Swaziland
Swaziland police raid magazine's offices  

afrol News / AENS, 22 May - Swaziland police today raided the kingdom's only independent news magazine, the Nation, in apparent defiance of the country's High Court. The Nation, which was banned by the government earlier this month, on Friday got the court's approval to return publishing.

The uniformed policemen insisted that the outspoken magazine was still technically banned and said they had instructions to confiscate all copies of its June edition. Policemen also reportedly confiscated over 5 000 copies of the publication from street vendors in the capital Mbabane and other major centres such as Manzini and Piggs Peak.

- This is in direct defiance of the High Court decision on Friday to set aside government's Extra Ordinary Gazette notice banning us from publishing or circulating in Swaziland, said the Nation editor Bheki Makhubu. "We are bringing an urgent High Court application to halt this harassment and force the government to obey its own laws."

The Nation is one of two independent publications banned by Swaziland Public Service and Information Minister Mtonzima Dlamini on World Press Freedom Day on May 3 in an apparent clampdown on journalists critical of the kingdom's monarchist system of government.

Dlamini banned the Nation and weekly newspaper Swazi Guardian in an extraordinary gazette, citing Section 3 of the Proscribed Publications Act of 1968, which gives his office unlimited powers to ban or suspend publications that do not conform with "Swazi morality and ideals."

Registrar of Newspapers Sam Malinga also ordered both publication to cease publication because they had failed to comply with registration requirements. The banning saw police impounded the Guardian as its delivery trucks crossed into Swaziland from its printers in South Africa.

The newspaper takes its case to the High Court on Wednesday, May 23. High Court Judge Jacobus Annandale has already ruled in the Nation's favour, saying on Friday that Minister Dlamini had been wrong to issue a blanket ban on the magazine without referring the matter to court of at least supplying detailed reasons for the ban.

Swaziland Attorney General Phesheya Dlamini has appealed Annandale's ruling but concedes that the Nation is technically allowed to publish unless his appeal succeeds.

Makhubu accused government of ignoring the Rule of Law on Tuesday and said the latest raids formed part of a concerted campaign to intimidate independent journalists who criticised the kingdom's ban on free political activity.

- Government's actions in this matter are a clear demonstration of its respect for press freedom, he said.

Both the Guardian and the Nation are known to support the multi-party democracy movement and have both been critical of King Mswati III's decision to govern by decree. All political parties have been banned in Swaziland since the suspension of the kingdom's constitution in 1973.

Mswati's handpicked Parliament has also recently demanded that a proposed Media Council Bill be tabled for adoption. The Media Bill was deferred five years ago following international condemnation for allegedly seeking to gag and control journalists by requiring them to register with a government controlled media council.

By Justin Arenstein & Lunga Masuku, 

African Eye News Service (AENS)

© AENS.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com