Police in
the absolute monarchy of Swaziland (eSwatini) are to hunt down and arrest
people who criticise King Mswati on social media.
The National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini said
the law would deal with them harshly.
He made the announcement in
a written statement published in media across Swaziland on Friday (31 January
2020).
The eSwatini Observer, a newspaper in
effect owned by the King, reported, ‘He stated that the police service was hot
on their trail and they will see to it that the perpetrators of the cybercrime
ultimately face the wrath and might of the law.’
Human rights are severely
curtailed in Swaziland. Freedom House scored Swaziland 16 out of a
possible 100 points in its Freedom in
the World 2019 report. It concluded that Swaziland was ‘not free’.
There is very little
media freedom in Swaziland, where one of the only two daily newspapers is owned
by King Mswati. All broadcast
news is controlled by the government, whose members are handpicked by the
King.
Democracy
campaigners use social media sites such as Facebook to draw attention to human
rights abuses.
Dlamini said there were ‘highly
insolent and morality devoid characters disseminating seditious, slanderous and
very insultive statements about the country’s authorities via social media’.
He added, ‘The intent and
motive of these statements is seemingly to vilify and pour scorn on the
country’s authorities, which we find completely unacceptable and an insult to
the entire nation.’
The Swaziland News, an online newspaper,
reported, the
National Commissioner announced that they had launched a high-level
investigation that would uncover those behind these
‘vitriolic and damaging statements’
so they could be dealt with according to the law. ‘He said they have noted that these individuals were in a mission to
plant a seed of disorder and anarchy in the Nation.’
This is not the first time
the Swazi state has threatened social media users.
In March 2018, Swaziland’s then Prime
Minister Barnabas Dlamini hinted his government might try to restrict
access to social media, but he told Senators there was nothing police could do
‘at the moment’ about the posts.
The Swazi
Observer reported at the time, ‘The premier said it was unfortunate that
social media was a very complex phenomenon, which no single person or
organisation could control.’
The Swazi Government has a history of hostility to
social media. In
2011, Prime Minister Dlamini said it was important to keep information
published on Facebook away from the Swazi
people. ‘If such stories from these websites then make it to the newspapers
and radios, then the public at large will start to think there is some truth in
the story yet it was just malicious gossip,’ the Times of Swaziland reported him saying at the time.
He was commenting after information about a cabinet
minister had appeared on social media.
The Swazi
Observer also reported at the time, ‘Dlamini said government did not have
any measures to control the internet but relied on the support of the media
which assists by shying away from information published or sourced from the
internet.’
In the run up to April 2011 a group used Facebook to
try to drum up support for an ‘uprising’ for democracy in the kingdom. The
Government threatened the online activists with prosecution.
In
May 2011, the Times of Swaziland
reported Swaziland had specially ‘trained officers’ to track down people
who used Facebook to criticise the Swazi
Government. Nathaniel Mahluza, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of
Information Communication and Technology, said the government was worried by
what the newspaper called ‘unsavoury comments’ about the kingdom being
published on the internet.
In March 2012, Swaziland’s
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze said
he would use the law against people who criticised Swaziland on the internet.
He told the Swazi Senate that he would use what he called ‘international laws’
to bring the internet critics to task. He was reacting to concerns from
Senators that the internet sites showed ‘disrespect’ to the King.
Academic research published in 2013 suggested that
people in Swaziland
used the Internet to communicate with one another and share information and
ideas about the campaign for democracy, bypassing the Swazi mainstream media
which was heavily censored. They debated and shared information about
activities designed to bring attention to the human rights abuses in the
kingdom.
The research suggested, ‘It is clear that social media
sites have extended the public sphere to offer opportunities for a wider range
of people both in the country and outside it, to produce, distribute and
exchange information and commentary about the kingdom – especially in the
context of the need for political change. People speak in their own voices and
are not mediated in the way mainstream media are in Swaziland.’
 |
| National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini |
See also
PM
hints at social media restriction
One
in three use Internet for news
Swazi
people speak up for themselves
Government
threatens Facebook critics
Swazi
police track Facebook users
