Eswatini / Africa

  

Eswatini prison officers assault, threaten to shoot reporter covering pro-democracy protest 

Lusaka, February 16, 2022 — Authorities in Eswatini must immediately investigate the brutal assault by correctional officers on Nomthandazo Maseko, a reporter for the privately owned news website Swati Newsweek, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. At noon on February 8, about 20 correctional services staff in Matsapha, a…

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Eswatini police detain, abuse 2 reporters from South African outlet New Frame

Lusaka, Zambia, July 8, 2021 – Eswatini authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the recent arrests and abuse in custody of journalists Magnificent Mndebele and Cebelihle Mbuyisa, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 9 a.m. on July 4, soldiers on the MR3 highway near…

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CPJ joins letter urging Eswatini King Mswati III to guarantee journalists’ safety

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 20 other media freedom organizations in an open letter to Eswatini King Mswati III, urging him to guarantee the safety and security of journalists and media workers in the country. Since late June, Eswatini authorities have fired tear gas at reporters and partially shut down the internet amid…

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Eswatini editor receives death threats over pro-government article

On June 14, 2020, an alleged member of an Eswatini opposition group sent threatening text messages to Welcome Dlamini, an assistant weekend editor of the privately owned newspaper The Times of Eswatini, over a column he had published in support of the country’s government, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app,…

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Swaziland News editor Zweli Martin Dlamini recently fled to South Africa after being arrested and abused by police, who now have a warrant out for his arrest on false news allegations. (Photo: Swaziland News)

Swazi editor flees to South Africa, wanted in false news investigation

In the early morning of February 25, 2020, police in the Manzini region of Swaziland raided the home of Zweli Martin Dlamini, the editor of the privately owned news website Swaziland News, and arrested him, according to media reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

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Swazi King Mswati III addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2019. Swazi authorities recently detained and harassed journalists writing about the king. (AP/Craig Ruttle)

Swaziland journalists harassed, threatened with treason charges over reporting on king

New York, April 30, 2020 — Swaziland police should stop intimidating and harassing local journalists for reporting critically about King Mswati III and should allow them to write freely without the threat of treason charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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CPJ calls on SADC heads of state to prioritize press freedom and the safety of journalists

CPJ writes to the executive secretary and heads of state of the Southern African Development Community ahead of the 39th Ordinary Summit, urging them to prioritize press freedom and the safety of journalists in SADC.

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A copy of a letter that The Times of Swaziland said was presented to its journalists while they were in the Qatar Embassy. (Times of Swaziland)

Qatar embassy in Swaziland briefly detains two journalists

Security staff detained two Times of Swaziland journalists for more than an hour at the Qatar Embassy in Swaziland’s capital, Mbabane, on October 5, 2018, according to a statement by the local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The journalists were detained after a senior diplomat tried to make them sign a…

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Swaziland releases Bheki Makhubu after 15 months in jail

New York, June 30, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s decision by the Swaziland Supreme Court to release from prison Bheki Makhubu, the editor of The Nation, who has been in jail since March 2014 along with human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, after the crown prosecution said it would not defend an appeal against…

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A woman from the Right2Know campaign protests with her child against the State Information Bill, which would enable the prosecution of whistleblowers, public advocates, and journalists who reveal corruption, in Cape Town on April 25, 2013. (AP/Schalk van Zuydam)

Outdated secrecy laws stifle the press in South Africa

Nelson Mandela regularly harangued the media once he’d been freed after 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa’s apartheid government. He would call individual journalists when he liked or disliked something they had written or when he wanted to advance a political lobby.

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