Swaziland ziland Shopping had failed to meet the legal registration requirements stated in Section 5 (2) of the Books and Newspapers Act of 1963. Neither had he submitted the required documents after the application review meeting had requested him to do so. MISA Swaziland invited him to a meeting to get his side of the story, but he resisted, and as police prepared to question him, he finally fled to South Africa. The period under review was marred only by the controversy surrounding the closure of Swaziland Shopping. If the Acting Principal Secretary’s grounds for rejecting its application for registration were anything to go by, MISA Swaziland said it did not condone any form of lawlessness or corrupt practices in the media sector. If the newspaper owner’s allegations about the police plotting to kill him were to be proven true, MISA Swaziland, which advocates for the safety and protection of journalists, would condemn it in the strongest terms. LOOKING FORWARD TO 2018 All the negative media developments have reversed the gains made in the areas of freedom of expression and media diversity. Going forward, filling the vacancies of SCCOM senior positions will bring stability and also give direction to the regulator for it to fulfil its regulatory mandate. The ICT Ministry is expected to speed up the promulgation of the two pieces of legislation namely the Swaziland Broadcasting and Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts before the dissolution of parliament in 2018. The former seeks to introduce the three-tier system of broadcasting. The latter seeks to provide for access to information. The Swaziland Broadcasting and Media Policy will also help to level an uneven playing field in the media sector. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE A second Swazi-owned mobile network operator, Swazi Mobile started its operations in July 2017. This ended the mobile telephony monopoly of Swazi MTN, which has been the sole service mobile service provider for 19 years. Since the launch of Swazi Mobile, citizens have reaped the benefits synonymous with a competitive telecommunications sector. The Swaziland Communications Commission (SCCOM) issued a directive to the mobile telephony company to reduce their tariffs and MTN Swaziland had reduced theirs by 30 per cent. MTN had also introduced free talk time on Sundays for its customers. Communication has been made easy and affordable for everyone in Swaziland. So This is Democracy? 2017 105