Swazi Media Commentary

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Swaziland coronavirus tests halted as technicians demand protective equipment

Coronavirus medical laboratory technicians in Swaziland (eSwatini) stopped work in protest that they were not given personal protective equipment while they were working.

Separately, regional response teams who are tracing people who have come into contact with the virus stopped work demanding extra risk payments.

As a result all coronavirus (COVID-19) tests were halted across the kingdom on Monday (1 June 2020). More than 60 technicians at Mbabane Government Hospital – the only coronavirus testing facility in Swaziland – delivered a petition directed to Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula.

They argued they had risked their lives from the start of the coronavirus crisis and still did not have personal protective equipment (PPE), including head covers, eye shields, masks, scrubs, disposable coats, aprons, shoe covers, sanitisers, soap and a sink.

They said if they did not get the PPE they would shut down all 97 public laboratories in the kingdom. There are 267 technicians.

The Swazi Government does not consider the technicians to be an essential service during the coronavirus crisis and therefore they are not supplied with PPE.

Meanwhile, regional response teams in the Manzini and Shiselweni regions stopped work in protest after failing to get responses from the Ministry of Health to their demands for risk and overtime payments. Contact tracing and screening were halted.

They are also concerned about a lack of lack of PPE and their own regular testing.

On Monday the Ministry of Health announced the third death in Swaziland from coronavirus, a 42-year-old man from the Manzini region. A total of 293 people have tested positive so far.

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Swaziland policeman shoots boy, 15, playing football during coronavirus lockdown

A 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded by police in Swaziland (eSwatini) when he played football with friends on open ground during the coronavirus lockdown.

A lone policeman approached a group of boys playing football on a dusty field near Gege.

The Times of eSwatini reported their game was being watched by two adults. It said the police officer allegedly fired his weapon to disperse the spectators.

‘The startled youngsters are said to have trampled on each other as they ran away, while one of the boys aged 15 reportedly sustained a serious injury after he got shot during the skirmish.

‘The youngster was struck by a bullet in his left arm while running away from the police officer.’ He was detained in hospital.

Police are investigating the shooting.

Swaziland has been on a partial lockdown because of coronavirus (COVID-19) since 27 March 2020. Gatherings of more than 20 people are banned and people are urged to keep a distance of one metre from one another.

The Swazi police and other security forces have been criticised for their brutality during the lockdown.

National Police Commissioner William Dlamini acknowledged the problem during a press briefing on 24 April when he said, ‘We assure the nation that all security officers have been reminded that their duty is to assist, not abuse.’

There had been a number of reports of police, army and correctional service personnel beating people during lockdown.

In April security forces reportedly whipped a destitute woman in Eteni when she was on the streets desperately trying to get food for her three children.

Mbabane lawyer Sabelo ‘Mngo’ Mngomezulu was left with broken ribs after soldiers assaulted him, two women were whipped with sticks by police and a man was hospitalised after police beat him about the head with a baton.

An 85-year-old woman collapsed and died when security forces raided her home because they thought she was selling alcohol.

Armed military police officers also forced members of the public to do press-ups when they were found at a bus rank in Manzini during the coronavirus lockdown.

Some businesses had claimed they had been asked to pay bribes to police and army in order to remain open.

On 15 April Swazi Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini endorsed police beating people during the lockdown. He told a press briefing, ‘If you are found to be violating these regulations, the law will definitely take its course, we won’t compromise on this. Maybe those who were assaulted were found to be on the wrong side of the law by breaking the regulations put in place by government. We would like to encourage members of the public to abide by these regulations, there shouldn’t a need for the law enforcement to force you to respect these regulations.’

See also

More reports of police and army violence against civilians as Swaziland coronavirus lockdown continues

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/more-reports-of-police-and-army.html

Swaziland armed police, army intimidate people to obey coronavirus lockdown. Woman, 85, dies

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/swaziland-armed-police-army-intimidate.html

Swaziland security forces whip destitute woman searching for food during coronavirus lockdown

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/swaziland-security-forces-whip.html

Monday, 1 June 2020

Justice Minister misleads world over media freedom in Swaziland

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Minister of Justice Pholile Shakantu misled the world when she claimed that the kingdom enjoyed media freedom, enshrined by the constitution.

She was responding to an article by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) about newspaper editor Zweli Martin Dlamini who fled Swaziland after police raided his home. He said he was being sought because of articles he had written that were considered seditious.

The New York-based CPJ had previously called on Swaziland to ‘stop intimidating and harassing local journalists for reporting critically about King Mswati III’. It added they should be allowed to write freely without the threat of treason charges.

In a statement published on the eSwatini Government social media platforms Shakantu claimed it was a ‘misconception’ that ‘we are a nation that persecutes journalists who criticise the government’. She added that the 2005 Swaziland Constitution guaranteed ‘freedom of expression including freedom of the media’.

Shakantu is correct that journalists often criticise government action, but the bigger point is that they are not allowed to criticise the absolute monarch King Mswati III.

As recently as 1 May 2020 Ncamiso Ngcamphalala, President of the Swaziland Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was arrested and charged under the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act 1938 for comments he made in an a article published by Swati Newsweek, a news website.

His ‘crime’ was not writing an article, it was simply for expressing an opinion to a journalist. This is what he was quoted as 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.’

In April, Eugene Dube, the Swati Newsweek editor, was arrested, tortured by police and threatened with a charge of treason for publishing the report. He fled to South Africa.

King Mswati rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch. He chooses the Prime Minister and government ministers as well as top judges and civil servants. Political parties cannot take part in elections and groups campaigning for democratic reforms are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

King Mswati’s lavish lifestyle has come under scrutiny in media outside of the kingdom. He rules over a population of 1.3 million people in a kingdom about the size of the US state of New Jersey. He has 13 palaces, two private aircraft and a fleet of Rolls-Royce cars and other expensive cars.

He wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday party in April 2018. He received E15 million (US$1.2 million) in cheques, a gold dining room suite and a gold lounge suite among his birthday gifts. At the time the World Food Program said it could not raise the US$1.1 million it needed to feed starving children in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the people in Swaziland have incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

The media in Swaziland never criticise the King. Nearly all television and radio is controlled by the state and the government directs the news agenda at Swazi TV. The King in effect owns the eSwatini Observer, one of the only two newspaper groups in Swaziland.

In recent years a number of independent internet sites have begun reporting about Swaziland. Most are based outside of the kingdom.

There is ample evidence to show that media freedom is lacking in Swaziland. In April 2020 in its annual World Press Freedom Index Reporters Without Borders recorded there was ‘no media freedom’ in Swaziland. It reported, ‘The King’s speechwriter is the editor in chief of the country’s oldest and most popular newspaper.’

In March 2020 Swaziland journalist and former government cabinet minister Mfomfo Nkambule said he had been tortured by police after he wrote articles for the online newspaper Swaziland News that were critical of the King. Nkambule, a long-standing critic of the Swazi political system, said police also took electronic gadgets and threatened to charge him with ‘high treason’ and ‘sedition’.

In January 2020 National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini announced in a written statement published in media across Swaziland that his officers would hunt down and arrest people who criticised the King on social media.

Dlamini said there were ‘highly insolent and morality devoid characters disseminating seditious, slanderous and very insultive statements about the country’s authorities via social media’. He added, ‘The intent and motive of these statements is seemingly to vilify and pour scorn on the country’s authorities, which we find completely unacceptable and an insult to the entire nation.’

This was not the first time the Swazi state has threatened social media users. In March 2018, Swaziland’s then Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini hinted his government might try to restrict access to social media, but he told senators there was nothing police could do ‘at the moment’ about the posts.

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

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.

In 2010 Prince Mahlaba, a senior member of the Swazi Royal Family, publicly called for journalists who opposed the King Mswati to be killed. His threat became an international scandal. The CPJ rallied behind the Swazi media and condemned Mahlaba. Internet sites from every continent carried news criticising the prince and by extension the whole undemocratic regime in Swaziland.

Another case to receive international condemnation was the jailing in 2014 of magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and writer and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko who were sentenced to two years in jail after writing and publishing articles in the Nation, a monthly magazine, that were critical of the Swazi judiciary. They were released by the Swazi Supreme Court in June 2015 after they had served 15 months of their sentences.

Richard Rooney

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