WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: TIMES of Swaziland manager Paul Loffler has been summoned to the royal court today for what he suspects will a “thorough bollocking” for his newspaper’s story that King Mswati owed the Mbabane City Council $6 400 in unpaid rates.
Loffler said he was likely to face between 30 and 40 of the King’s advisers alone and without legal representation. “It will be a one-sided affair … I am sure it will be a thorough bollocking,” he said. But he insisted he would not apologise for “reporting the truth”.
On Monday, the Times reported that the government had ordered all parastatal organisations to cease advertising in the paper. “The biggest institutions such as the national airline and railways have been told not to advertise in the Times and this will affect us severely. Swaziland is already in a recession and this decision will make things worse for us,” Loffler said.
Swaziland public service and information minister Muntu Mswane has denied any knowledge of a government plot to close the Times of Swaziland.