CIVICUS and LHRS made the following recommendations to the UN working group. • • • • • • • “The environment in which the media operates in Swaziland should be opened up to allow the registration and operation of more independent newspapers and media houses. “The government should stop using the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act and the Suppression of Terrorism Act to impede media freedoms. “Swazi authorities should respect and fulfil the right to freedom of expression and stop the practice of intimidating and persecuting journalists using unlawful legal processes. “Journalists and media representatives should be protected by the law at all times. “Public figures should stop threatening journalists and desist from interfering in state-owned newspapers. “Obsolete laws that restrict freedom of expression such as Sedition and Subversive Activities Act Suppression of Terrorism Act should be reviewed and repealed. The Swazi authorities should stop censoring the contempt of newspapers and refrain from interfering in the editorial policies of newspapers to eliminate censorship.”1 In April 2015, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Subusiso Shongwe, Chief Justice Michael Ramodipedi, Judges Mpendulo Simelane, Jacobus Annandale and High Court registrar Fikile Nhlabatsi were arrested The Swazi Observer and The Nation were vindicated for their scathing articles on the conduct of the judicial officers. In an unrelenting effort the journalists from these two publications continued investigating the judiciary and eventually This resulted in the arrests of Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Subusiso Shongwe, Chief Justice Michael Ramodipedi, Judges Mpendulo Simelane, Jacobus Annandale and High Court registrar Fikile Nhlabatsi were arrested. Charges against them ranged from corruption to defeating the ends of justice. While the State had since dropped charges against Annandale and Nhlabatsi, the trio (Shongwe, Ramodibedi and Simelane) still have a case to answer. In a bid to clean up the judiciary, the government fired Justice Minister Shongwe and Chief Justice, Ramodibedi. PRINT MEDIA MEDIA REGULATION While the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of the The Nation editor and columnist, Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko were actions meant to silence criticism of the judiciary, subsequent events vindicated With the assistance of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), MISA Swaziland organised a media literacy workshop for the ICT Ministry Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. This was carried out in November 2015 with the purpose of increasing understanding on the importance of ATI in an attempt to lobby MPs to support MISA’s campaign for an ATI law in the country. The work- 1 All Africa - Swaziland: Call to End Swazi Media Censorship, 29 September, 2015 http://allafrica. com/stories/201509300612.html 70 that condemnation. So This is Democracy? 2015