SWAZILAND

INTRODUCTION
Understanding that access to information (ATI) and economic
development are inter-twined, the Swaziland government has
put in place three legal instruments that promote the free-flow
of information. Adopted in 2005, the Constitution provides
for freedom of expression, the press and other media. The
Information and Media Policy of 2005 also requires the media
to eradicate information poverty through the provision of
information. Meanwhile, the National Development Strategy
(NDS) of 1999, popularly known as Vision 22, locates information
at the heart of sustainable socio-economic development, social
justice and political stability.
In an attempt to realise the dream of free-flow of information,
the then Ministry of Public Service and Information crafted the
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Draft Bill in
2007. It provides for access to information held by the public
and private bodies. However, the process of passing it into law
has taken much longer than expected. Presently, there is no
freestanding law for accessing public information in the hands
of public and private bodies. Worse still, public officials have
secrecy obligations under the Official Secrets Act of 1968. This
outdated law is inconsistent with the Constitution that provides
for freedom of expression, making it even more difficult for
citizens to access information held by public institutions.
Swaziland needs to accelerate the process of passing the Freedom
of Information and Protection of Privacy Draft Bill of 2007 into
law, after review and consultation with stakeholders. Essentially,
information is needed to make decisions – on individual matters,
on community issues and matters of state. Media experts warn
that openness, transparency and accountability will remain
empty promises if access to information is not guaranteed.
Christel and Hendrik Bussiek (2004) argue that custodians of
public information must know that they hold it on behalf of the
citizens. They should, therefore, avoid withholding information
from them. The more information citizens have, the more their
motivation for change will spur on development.

Rationale and ReseaRch
PaRaMeteRs
The main aim of this study is to assess the level of openness and
transparency of public institutions in the country in support of
the ongoing Access to Information (ATI) campaign of the Media
Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Swaziland Chapter (MISA
Swaziland). The expected outcome from this ATI campaign is
the enactment of an ATI legislation. This study involves eight
public institutions drawn from government ministries and public
bodies. It was conducted for a period spanning one month
between July and August 2016.
The following public institutions were surveyed:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
Ministry of Labour and social Security

5.
6.
7.
8.

Central Statistics Office
Financial Services Regulatory Authority
Swaziland Communications Commission
Swaziland Royal Insurance Corporation

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
Category 1: Website analysis
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All the eight public institutions surveyed are
accessible online, but ministries and government
departments do not have separate websites as
theirs are all linked to the national government
website (gov.sz.).
Five of the eight public institution websites surveyed,
particularly those belonging to the government
ministries and department (namely: the Ministries of
Commerce, Industry and Trade; Health; Housing and
Urban Development; Labour and Social Security;
and the Central Statistics Office) rely on the national
government website (gov.sz).
The websites for the government ministries and
department were not updated frequently and did
not have other relevant information on news and
events. For example, of the ministries’ websites that
actually had a “news” and/or “events” section, only
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
had information, whereas the Ministry of Commerce,
Industry and Trade did not even have a news section.
All the websites of the three public institutions
(Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Swaziland
Communications Commission and Swaziland
Royal Insurance Corporation) contained recent
information.
Compared to public company websites, most of the
websites of government ministries and departments
performed poorly.

Category 2: Requests for information
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All the eight public institutions failed to respond
within seven days to the questionnaires delivered.
Other public institutions asked the researcher
to re-send the questionnaires because they had
misplaced them.
All of the eight public institutions had to be
reminded more than three times before they would
provide responses electronically.
Most of the public officials who were supposed
to give responses claimed to be busy with other
assignments and did not have time to respond to
the questionnaires.

Select target paragraph3