PRESS FREEDOM AND THE ‘NATION’

In April 2013 Bheki Makhubu the editor of the Nation magazine in Swaziland and its owners, Swaziland Independent Publishers, were convicted of ‘scandalising the court’ after two articles criticising the judiciary were published in 2009 and 2010. Makhubu and the publisher were fined a total of E400,000 (US$44,000) by the Swaziland High Court, of which half had to be paid within three days or Makhubu would immediately be sent to jail for two years.

Both Makhubu and the publisher have appealed the conviction. Part of the appeal concerns a matter of law relating to the way the case was brought to court.

A paper, just published, called Swaziland Press Freedom: The case of Bekhi Makhubu and the Nation magazine, reviews the case and the press freedom and human rights issues the conviction throws up. It is available free-of-charge on scribd dot com.

The wheels of justice grind very slowly in Swaziland and it is unlikely that the appeal in the Supreme Court will be heard before at least November 2013, and possibly much later still. By the time the appeal is heard many people will have forgotten what all the fuss is about.

The purpose of the paper is to bring together details of the story so far (May 2013). It is not a critique of the decision, but it is an attempt to bring under one cover all the available information on the case in order to assist those people in the future who might need a quick ‘primer’.

Section 1 of the paper summaries the judgement of the High Court case, detailing the background to the offence and the penalties imposed.

Section 2 reproduces the two articles complained of, using text supplied by the High Court of Swaziland.

Section 3 gives a more detailed account of the judgement of the High Court, reproducing the main points of Judge Bheki Maphalala’s summary of the case.

Section 4 covers the reaction to the judgement. This includes material from a large number of international organisations and groups within Swaziland which campaign on human rights issues. The section also summaries some of the reactions from journalists who work in Swaziland. They admitted to their readers they were ‘scared’ by the High Court ruling.

Section 5 gives details of the appeal made by Makhubu and Swaziland Independent Publishers. They say the decision was both unlawful and constitutional.

Section 6 gives an insight into the history of the Nation magazine and its previous significant run-in with the state authorities. In May 2001 Swaziland police raided offices of the Nation in defiance of the kingdom’s High Court. The Nation, which had been banned by the government earlier that month, because it had not been properly registered as a newspaper.

Section 7 is the first of two sections detailing the background to Swaziland. This section studies the media freedom landscape in the kingdom where although the constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, the king may waive these rights at his discretion, and the government often restricts these rights.

Section 8 gives background to the human rights situation in Swaziland. The constitution became effective in 2006, but the ruling elites have largely ignored its provisions. This means, for example, that although the constitution allows for freedom of assembly, political parties remain banned.

The paper concludes with an appendix which is a digest of articles from previous editions of the Nation magazine that are available on-line. The cover line of the Nation states it ‘speaks truth to power’, and the articles show this is not an idle boast.

Swaziland Press Freedom the Case of Bheki Makubu and the Nation Magazine - Rooney by Swazi Media

BLOATED ELITE IGNORES SWAZI YOUTH

Access to information and studying journalism in Swaziland – both difficult

By The Swaziland Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, 21 February 2013

The Media Institute of Southern Africa in Swaziland heard that His Majesty’s government recently labeled journalism a ‘non-priority area’. Journalism and mass communication students at the University of Swaziland, it follows, would no longer receive any financial assistance from the government.

In the past journalism students might be eligible for a government scholarship, helping them shoulder the economic burden. It is understood that one year’s tuition for the university’s journalism degree is about E13,000 ($US1,440). In addition to paying tuition fees, students require at least E8,000 a year for rent ($US880), and then money for living on top of that, say E15,000 ($US1,660). In total, therefore, the bare minimum needed per year for one Swazi journalism student is about E36,000 ($US4,000). 

The Institute, a media watchdog that promotes freedom of speech, also heard an unfortunate story about a journalism student struggling to pay her tuition fees. A talented and enthusiastic student who has fought tooth and nail to get herself this far (2^nd semester of 2^nd year journalism studies) was about to drop out owing to poverty and official indifference.

She needed E6,000 ($US660) to pay the balance of this year’s tuition fees. After exhausting all other avenues to raise the funds – including offering to work for free at a local newspaper where she’d already volunteered during school holidays if they loaned her the money; and writing pleading letters to various government departments – the 20-year-old student tells of approaching the king’s office, where big money and real power reside.

Swaziland, wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, is often described as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. King Mswati III has ruled since 1986. A constitution was introduced in 2005 but the king (and, it is said, the king’s mother – known as the ‘Queen Mother’) hold ultimate authority in a land devastated by poverty and AIDS.

Médecins Sans Frontières, an international health organisation, reported that life expectancy had halved in Swaziland from 60 years-of-age in the 1990s to 31 in 2007. The twin epidemics of AIDS and tuberculosis are the main killers, said MSF.

The journalism student says the local newspaper went quiet on her offer loan offer, and she heard nothing back from government. At the king’s office (where she left a light-brown A4 envelope containing academic transcripts, a letter urging for help and her parents’ death certificates) she explained her story to a front desk secretary.  The student says she never heard back from the king’s office.

Before knowing all this it might be easy to simply tell students to get a part time job and ‘suck it up’. It might also be easy for well-meaning international aid agencies and big ‘multilateral’ donor organisations to hijack the student’s poverty, incorporate said poverty into foreign-drafted agendas, drown her in pity and ‘training workshops’, then present her a meaningless certificate and pretend all is okay. The workshop has been held – tick the box. The project has been completed. Another tick. Has the donor organisation got its logo and photo in the paper? Indeed. Has the student been helped? Agh… hmm.

In a kingdom where youth unemployment is said to be over 50 percent, and in a labour market where it is near impossible to fire anyone – or offer ‘voluntary retirement packages’ to bloated civil servants – that easy refrain, ‘get a job’, or ‘let’s run a workshop’, doesn’t sound so informed, realistic, or, ultimately, compassionate.

When the Swazi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Swaziland) tried to verify the young student’s story, and also to verify if journalism students are currently without any government assistance, all that was found was bureaucratic confusion, unanswered calls and messages, and fax lines masquerading as phone lines.

One source in the ministry of education said as far as she knew journalism students are “not covered”. She then suggested contacting the scholarships director, located in the Ministry of Labour. The scholarships director’s phone was lonely; the call kept bouncing to an annoyed receptionist, who passed on the number of the Department of Labour principal secretary. The principal secretary failed to answer several calls. The scholarship’s director never returned the call, after several messages were left. Messages were also left for the Minister of Education and Minister of Labour to return calls, to no avail.

MISA-Swaziland calls on the government to clearly state whether journalism students at the University of Swaziland receive any financial assistance. Or, as has been reported, journalism is a ‘non-priority area’? And, if it is a non-priority area, MISA-Swaziland asks the government why it has been labeled such. If the answer is because help for journalism studies – as well as several other university courses – is not affordable, MISA asks the Minister of Education and Labour: Not affordable when compared against what? Compared, perhaps, to a country of hungry, illiterate students? Or, perhaps, when weighed against the ruling elite’s unearned royalties? MISA-Swaziland asks what the money is being spent on (or lost on due to corruption) instead of helping university students?

Swaziland, according to the World Bank, is a ‘lower middle income country’ – this means that there is money in the nation. Swaziland has a GNI per capita of E30,000 ($US3,330). Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is total income of a nation divided by the total number of people in the nation.

Therefore, as a lower middle income nation, if current Swazi wealth was more equitably created and spread, a regular citizen each year might take home a sum closer to E30,000 – about E2,500 each month.

One wonders how much, in reality, each Swazi takes home each month? And this is before the economy has, one day, shifted from the grasp of a kleptocratic elite to the open pastures lying in wait.

But. If the economy is already back on track, as was said by the minister of finance and dutifully reported by the local media, why is money not flowing into ‘productive areas’ like helping university students to finish their studies?

The short answer is negligence, incompetence and corruption. The Swazi Weekend Observer, a weekly newspaper, on 16 February 2013 reported the following headlines: ‘King rallies nation to work even harder to resuscitate economy’ on the front page; ‘Scholarship official arrested for corruption’ on page 7; ‘Joblessness: youths scramble to sell sand’ on page 14.

The Times of Swaziland, a privately owned daily, in an editorial on 20 February 2013 says: “The revelation by Labour Minister Lufto Dlamini that around 270 students at [the University of Swaziland] have not yet received their scholarship allowances due to corruption has penetrated the very bedrock of this society… For almost fifty years, Swazis have struggled to go to school, cold, hungry, barefoot, walking kilometres in the dark to get to school on time. Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini was one such pupil and has spoken before of how he strained his eyes studying by candlelight before electricity…”

That same young student who strained his eyes in the hope of a better future is now the unelected prime minister, appointed by His Majesty King Mswati. He is at the centre of several alleged corruption scandals and last year ignored the parliament’s constitutional decision that should have seen him sacked.

The young journalism student, who was a breath away from falling into the cracks, has since been loaned the money she needs to finish university. A privately owned magazine, The Nation, lent her the money and in return the student will write stories for the magazine until the loan is paid off: gaining journalism experience from seasoned reporters while finishing her studies. The deal was made possible because the director of MISA-Swaziland is a founding member of The Nation magazine. Now, when the student has finished university she stands a fighting chance of landing a journalism job.

The Swaziland chapter of Media Institute of Southern Africa is a media watchdog that promotes freedom of speech. 

THE REAL SWAZI NEWS LAUNCHES

A new website calling itself The Real Swazi News (TRSN) has launched.

TRSN says it is here ‘to report on the stories the media in Swaziland are not allowed to report in the (un)free press.

‘We do not have a budget to pay staff etc and are purely voluntary to allow people a free voice on the real issues which matter most in our country as well as allowing the world at large to know what is really happening in Communities, The Palace and Government and also business and media.

‘Free Press, Free Swaziland, Free People.’

TRSN pledges to give ‘truthful information and developments in the Kingdom of Swaziland. We are being motivated by the desire to pass information to you, our dearest reader, about life in Swaziland as experienced by those in power and those that are led willingly and unwillingly.

‘We shall be talking about the things and the actions of those that are in power as well as those that are messengers. We shall also get the views of those that are affected by the decisions of those that are in power. We are not to embarrass anyone.’

TRSN, which is supported by Swazi dissident Mfomfo Nkhambule, says in its mission statement, ‘We will look at issues critically and then try to make an informed analysis. We do not want to ridicule anybody.’

In a clear statement of its position, TRSN goes on, ‘We are aware of the fact that Swaziland is an absolute monarch but we are convinced that its continuous survival is dependent on the Swazis helping it to adapt to the challenges brought about by social difficulties like hunger, unemployment, poor health facilities, lack of quality education, poor resources utilization and lack of good governance, just to mention a few.

‘We are also hopeful that greed for money will not motivate us to start aligning ourselves with certain individuals whose agenda will be to keep Swazis ignorant of what is happening in Swaziland. We are not going to allow ourselves to be a vehicle for spreading hatred and vengeance amongst Swazi society members and their friends. In our next issue we will bring you pictures of real life situations in the Kingdom.’

TRSN is seeking people to write for it and anyone interested can contact them through the website.

SWAZI MEDIA ‘FAIL THE PEOPLE’

Journalists in Swaziland do not hold governments and powerful people to account.

Nor, do they ask questions that give people answers to why Swaziland is in crisis.

I wrote yesterday (Tuesday 6 May 2008) that journalists in Swaziland are not often reflective about the work they do. I wrote too soon, because there is an interesting article in this month’s Nation magazine (May 2008) on the very same subject.

Silekela Dlamini who correctly observes that Swaziland is faced with corruption and incompetent government goes on to say (also correctly) that journalists in Swaziland do not do enough to tell people why the kingdom is in such crisis.

Dlamini says that there are severe problems with the nation’s finances with illegal offshore banking of public funds; health and social welfare is in disarray with an underspending of its allocated budget coinciding while seriously ill Swazis are turned back by South African hospitals because bills have not been paid by the Swazi government.

Added to this, Dlamini writes, the new Swazi Constituion is being implemented ‘at a snail’s pace’ and the newly created Elections and Boundaries Commission ‘flouts every section of the very constitution that purportedly gave birth to it’.

What concerns Dlamini is that the media in Swaziland have failed to explain and analyse why these problems exist. They also allow Swazis to believe that Swaziland is a democracy when it is not.

‘While the media has always done commendably in exposing these anomalies, they have let us horribly down by failing to grind out answers from the public officials concerned,’ he writes.

‘Everybody knows something is not right in Swaziland. What everybody does not know is WHY this is so and WHY there are never any consequences for wrongdoing and sheer incompetence.

‘The role of the media is to dig for and provide the answers. Yet the media will not fulfil this mandate by adopting a gentle, pussycat approach toward complacent Tinkhundla [the system of government in Swaziland] functionaries. Corruption-riddled Tinkhundla demands robust journalism.’

Dlamini goes on to state that a vibrant and competent media play a major part in holding the powerful to account for their decisions and actions and giving voice to marginalised people in a kingdom where there is no formal political opposition to the ruling elite.

He adds, ‘What complicates this extra role is the challenge to still be seen to be maintaining a high level of objectivity. I often sense that our own journalists confuse objectivity with state friendly reporting, and this is where they lose the plot.’

Dlamini criticises the Swazi media for believing that Swaziland is a democratic nation. ‘What beats the imagination is how people for whom Tinkhundla is a daily classic case study of poor and dictatorial governance can actually be fooled this easily.’

Dlamini believes Swazi journalists are ‘abusing a proven potent peaceful weapon [journalism] for changing lives for the better. Haven’t we even had editors argue bizarrely that the king is no dictator because he has killed no one?’

He goes on, ‘Haven’t we heard the same calibre of editors claim spuriously that Swaziland is democratic because we have neither political prisoners nor exiles?’

Dlamini concludes, ‘Why should it be so difficult to work out that the king’s unopposed governance style is behind the laissez-faire public spending that has condemned more than 38 percent of the population to the HIV AIDS death row?

‘Let’s not forget that these are among the 70 percent who cannot feed themselves either, because of what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly described as a perilously skewed economy. Does the king first have to literally spear a subject to death to qualify as a killing dictator?’

Dlamini is right about the way that people in Swaziland who should know better are saying that things aren’t so bad. I have attended two meetings this past week, one organised by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter and one forum for non-government organizations at which such sentiments were expressed.

Speakers believed that things were a bit better in Swaziland than they used to be and they’re not as bad as in some other countries (Zimbabwe often gets mentioned in this respect).

Such arguments miss the point. Swaziland is not a democracy. It becomes a democracy when people can elect and dismiss their government through an open ballot. It requires people to be able to join and to vote for political parties of their choice. It requires a separation of the political executive and the legislature and it needs a head of state that is not in control of the ‘defence’ forces and the police. When Swaziland has all of these things we can begin to think of it as a democracy.

A national election is due in Swaziland this year, let the media fulfil one of their roles (that of informing the public) about such things and let’s campaign for a proper democratic election.

See also
ROLE OF SWAZILAND’S JOURNALISTS