MEDIA-SWAZILAND: Press Police at Loggerheads

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Nov 3 2001 (IPS) - Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini was angry at the press this week when he told the Senate that charges of police brutality were merely the creation of the media.

But Swazi journalists, who are reportedly beaten and harassed by police while covering political demonstrations like an anti- government rally dispersed by security forces in Mbabane this week, say they are victims of police seeking to safeguard the country’s image in the media.

While international press guardian groups, like Reporters San Frontiers and the Media Institute of Southern Africa, have lodged protests with government over police abuse of journalists, Swazi journalists are taking pains to show their neutrality in coverage of police issues.

But with Amnesty International reporting cases of police torture of criminal suspects to induce confessions, Times of Swaziland editor Musa Magagula says it would be a dereliction of duty to turn a blind eye to such developments.

“Government dislikes negative publicity, and the police are sensitive. This is to be understood,” says Magagula. “But unless there is blanket censorship so only ‘sunshine’ stories about Swaziland appear, we have to follow the news.”

“Government’s response is not only to blame the messenger, but police in some instances are beating the messenger. I personally do not feel safe,” he says.

Magagula acknowledges that assaults against journalists that required hospitalisation have not occurred this year.

Intimidation comes in the form of harassment and threats. Media observers, such as the Swaziland branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, say some of the police’s anger can be traced to inaccurate and sometimes fabricated stories, written by freelance writers, and sold to South African newspapers eager for scandal about the kingdom and the royal household.

However, the source at the media institute noted, “It is not the role of police to discipline the press for a job badly done. Government must have an information office to set the record straight. But when a reporter tries to get information out of government, government officials and bureaucrats act like they are being asked to have their teeth pulled out without anaesthetic.”

Unable or unwilling to get out its own version of events and its spin on political developments, a government frustrated by what it perceives as negative press reporting has responded with a proposed Media Council Bill. The minister of justice recently told the Senate that the bill is on its way to handle “irresponsible reporting”.

Swaziland’s state-controlled media includes radio — the English and SiSwati channels of the Swaziland Broadcast and Information Service — and television — the Swaziland Television Authority. Both radio and TV fall under the Ministry of Information.

The daily Swazi Observer newspaper is owned by the royal conglomerate, Tibiyo TakaNgwane. The Observer reopened in May 2001, after a one-year closure, with a new staff.

Former Observer managing editor Vusi Sibisi testified before a parliament committee on Oct 17 that the newspaper was shut down after reporters refused to yield the names of sources for news stories deemed by the newspaper’s owners to be embarrassing to government.

Some Observer staffers launched the kingdom’s only weekly newspaper, The Guardian, in Apr 2001. The publication lasted one month before it was banned by government. At the same time, government banned an independent monthly opinion and analysis magazine, The Nation.

Under a colonial era Books and Publication’s Act, the Minister of Information may ban any publication without giving a reason. Information Minister Mntomzima Dlamini chooses to ban The Guardian and The Nation without an explanation. His act was challenged in separate lawsuits mounted by each banned publication, and the High Court ruled against government. The Nation is back in publication, but government is appealing against The Guardian.

The Times of Swaziland, intermittently published since 1897, is independent from government control, but is conservative and circumspect in its coverage of palace politics.

In the recently compiled work of the Constitutional Review Commission, initiated by King Mswati to take views of ordinary Swazis about the type of government they wish, no one, according to the commission’s report, even brought up the matter of press freedom, or the media at all.

Nor have there been public objections to the Media Council Bill. The Swaziland National Association of Journalists has raised reservations about the proposed legislation that as originally presented to parliament by the Ministry of Information sought to discipline journalists through licensing, stiff fines and jail terms.

One provision requires newspaper owners to reside in Swaziland. The Times’ publisher, Douglas Loffler, now lives in Namibia following repeated refusal by government to renew his residency permit.

The legislation calls for a government-appointed media council to in effect put on trial any journalist who receives a complaint about a story. The court would be financed by the journalists themselves, out of fees they pay for licenses required to report in the kingdom.

If found guilty of running afoul of the council’s code of conduct, the reporter or editor would face a fine equivalent to an average reporter’s annual net income, as well as a five-year prison term.

Parliament ordered the legislation back to the information ministry for consultation with the “stakeholders”, but journalists have not offered a competing plan for a government media policy that information minister Dlamini insists will become a reality, in one form or another.

If the Media Council does come to pass, it spells trouble journalists. The council as structured in the legislation will open a case against a reporter over any complaint it receives about any story from any source. The journalist will be responsible for defending himself or herself.

The Swaziland National Association of Journalists fears this will have the chilling effect of making some reporters reluctant to write about controversial or political matters.

Thandi Simelane, a community news reporter, said wryly, “At least the police won’t need to get physical with journalists with a Media Council in place. They can just open a case against reporters and editors, and tie them up in knots defending themselves.”