Mail & Guardian reporter
International media organisation Reporters Sans Frontires (Reporters Without Borders) has written to Swaziland’s King Mswati III to protest against a decree which gives the king censorship powers.
”The last absolute monarchy on the entire continent is also one of the most repressive countries concerning censorship. The king has now total freedom to ban and close publications in his country,” explained Robert Mnard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontires (RSF).
RSF asked Swazi authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees press freedom.
On June 22 King Mswati signed decree Number 2 of 2001 which reinforces his power to control the press. The decree allows the ”appropriate ministry” the power to ban a publication ”without any reason” and without legal proceedings. This decree ends a judicial battle that opposed, for months, the king and the high court, which declared ”illegal” the closing of the monthly The Nation and the weekly The Guardian.
The decree also eliminates the possibility of bail for those accused of violating the 1938 Act on Sedition and Subversive Acts, especially if they are considered a ”danger to public order” or to be threatening state security.
The decree reminded Swazis that the king’s Proclamation to the Nation of 1973 is the ”supreme law”. This vested ”all legislative, executive and judiciary power” in the king.
The South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) also called for the lifting of the state of emergency and the restoration of the rule of law in Swaziland.
Misa called for the lifting of the ban on The Guardian and The Nation and the abandonment of threats against the press: ”Misa-SA is also alarmed at the reinstatement of the Non-Bailable Order whereby bail is refused arrested persons which was recently declared unconstitutional by the Appeals Court and the decree that no person or institution, including the courts, may challenge any matter pending before the king.”
”These powers are excessively severe and are in contravention of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Their continued use to prevent criticism of the government and obstruct the free flow of information as well as the delay in introducing democratic structures can only endanger the monarchy and the future of the country.”
l This week President Robert Mugabe’s government expelled British Daily Telegraph reporter David Blair from Zimbabwe.