Swazi Media Commentary: Swazi Observer

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Thursday, 12 November 2020

Swaziland journalists to be fined by own newspaper if their reports lead to defamation damages

Journalists at the newspaper in Swaziland (eSwatini) in effect owned by the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mwsati III are to be fined by the company if reports they write result in awards for defamation damages in the law courts.

A policy has been drawn up at the eSwatini Observer, one of only two daily newspapers in Swaziland.

Revealing the policy, the Inhlase Centre for Investigative Journalism reported a draft of the policy states that journalists will be charged ‘50 percent of the insurance excess for stories that lead to libel claims being brought up against the company’ to recover lost revenue.

An earlier copy of the policy had 1 July 2020 as the start date but this was removed from the latest version pending a meeting between management and the media workers’ trade union.

Inhlase reported, ‘The policy says the aim is to implement discipline fairly and consistently throughout the company with regard to lost revenue due to employee negligence, defined as damage to company property, costing revenue by repeating or publishing advertisements incorrectly, and defamation claims.’

Newspapers in Swaziland have been under attack in the libel courts for some years. Inhlase listed a number of cases including one in 2014 when the Swazi supreme court ordered the Times of Swaziland (now the Times of Eswatini) to pay E550,000 (US$35,000) to former senate president Gelane Simelane-Zwane, who had sued the newspaper for questioning her paternity and claim to the chieftaincy of the ko-Ntshingila area.

South African-based gospel artist Sipho Makhabane sued the Observer after it published an opinion piece questioning his Christian values. In January 2017 the supreme court awarded him E300,000.

The Observer was successfully sued by medical doctor-cum-businessman Futhi Dlamini over a story about a dispute relating to his father’s estate. Dlamini won damages of E200,000 when the supreme court dismissed the newspaper’s appeal in 2018.

The Observer’s former managing director, Rev Alpheous Nxumalo, sued the paper over a report relating to his HIV status and won E250,000 in the supreme court in June.

In September 2020, the high court ordered the Times to pay E350,000 to the deputy speaker of parliament, Phila Buthelezi, and E175 000 to assistant master of the court Ceb’sile Ngwenya for defaming them by intruding on their privacy.

The Observer on Saturday is currently in court defending a E500,000 defamation suit brought by lawyer Simanga Mamba, the chair of the Teaching Service Commission, over an article about his billing of clients.

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Swaziland editor suspended after alleged link to political party opposing absolute monarch

Mbongeni Mbingo, the managing editor of the eSwatini Observer group of newspapers, has reportedly been suspended from duty following a report that he and others had started a political party to oppose King Mswati III, the absolute monarch in Swaziland (eSwatini).

The Observer is in effect owned by the king.

The Times of eSwatini reported on Thursday (22 October 2020) that unofficial sources at the newspaper had confirmed they had been told at a meeting Mbingo had been suspended with immediate effect. No reason was given. Observer chief executive officer Sipho Mkhonta declined to comment.

The Swaziland News, an online newspaper, reported that Mbingo had been suspended as a result of a report it had published on Sunday 18 October 2020 that alleged Mbingo was ‘linked to a new “underground” political party Vuka Sive that seeks to influence regime change and overthrow King Mswati.’

Mbongeni Mbingo, the managing editor of the eSwatini Observer. Picture sourced from Facebook

Friday, 14 August 2020

Independent audit shows ‘Times of eSwatini’ 300,000 daily sales claim is closer to 18,000

The Times of eSwatini newspaper (formerly Times of Swaziland) which for years has claimed to have daily sales of 300,000 copies in fact has fewer than 18,000, an independent audit of its circulation revealed.

The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) in South Africa which independently audits newspapers in that country and in the region reported the sales of the Times on Mondays to Fridays averaged 17,985 copies in the second quarter of 2020. The sales were 11.8 percent down on a year ago. The sales were 9.5 percent down since the start of the coronavirus lockdown in Swaziland.

The ABC did not release figures for the Times’ Saturday or Sunday editions. The ABC receives circulation data from newspapers and checks to verify its accuracy.

The sales figure contrasts with the claim the Times has made for years on its own website about its sales. It says, ‘The newpaper [sic] has been running since 1968 and is Swaziland’s leader in the deliver [sic] of printed news. The print edition is printed daily with a circulation of over 300,000.’

The Times has also made the 300,000 circulation claim in advertisements.

The Times is one of only two daily newspapers in the kingdom. The other newspaper is the eSwatini Observer (formerly Swazi Observer), which is in effect owned by King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland. It does not allow its sales to be independently audited.

The eSwatini Observer does not give details of its circulation on its website, but does say, ‘The market share of the readership is approximately 50 percent of the print media market.’

In 2016 in an entry published by Capro Media Representatives, a South African-based company that markets newspapers to advertising agencies stated the Observer had ‘print orders’ that were 8,280 copies for the Monday to Friday editions, 9,200 for the Saturday and 6,000 for the Sunday edition.

The population of Swaziland is about 1.1 million.

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