The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government has said it will
pursue a newspaper editor using ‘legal channels’ after he wrote and published articles
critical of absolute monarch King Mswati III.
Zweli Martin Dlamini, founder and editor of the Swaziland
News, an online newspaper had published several articles stating that the
King had entered into a multi-billion
cannabis deal with a foreign company for his own benefit.
In an official
statement Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini called the reports ‘libellous, unfounded and factually incorrect’.
Sabelo Dlamini added, ‘Government continues to pursue
legal channels to hold Zweli Dlamini accountable for spreading misinformation.’
In the past in Swaziland journalists who criticised
the king have been
charged with sedition.
Swaziland News
is hosted online in neighbouring South Africa because laws in Swaziland restrict
which publications may be printed in the kingdom.
This is not the first time Zweli Martin Dlamini has
been in trouble with the absolute monarch. In April 2020 he wrote and published
reports that King
Mswati had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and had been
taken to hospital with breathing problems.
He had reportedly fled
to neighbouring South Africa in March 2020 for the second time. He said he
had been arrested and tortured by Swazi police who accused him of sedition.
Also, on 7 February
2020, The Swaziland News reported Dlamini was being harassed and
receiving death threats from King Mswati’s first born daughter Princess
Sikhanyiso, who is the Minister of Information Communication and Technology.
Dlamini
had previously fled to South Africa in fear of his life in 2017. He had
received death threats from a local businessman before his newspaper Swaziland
Shopping was shut down by the Swazi government when the newspaper’s
registration under the Books and Newspapers Act 1963 was declined by the Swazi
Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.
Separately, on 23 April 2020 Eugene Dube, the editor
of another online publication, Swati Newsweek, was
arrested and beaten by police. Police accused him of writing and publishing
critical articles about King Mswati. He later fled
to South Africa to escape arrest.
Reporters Without Borders (RWB) named Dube one of 30
coronavirus ‘information heroes’ who it described as ‘whistleblowers and
media outlets whose courage, perseverance or capacity to innovate has helped to
circulate reliable and vital information during the Covid-19 pandemic.’
Swazi police also
charged Ncamiso Ngcamphalala, President of the Swaziland Economic Freedom
Fighters (EFF), with sedition for comments he made in
an a article published by Swati Newsweek.
In the report Ngcamphalala was quoted saying, ‘We want
government to change people’s lives, the Swazi Monarchy must know its place. We
respect the King, but respect is earned and when pushed into a corner; we will
be forced to retaliate. We unapologetically stand for multi-party democracy.’
See also
‘No media freedom’ in
Swaziland, Reporters Without Borders annual report states
Swaziland journalist critical of
King flees, hides in forest five days
Swaziland democracy
leader charged with sedition for criticising absolute monarch on news website
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