SECTOR 1 and his family’s lavish lifestyle, in a country where the majority of the population lives below the poverty line. SNAT coordinated the seven-week-long teachers’ strike in 2012 predominantly through the use via Facebook and WhatsApp. “The police were very confused until they started monitoring SNAT’s Facebook and WhatsApp accounts and for two days SNAT could not access these accounts. The police were clearly trying to limit the co-ordination of SNAT’s plans.” There have been no known cases of people being taken to court by the state as a result of Facebook or WhatsApp postings. “Maybe this is because they don’t want people to know about their surveillance capabilities. There are a lot of ‘friendly chats’ (warnings) and phone calls from officials, however.” The state, through the 2010 Electronic Communications Act, is given the latitude to access and monitor citizens’ electronic communications “to gather intelligence for reasons of public order and national security”. Panellists noted disruptions in communication through Swaziland’s security agencies’ interception of e-mails, resulting in the delayed delivery of e-mails of a sensitive nature. Army intelligence officials have been known to warn high-profile, vocal citizens, such as union leaders, not to send “unsavoury” content via e-mails. There are no laws directly restricting internet service providers’ access to information, although the state does intervene in these operations at times. When Swazi MTN, the sole mobile service provider in Swaziland, applied for a licence to open its own international internet gateway, Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications (SPTC) rejected the idea, arguing that it was concerned about “security issues”. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.9 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 4.2; 2011: 2.9) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Swaziland 2014 25