevented the magazine being distributed at the airport. She was
speaking at a briefing between the senate portfolio committee and the ministry
of foreign affairs and international cooperation on Wednesday (15 April 2015).
Presently, Bheki Makhubu,
the editor of the Nation, and human
rights lawyer and writer Thulani Maseko are serving two years in jail after writing and publishing articles critical of the judiciary in the
magazine.
The Observer reported that Chief Gamedze, ‘said that the authorities
should have detected that there was something wrong and prevented the
distribution of the magazine in the aircraft.
‘He agreed it was a
situation that needed to be prevented but said such was the responsibility of
another ministry.’
See also
JAILED
WRITER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
SWAZI
JOURNALIST’S PRISON LETTER
SUPPORT
FOR JAILED SWAZI JOURNALISTS
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/support-for-jailed-swazi-journalists.html
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