SECTOR 2 Even the privately owned Times of Swaziland experiences interference from the state if its articles criticise the monarchy in any way. A case in point was a May 2014 article in the Times, which factually reported the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Khabonina Mabuza, stating before the Public Accounts Committee that a sum of E208 million ($20,8m) had gone missing from state coffers. Mabuza had said that of the E213m recorded as the Finance Ministry’s over-expenditure, only E5m could be accounted for. She told the committee that she did not want to elaborate as the issue touched on labadzala (the Swazi authorities). The managing editor of the Times was subsequently called on to retract the story, saying the newspaper had erred in its reporting, even though the Principal Secretary was on record for having said this. “If a politician makes reckless statements, the politician will always make it the journalist’s problem.” 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: 1.3 (2005:1.9; 2007:2.4; 2009:1.7; 2011: 2.9) 2.4 Transparency of ownership of media houses in print/broadcasting is guaranteed by law and enforced. In theory, the ownership of companies is legally transparent through the Companies Act of 2009. People who want to start up a newspaper, for example, would first need to form a company by going through the usual channels. Access to information on company ownership through the Registrar of Companies, however, is not guaranteed; and panellists were concerned that information about media ownership may not be as transparent or accurate as it seems. “Officially, there is a public registry, but if someone wants to conceal the specific information about ownership, they can… You can never be sure if there are other owners apart from those mentioned on paper.” Mention was also made of a clear conflict of interest with the managing editor of the Times of Swaziland, Martin Dlamini, who also works privately as the king’s speech-writer. This, arguably, compromises his position at the Times. 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Swaziland 2014