Swaziland In April, Ramodibedi summoned The Observer’s Managing Editor, Mbongeni Mbingo, to his chambers and threatened him with arrest and detention. According to Mbingo, the Chief Justice warned him to stop the “negative reporting” on the Makhubu and Maseko case, or else Ramodibedi would put him behind bars like Makhubu. Furthermore, the Swaziland Judicial Service Commission (JSC), of which Ramodibedi is the chair, issued a statement to staff of The Observer, threatening to imprison them if they continued their wide coverage of the Makhubu and Maseko contempt of court case. The JSC ordered The Observer’s staff to stop reporting on the case and to stop drawing comparisons between the Swazi and US legal systems. A further disappointment in 2014 was the failure of United Nations (UN) agencies to condemn Swaziland’s human rights violations. The UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Commission to Swaziland office did not even attend Swaziland’s 2014 World Press Freedom Day, which was commemorated by MISA Swaziland, the Swaziland Editors’ Forum, Swaziland National Association of Journalists, Swaziland Press Club, Swaziland Community Radio Network and Media Workers Union of Swaziland. JOURNALIST SAFETY Fear of imprisonment and physical assault looms over Swazi journalists The environment for media workers in Swaziland in 2014 was one of fear, not only for their freedom – with the threat of imprisonment looming for those who speak out against the government and King – but fear for their physical safety, with examples of journalists being as- 64 So This is Democracy? 2014 saulted and harassed in the line of their work. For example, in 2014, Mbabane Swallows Football Club director Victor Gamedze assaulted reporter for The Observer, Baphelele Kunene, in front of the paper’s managing editor. Kunene reported the assault to the police, but they took no action against Gamedze. Even the weekly tabloid, Swazi Mirror, which broke the story, was affected - its copies did not reach the newsstands that week. CENSORSHIP AND BANNING Restrictive environment breeds self-censorship Swaziland’s restrictive media environment leads to self-censorship amongst both private and state media. There is an unspoken mandate not to criticise the royal family and media workers feel, “if a politician makes reckless statements, the politician will always make it the journalist’s problem.”4 In May 2014, for example, The Times factually reported that the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Khabonina Mabuza, told the Public Accounts Committee E208 million was missing from state coffers. Mabuza said only E5m of the Finance Ministry’s recorded E213m over-expenditure was accounted for. Mabuza told the committee she did not want to elaborate because the issue touched on labadzala (the Swazi authorities). The government ordered The Times to retract the story, claiming the report was incorrect, despite the fact that the Principal Secretary’s statements were on record. Radio Swaziland reporter, Thandiswa Ginindza, was banned from 4 Swaziland African Media Barometer Report, MISA and Fesmedia Africa 2014