Exiled editor Zweli Martin Dlamini to return to Swaziland

1 November 2018, Kenworthy News Media  

SOURCE 

Editor Zweli Martin Dlamini is set to return to the tiny absolute monarchy of Swaziland. He had fled to neighbouring South Africa in January [2018] after he had received death threats from a local businessman and his newspaper was shut down by the government, writes Kenworthy News Media.

“My decision to return to Swaziland has been influenced by minor changes in the political landscape and the fact that two of the powerful people who wanted to kill me are now dead – businessman Victor Gamedze [who was murdered at a petrol station in Mbabane in January] and late Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini”, says Zweli Martin Dlamini, who is the editor of Swaziland News.

I will not be going to Swaziland alone, but with an “influential member of the African National Congress”, who has promised to accompany me to ensure my safety, Dlamini adds.

Fled in fear of his life                                                              
In June 2017, Zweli Martin Dlamini had written and published a story about Swazi Mobile, a new telecommunications company that is owned by Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III and was run by Victor Gamedze, for the paper he edited at the time, Swaziland Shopping.

According to Dlamini’s story, Mswati and Gamedze had forced Swaziland’s government to side-line rival government parastatal company SPTC from competing with Swazi Mobile – a company that the Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini owned shares in.

“Shortly after publishing the story, I received a threatening call from Gamedze that lasted for twenty minutes where he vowed to ‘deal with me’. Later, Communications Minister Dumsani Ndlangamandla summoned me to a meeting and told me that the King was not happy with the story and had ordered that the newspaper should be closed”, Zweli Martin Dlamini told me in January.

After Swaziland Shopping was closed, Dlamini heard that the police had a warrant for his arrest and that he would be poisoned in prison because he had revealed secrets about Swazi Mobile. He fled to South Africa in fear of his life.

Hopes he’s not next Khashoggi
Zweli Martin Dlamini received support and help with security measures from the Committee to Protect Journalists whilst in exile, he says.

And although he believes that the situation is “not yet conductive for the media to operate freely”, he does believe that the threats to his life have been reduced enough for him to be able to return to Swaziland. He cites the appointment of a new Prime Minister, whom he believes will respect media reform, as one reason for his decision.

“But I am also going back to Swaziland while the world is shocked by the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. I hope this will not happen to me”, Dlamini says.

He will be contacting the government of neighbouring South Africa and international media organisations to ensure that this will not be the case, he adds.

Swaziland is ranked 152th of the 180 ranked nations in Reporters Without Borders’ 2018 World Press Freedom Index, which mentions the ordeal of Zweli Martin Dlamini.

“Swaziland is an absolute monarchy that prevents journalists from working freely and obstructs access to information”, and there is therefore “no media freedom”, the NGO concludes.

See also 

‘Editor flees after death threat’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/editor-flees-after-death-threat.html
 

Swazi Government forces newspaper to close

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/swazi-govt-forces-newspaper-to-close.html
 

Journalists ‘scared to do their jobs’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/journalists-scared-to-do-their-jobs.html

GOVT SPIES ON PRIVATE INTERNET SITES

The Government in Swaziland has been monitoring private online communications for some years without legal authority, a new report discloses.

These include internet blogs, email and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and internet chatrooms.

Telephone conversations have also been monitored.

This is reported by the United States in a review of human rights in Swaziland, just published.

The revelations add weight to anecdotal evidence circulating in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are barred from taking part in elections and prodemocracy groups are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

The report from the US State Department looked at events in 2017. It stated, ‘There were credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority.’

It referred to a document called the Private and Cabinet First Quarter Report of 2015, in which, ‘the government press office stated that authorities monitored internet blogs, email, and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and internet chat rooms’.

The US report added, ‘Members of civil society and prodemocracy groups reported the government monitored email, Facebook, and internet chat rooms, and police monitored certain individuals’ telephones. 

‘Individuals who criticized the monarchy risked exclusion from the patronage system of the traditional regiments (chiefdom-based groupings of men dedicated to serving the King) that distributed scholarships, land, and other benefits. Both undercover and uniformed police appeared at labor union, civil society, arts, and business functions.’

The report stated that in Swaziland, ‘The law severely restricts free speech and gives police wide discretion to detain persons for lengthy terms without trial or public hearing. Those convicted of sedition may be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. 

‘The King may suspend the constitutional right to free expression at his discretion, and the government severely restricted freedom of expression, especially regarding political issues or the royal family.’

It added, ‘Most journalists practiced self-censorship. Journalists expressed fear of judicial reprisals for their reporting on some High Court cases and matters involving the monarchy. Daily newspapers criticized government corruption and inefficiency but generally avoided criticizing the royal family.’

Radio and television stations, it stated, ‘practiced self-censorship and refused to broadcast anything perceived as critical of the government or the monarchy’. 

In March 2018, Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini hinted the government might try to restrict access to social media.

He told Senators there was nothing police could do ‘at the moment’ about posts on sites such as Facebook. The Swazi Observer reported (28 March 2018), ‘The premier told the senators that all countries in the world were concerned on whether social media was good for development or not.’

He was speaking during a debate about how video footage showing the murder of businessman Victor Gamedze who was shot dead in a petrol station appeared on social media.

The Swazi Government has a history of hostility to social media. In 2011, 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.

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 ruled by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. 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. 

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.

See also

PM HINTS AT SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRICTION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/pm-hints-at-social-media-restriction.html

ONE IN THREE USE INTERNET FOR NEWS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/one-in-three-use-internet-for-news.html  

SWAZI PEOPLE SPEAK UP FOR THEMSELVES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/swazi-people-speak-up-for-themselves.html 

GOVERNMENT THREATENS FACEBOOK CRITICS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/03/govt-threatens-facebook-critics.html

 

SWAZI POLICE TRACK FACEBOOK USERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/05/swazi-police-track-facebook-users.html

 

FACEBOOK TELLS TRUTH MEDIA WON’T

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/facebook-tells-truth-media-wont.html

PM HINTS AT SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRICTION

Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini has hinted his government might try to restrict access to social media.

He told Senators there was nothing police could do ‘at the moment’ about posts on sites such as Facebook. The Prime Minister and his government have a long history of threatening social media.

The Swazi Observer reported on Wednesday (28 March 2018), ‘The premier told the senators that all countries in the world were concerned on whether social media was good for development or not.’

He was speaking during a debate about how video footage showing the murder of businessman Victor Gamedze who was shot dead in a petrol station appeared on social media.

The newspaper reported, ‘The premier said it was unfortunate that social media was a very complex phenomenon, which no single person or organisation could control.’

It added, ‘However, the prime minister said there were many positives of social media. It enables people to communicate easily at lower costs and it also enables people to do business internationally. But he warned that abuse of social media could lead to devastating effects.’

The Swazi Government has a history of hostility to social media. In 2011, 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 ruled by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. The Government threatened the online activists with prosecution.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), in a statement in March 2011 said, ‘On 25 March 2011, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini assured Senators in Parliament that his government would track down, arrest and prosecute one Gangadza Masilela, whose Facebook postings have been critical of the status quo in Swaziland and the leadership in the country. Masilela, who is believed to be using a pseudonym, has a large following on his Facebook page. Parliament recently urged the government to do something about Masilela as his Facebook postings were deemed too critical of the country’s leadership.’

It added, ‘Having seen the uprisings in the Arab world where these social networks have been used to mobilize people to rise up and demand political changes from their governments, the jittery Swazi government is taking no chances and is trying to track down those calling for the Swazi uprising.’

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.’

In 2016, Afrobarometer reported nearly one in three people surveyed in Swaziland said they got their news from the internet at least ‘a few times a week’. It also reported that 33 percent of those surveyed got their news from ‘social media such as Facebook and Twitter’ a few times a week or every day. 

In 2014, a report jointly published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) found young people in Swaziland were turning to social media sites such as Facebook because it allowed them to enjoy ‘the fundamental rights to freedom of expression’ that was denied to them elsewhere in the kingdom.

They also bypassed mainstream media such as television, radio and newspapers in favour of social media. The report called Youth Usage of Social media in Swaziland concluded, ‘The young people have welcomed the emergence of the social media because, among others, it affords them an opportunity not only to inter-act but also enjoy the fundamental right to freedom of expression provided in Section 24 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland adopted in 2005.’

The report added, ‘They can now easily and freely bypass the severely censored mainstream media to access, produce, distribute and exchange information and ideas.

See also

ONE IN THREE USE INTERNET FOR NEWS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/one-in-three-use-internet-for-news.html  

SWAZI PEOPLE SPEAK UP FOR THEMSELVES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/swazi-people-speak-up-for-themselves.html

 

GOVERNMENT THREATENS FACEBOOK CRITICS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/03/govt-threatens-facebook-critics.html

 

SWAZI POLICE TRACK FACEBOOK USERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/05/swazi-police-track-facebook-users.html

 

FACEBOOK TELLS TRUTH MEDIA WON’T

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/facebook-tells-truth-media-wont.html

GAMEDZE ‘BOUGHT NEWSPAPER EDITORS’

Newspaper editors in Swaziland were on the payroll of murdered businessman Victor Gamedze, Zweli Martin Dlamini the exiled editor of Swaziland Shopping has said.

Dlamini fled to South Africa after a tip-off that he was to be arrested because he had upset the powers in the kingdom where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

His newspaper has been closed down by the Swazi Government. The reporting style of the Swaziland Shopper had also been criticised by the Swaziland Editors’ Forum.

In an interview with South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper published on Friday (26 January 2018), Dlamini said, ‘The editors’ forum was captured by Victor Gamedze. Almost all the editors were on his payroll. You know the Guptas in South Africa? It was like that. The reason they were saying they are unhappy is that I was writing about somebody they regarded as untouchable. So when I exposed the guy, he would go back to them to complain.’

The Mail & Guardian reported, ‘The Swaziland Shopping published its last edition in December. Dlamini never got to publish his last major scoop: a sensational story detailing how Gamedze was plotting to assassinate Mswati, which was distributed instead on social media. The story was long on speculation but short on evidence and, just days after it was made public, Dlamini was warned to get out of dodge.

‘A month after Dlamini fled the country, Gamedze was shot dead in broad daylight, at a petrol station, where he had stopped to grab a cup of coffee. 

‘The murder rocked Swaziland’s political elite to its core. Gamedze was no ordinary businessperson. His connections went all the way to the top, to the king, and he used these to build himself a business empire. He ran the controversial Swazi Mobile and presided over Mbabane Swallows, Swaziland’s biggest football club. His wealth and his social status should have made him untouchable, but also made him plenty of powerful enemies.’

The Mail & Guardian reported that Gamedze was ‘especially controversial’. It quoted one anonymous ‘senior editor’ saying, ‘Victor had captured the media. He had a very low opinion of the media, believed it was too powerful, and he wanted everyone to write what he said. He had the ability to call and stop stories from being published.’

The Mail & Guardian reported, ‘One example: in 2014, Gamedze assaulted Baphelele Kunene, a journalist with the Swazi Observer, in front of the paper’s managing editor. Although Kunene reported the assault to the police, they took no action. Another newspaper, which reported on the assault, had its distribution of that edition disrupted.’

See also

‘EDITOR FLEES AFTER DEATH THREAT’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/editor-flees-after-death-threat.html

 

SWAZI GOVERNMENT FORCES NEWSPAPER TO CLOSE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/swazi-govt-forces-newspaper-to-close.html

 

JOURNALISTS ‘SCARED TO DO THEIR JOBS’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/journalists-scared-to-do-their-jobs.html

KING’S ‘BUSINESS PARTNER’ ASSASSINATED

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/kings-business-partner-assassinated.html

KING’S ‘BUSINESS PARTNER’ ASSASSINATED

A controversial businessman with links to Swaziland’s autocratic King Mswati III was assassinated at a petrol station in the kingdom.

Victor Gamedze was shot twice in the head at the Galp filling station in Ezulwini on Sunday (14 January 2018).

Gamedze was the chairman of Swazi Mobile, a new telecoms company in Swaziland. It was surrounded by allegations of corruption and money laundering. King Mswati, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was accused of being in collusion with Gamedze and the Zambian President Edgar Lungu in a deal to establish a mobile phone company in Zambia using Swazi Mobile as a cover.

Swaziland is a secretive state where media are censored and it is difficult to uncover the true nature of Swazi Mobile. It is known that the company was awarded a licence to provide mobile phone services that started in July 2017. It beat other companies for the contract although it had no experience in the mobile phone business. Unusually in Swaziland, the company was swiftly launched only five months after the licence was given.

Within three months of the launch Gamedze told media in Swaziland the company had a stock value of E1.2 billion (US$98 million).

In June 2017 a report appeared in the newspaper Swaziland Shopping stating that King Mswati and Gamedze had forced Swaziland’s government to side-line rival parastatal Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) from competing with Swazi Mobile. It said King Mswati and Gamedze had shares in Swazi Mobile.

The African News Agency reported the editor of Swaziland Shopping Zweli Martin Dlamini received a death threat. It reported Dlamini saying, ‘Shortly after publishing the story, I received a threatening call from Gamedze that lasted for 20 minutes where he vowed to “deal with me”. Later Communications Minister Dumsani Ndlangamandla summoned me to a meeting and told me that the King was not happy with the story and had ordered that the newspaper should be closed.’

Swaziland Shopping was closed by the Swazi authorities who claimed that it had not been properly registered even though the newspaper had been published since 2014 with no problem.

Dlamini fled to South Africa fearing for his life.

Meanwhile, media in Zambia have been reporting on meetings between King Mswati and President Lungu to set up a fourth mobile phone company in Zambia to be owned by the pair using proxies.

Gamedze was murdered in full view at a petrol station on Sunday at about 7pm. A witness told the Swazi Observer, ‘He started walking towards his car and then a man, wearing a white cap, followed him towards the car. When Gamedze was about to open his car door, the man withdrew his gun and placed it on the side of Gamedze’s head and shot twice. The man didn’t say a word. He just shot him. Gamedze went down while the man started walking towards a red VW Golf car which had been parked by the waiting room on the left side of the road heading to Mbabane.’

The Times of Swaziland reported two men were involved. ‘One of the gunmen, at close range, aimed the gun to Gamedze’s head and pulled the trigger. As soon as Gamedze hit the ground, the same gunman again aimed the gun at another side of his head and fired the second shot,’ it said.

The Observer said, ‘At the scene of the incident, senior Police officer Mxolisi Dlamini told journalists that the shooting looked like one that was planned well in advance.’

Police later said suspects linked to the shooting had been arrested while trying to cross into South Africa through the Lundzi Border post.

See also

SWAZI GOVT FORCES NEWSPAPER TO CLOSE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/swazi-govt-forces-newspaper-to-close.html

 

EDITOR FLEES AFTER DEATH THREAT

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/editor-flees-after-death-threat.html

‘EDITOR FLEES AFTER DEATH THREAT’

Swazi King’s henchmen threaten to kill editor

Kenworthy News Media, 6 January 2018

SOURCE

Swazi editor Zweli Martin Dlamini has fled to neighbouring South Africa after he received death threats. He had written a story about absolute monarch King Mswati III’s shady dealings in the telecommunications industry, writes Kenworthy News Media.

Last June, editor of independent business newspaper Swaziland Shopping Zweli Martin Dlamini wrote and published a story about new telecommunications company Swazi Mobile, owned by King Mswati III and run by local businessman Victor Gamedze.

The punchline of the story was that the pair had forced Swaziland’s government to side-line rival government parastatal company SPTC from competing with Swazi Mobile – a new company that they and other high ranking officials, including the Prime Minister, owns shares in.

In 2012, SPTC had been ordered to switch of its fixed phones (landlines) and data components to make way for South African phone company MTC, which Mswati and the Prime Minister also had shares in.

Death threats
“Shortly after publishing the story, I received a threatening call from Gamedze that lasted for twenty minutes where he vowed to ‘deal with me’. Later Communications Minister Dumsani Ndlangamandla summoned me to a meeting and told me that the King was not happy with the story and had ordered that the newspaper should be closed,” Dlamini says.

After Swaziland Shopping was closed, Dlamini says he learnt that the police had a warrant for his arrest and that he would be poisoned in prison. A close ally of Victor Gamedze also told Dlamini that the businessman wanted him dead because he had revealed secrets about Swazi Mobile.

Dlamini says he subsequently fled to South Africa because he feared for his life.

And Swaziland’s police forces certainly do have a record of torturing – and occasionally murdering – those who challenge the King’s rule, as documented by Amnesty International and other human rights organisations.

No media freedom
The Swazi government have claimed that Swaziland Shopping was closed because it was not properly registered under the colonial-era Books and Newspapers Act of 1963, even though the newspaper has been published since 2014. The police also refuted that Dlamini was on the police “wanted list.”

Swaziland is however renowned for its government fabricating stories and its lack of media freedom, especially in regard to stories about King Mswati and his family and friends.

Swaziland is ranked 152th in Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index. There is “no media freedom,” the NGO says. According to a 2014 report by African Media Barometer, journalists in Swaziland “face routine intimidation by the state.”

In 2007, King Mswati ordered the Times Sunday to print an apology and sack those responsible for a critical story about him, or he would close down the paper. In 2009, the editor of the Swazi Observer, owned by the king, nearly lost his job for writing about the King’s luxury cars.  And in 2014 the Times on Sunday editor was summoned by the King and told that stories relating to his property did not belong in the newspaper.

Victor Gamedze has also been known to threaten journalists who publish critical stories about his business dealings. In 2016, he allegedly assaulted a journalist from the Swazi Observer and ordered another fired because they wrote unfavourable stories about him and his football team.

International community must act
“In Swaziland, the media is being held hostage and been turned into spies for the state,” Zweli Martin Dlamini says. “For the calls for democracy to intensify, the media must be liberated so that the international community can know what is happening in Swaziland.”

Secretary General of the Media Workers Union of Swaziland, Sicelo Vilane, insists that the charges against Dlamini are fabricated and should be dropped, and that the international community must act against the lack of freedom of speech in Swaziland.

“No-one is allowed to report freely and Swaziland is one of the major violators of media workers’ rights, freedom of speech and -expression. Why are they not questioning the action of Mswati’s government?,” Vilane says.

See also

SWAZI GOVERNMENT FORCES NEWSPAPER TO CLOSE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/swazi-govt-forces-newspaper-to-close.html

JOURNALISTS ‘SCARED TO DO THEIR JOBS’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/journalists-scared-to-do-their-jobs.html