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‘SWAZI JOURNALISTS NOT FREE’

22/09/2013 01:07:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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MBABANE – Freedom House, an esteemed international organisation based in the USA, says Swazi journalists are not independent in their reporting.

In its 2013 report, submitted to stakeholders including Capitol, the organisation said Swazi media content was marked by a high level of both official censorship and self-censorship on political and royal matters.
Freedom House said Swazi media content was often encouraged by hostile rhetoric and threats from senior government and royal officials.
The world has also been told that advertisers, including government, regularly deterred negative coverage by employing financial pressure. Their influence was significant in Swazi-land’s small economy.

It is said that low pay and insufficient training at times affected the quality of reporting.
Many journalists, Freedom House said, had left the industry to work for government or elsewhere in the private sector.
However, one of the positives in the Swazi media is that journalists and media houses were not considered prone to corruption.

It has been reported that Swazi-land did not have a Freedom of Information law and accessing government information was difficult. On a positive note, it is said that the Swaziland Media Complaints Commission, a self-regulatory body of journalists and other media workers, was officially registered in 2011 following a 14-year effort by local media organisations.

Freedom House states that Swaziland journalists are subject to harassment and assault by both state and non-state actors, though such incidents had declined in recent years.
In April 2012, it is reported that two South African reporters from etv were detained at a roadblock in Mbabane for lacking accreditation to cover ongoing protest marches.

It is said that government restricted media coverage of recent prodemocracy protests and public-sector strikes, among other controversial stories.
In January 2012, it is alleged that newspaper editors were told by the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology to publish only positive reports of a visit by the president of Equatorial Guinea and to suppress international media stories on corruption and repression in that country. It is said that this directive was generally observed.

Also in January, Musa Ndlanga-mandla, the then Chief Editor of the Swazi Observer was fired after publishing interviews with opposition leaders and writing about corruption among prominent politicians. It is said the police later searched Ndlangamandla’s office and took away his computer, prompting him to allegedly flee to South Africa in February.
In March, it is alleged that a certain senator proposed an investigation to identify and prosecute the author of an anonymous Times of Swaziland editorial published in 2011 that was critical of Parliament.

To prove that there was no media freedom in Swaziland, Freedom House said two editors—Alec Lushaba and Thulani Thwala—and Andreas Nkabinde, the Chief Financial Officer at the Swazi Observer were suspended for reporting negatively on the state. The editors and the chief financial officer had returned to work after their suspension was lifted by the new board chaired by S’thofeni Ginindza. Alpheous Nxumalo, the then Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who suspended the editors was later dismissed by the new board. Freedom House continued to say that the country’s two newspapers—the independent Times of Swaziland and Swazi Observer were read almost exclusively in urban areas.
Despite restrictions on political reporting, the organisation said both newspapers did criticise government corruption and inefficiency.
It is said that state broadcasters were prohibited from reporting on the activities of labour unions, which led anti-government protests in 2012 and private citizens could not express opinions on these outlets without prior approval of their comments.
It is said that no new broadcast licenses were granted in 2012.
Freedom House said Swazis with sufficient funds can freely purchase and use satellite dishes to receive signals from independent South African and international news media.
In April 2011, government banned state radio from airing the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programme, Focus on Africa, after it carried criticism of government. It is said that government did not restrict internet-based media, though there were reports of government monitoring e-mail, social-media sites and chat rooms.
“Few Swazis can afford access to the internet; only 21 per cent of the population used the medium in 2012,” reads the Freedom House report.
On the other hand, the Swaziland Television Authority (STVA) dominated the airwaves and generally favoured government in its coverage.
Most Swazis, it is said, got their news from the radio.
“There is one government-owned radio station and one independent station, Voice of the Church, which focuses on religious programming,” it is reported.