Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

SWAZILAND
State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
sociation of Christian Ministries
(SACM), suggested that some of the
cultural practices in the country are
“ungodly.” Dlamini was referring to
the “Incwala”, an annual cultural celebration.
MISWA, MISA’s Swaziland chapter,
condemned the raid on the television
station, saying that it was unwarranted
and impinged on Swazi
citizens’ freedom of expression.
Moreover, MISWA reported that
Dlamini has suffered harassment by
policymakers in the country, ostensibly
in the name of protecting culture
and the monarchy.
MISWA further objected to the police
action and noted that some of the
officers who took part in the raid
were themselves present at the said
church service and had uttered no
concern over the content of the sermon,
until they received instructions
to ransack the television station.
The September 6 national prayer
meeting was hosted by interdenominational
ministries to celebrate
Swaziland’s Independence Day. According
to the October 5 edition of
the “Times of Swaziland”, a national
independent daily newspaper, the
prayer was “organized to beseech
God to forgive the Swazi nation of
its sins.”
In Swaziland, the state is embodied
in the person of the sovereign
himself, King Mswati III, the 16th
king from the House of Dlamini,
which has ruled the Swazis since the
1500s. Swazis do not distinguish between
the nation and the man, and
while the king is not considered divine,
he is the central figure of the
month-long sacred “Incwala” (kingship/harvest)
ceremonies, held when
the first fruits ripen in summer.
During the “Incwala”, tens of thousands
of Swazis in traditional attire
converge on the Queen Mother’s village
and petition the national ancestral
spirits to endow the king with
wisdom, and the nation with good
rains and fortune.
ALERT
DATE: 2002-10-31
PERSON(S): Ackel Zwane, Phinda
Sihlongonyane, Thabile Mdluli,
Simon Jele, Bheki Matsebula,
Jethro Jele
VIOLATION(S): Beaten, Censored
On October 12, 2002, security forces
barred five journalists from the
“Times of Swaziland” and the “Swazi
Observer” and a foreign freelance reporter
from covering the proceedings
of a prayer meeting organised by different
political and social groups in
Swaziland.
The prayer meeting, termed Justice
for Peace, was organised in memory
of families that were evicted from the
Macetjeni (south-eastern Swaziland)
and KaMkhweli areas in October
2000.
One of the barred journalists,
Phinda Sihlongonyane of “The Observer”,
told MISA-Swaziland that
the law enforcement unit was comprised
of the Royal Swaziland Police
(RSP), the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence
Force (USDF) and the Correctional
Service Operational Support
Service Unit (OSSU), and was led by
Station Commander Agrippa
Khumalo, of the Lubombo region.
Sihlongonyane reported that the
security officers had mounted roadblocks
on all roads leading to
So This Is Democracy? 125