OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Thursday
THE Swaziland government has banned two news publications critical of the authorities for a second time, barely a week after the Swaziland High Court lifted an earlier ban on one of them.
The government banned the weekly Guardian newspaper and monthly Nation magazine, both privately owned publications, in a gazette notice on Wednesday.
Both were banned on May 4, but the court ruled last week that the earlier ban on the Nation was technically invalid and should be lifted. The government has appealed against this decision.
The court has yet to rule on the Guardian’s challenge against the May 4 ban.
“The new ban means that we are back to square one. We are no longer able to operate and we are not sure yet what course of action we will take,” Nation editor Bheki Makhubu said on Thursday.
Swaziland police on Tuesday raided the Nation’s offices to impound the June issue of the magazine but found that distributors had already collected it.
The Nation took the government to court on Wednesday to protest against the attempts to confiscate the current issue of the magazine.
The court ruled on Thursday that the police raid was justified as the magazine was being distributed before the government’s appeal had been decided.
The Swaziland National Association of Journalists has condemned the ban of the news publications and accused the government of trying to stifle the independent media – AFP.
ZA*NOW:
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