The Health
Minister of Swaziland / Eswatini Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane called on police to
arrest a journalist who was photographing government ministers’ cars outside
the Deputy Prime Minister’s office.
She demanded
that the photographs be deleted which the journalist did.
The newspaper
had previously published a report about government ministers’ BMW cars being in
a bad state of repair. It was checking a government claim that the vehicles had
been repaired and were back on the road.
The newspaper
reported the journalist clearly identified himself to Ndlela-Simelane but she
demanded that security personnel call the police.
It added, ‘As
soon as she left, the security warned the reporter about the issue at hand and
requested assistance from a female police officer on what to do with him.
She advised him to let the journalist go as there was nothing they could charge
him on.’
Journalists face
harassment all the time in Swaziland where King Mswati III rules as one of the
world’s last absolute monarchs. Broadcasting is severely censored and one of
only two national newspaper groups in the kingdom is in effect owned by the
King.
In February
2018 prison warders attacked a journalist in a
public street near Kwaluseni when he took photographs of them
travelling in the backs of overcrowded vehicles.
In December
2017 editor
of Swaziland Shopping Zweli Martin Dlamini fled
to neighbouring South Africa after he received death threats. He had
written a story about the King’s dealings in the telecommunications industry.
In January 2017
the editor of the Times Sunday
Innocent Maphalala and senior reporter on the paper Mfanukhona Nkambule received threats of grievous
bodily harm, ‘possibly even leading to death’, according to the Times of Swaziland newspaper. It said, ‘The
threats emanate from a story the publication is pursuing regarding one of the
country’s security forces which has engaged in an action that has compromised
this country internationally.’
It reported,
‘Further attempts to engage the Times
Managing Editor, Martin Dlamini, and the Publisher, Paul Loffler, also failed
to convince this publication to drop the story. Even though the people
who issued the threats remain faceless, they threatened that should the story
see the light of day, the duo risked being eliminated.’
There is no
media freedom in Swaziland, according to the latest
annual report from Reporters Without Borders which ranked
the kingdom at number 152 out of 180 countries in the world ranking. It stated
the kingdom, ‘prevents journalists from working freely and obstructs access to
information. No court is allowed to prosecute or try members of the government,
but any criticism of the regime is liable to be the subject of a
prosecution. For fear of reprisals, journalists censor themselves almost
systematically.’
The US State
Department in a review of human rights in Swaziland for 2017
stated, ‘Officials impeded press freedom. Although no law bans criticism of the
monarchy, the prime minister and other officials cautioned journalists against
publishing such criticism with veiled threats of newspaper closure or job
loss.’
The report
stated, ‘The law empowers the government to ban publications if it deems them
“prejudicial or potentially prejudicial to the interests of defence, public
safety, public order, public morality, or public health.” Most journalists
practiced self-censorship. Journalists expressed fear of judicial reprisals for
their reporting on some High Court cases and matters involving the monarchy.’
The report stated, ‘Broadcast media remained firmly under state control. Most persons obtained their news from radio broadcasts. A controversial ministerial decree prohibiting MPs from speaking on the radio was apparently lifted. The government noted the decree had never been enforced. There was no instance, however, in which an MP had violated it. Despite invitations issued by the media regulatory authority for parties to apply for licenses, no licenses were awarded. Stations practiced self-censorship and refused to broadcast anything perceived as critical of the government or the monarchy.’
See also
‘EDITOR FLEES AFTER DEATH THREAT’
SWAZI GOVERNMENT FORCES NEWSPAPER TO CLOSE
JOURNALISTS ‘SCARED TO DO THEIR JOBS’
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/journalists-scared-to-do-their-jobs.html
