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MBABANE – Eswatini is ranked at 131 out of 180 countries, according to the World Press Freedom index.
This statistic was raised by the President of the Eswatini National Association of Journalists (ENAJ), Welcome Dlamini, during the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day at Emafini this week.
World Press Freedom Day 2023 was celebrated under the theme: “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.” It was hosted by the Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) and the ENAJ.
Threatened
Dlamini was lamenting the state of media freedom in Eswatini, in which he indicated that the Constitution of the country was very good on paper as it guaranteed freedom of expression of the media. However, in practice, journalists found themselves threatened on a daily basis, as they tried to execute their duties. As a result of this situation, he said their work was hindered.
“In the newsrooms, self-censorship is rife because when a journalist senses that certain facts which they are writing about will upset the status quo, then they compromise their articles.
Removed
Furthermore, a lot of content is removed before it actually reaches the stage of being published,” Dlamini said.
The ENAJ president continued to mention how; “Journalists in Eswatini are constantly being subjected to online and offline attacks and we wonder how we will report favourably as we go towards the national elections in September. This is because the country is polarised and there are two camps. The one camp being the ‘Asiyi’ camp and the other being the ‘Siyaya’. Indicating that across the country there are those who are vehemently against participation in the election, whereas others are steadfast in their intention to participate. As journalists, we are caught in the middle because in reporting the truth, we cannot please either party. It would have been commended if the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) were here so that they could explain how they will ensure the freedom of the press as we cover the elections.”
Favoured
Dlamini remarked on how the Judiciary had also demonstrated that it was not media friendly. “For the past five years, no media company has won a case in court, even if the merits favoured the media. The courts have contributed to the near absence of press freedom in the country,” he said.
This observation was also echoed by the Chairman of the Eswatini Editors