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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
fundamental human rights and freedoms. For how can anyone reconcile government’s
disregard for the rule of law and the unprecedented assault on the
judiciary with a truly democratic constitutional dispensation?
The marathon constitution-drafting exercise is now on its last lap following
the appointment of the second royal Constitutional Drafting Committee early
in 2002, which was given until October 2002 to have completed its task. This
followed the conclusion of the so-called gathering of public views on a new
constitution by another royal body, the Constitutional Review Commission
that began its work in 1996.
It is now expected that a draft constitution will be presented to the nation
sometime during the first quarter of 2003.
The Internal Security Bill, tabled by the premier in the middle of 2002, further
attested to this lack of political will to embrace democratic political
changes. The proposed law tightens previous legislation outlawing political
party activities, washes away any remnant of civil liberties and criminalises
freedom of expression in Swaziland while reinforcing the police state that has
existed since the abrogation of the independence constitution in 1973.
In fact there are fears that the ruling elite might take a cue from the Court of
Appeal judges’ ruling: “That a king’s decree can only be made once a new
constitution is in place remains an essential requirement.” In the event, the
likelihood is that the leadership will strengthen their stranglehold on power
by giving Mswati the constitutional leverage to rule by decree.
Given the lack of political will to democratise Swaziland, another alternative
open to the leadership to retain and reinforce their hold on power is to pilot a
law through the largely ceremonial and loyal parliament that would give the
king the right to rule by decree whenever he so wishes.
Thus the constitutional and legal framework in 2002 remained just as hostile,
if not more so, to freedom of expression and, therefore, to a free, diverse and
pluralistic media in Swaziland. For if the government of the day can openly
and publicly mount an assault on the judiciary and threaten judges of the
highest court in the land, what protection and defence do the Swazi media in
general and journalists in particular have?
2002
Significantly, the public’s reaction to events of 2002 contrasted sharply to
those of previous years, in particular 2001, when the troubled Swazi media
found itself isolated in a crisis brought about by Decree No. 2 and the government’s
shutting down of two independent publications. The New Nation, a
monthly magazine, and The Guardian of Swaziland weekly newspaper were
both closed down. Ironically indigenous Swazi entrepreneurs own the two
116 So This Is Democracy?