Swaziland Without bothering about police surveillance and disturbance, civil society actors attended a one-day MISA Swaziland media literacy workshop at the Roman Catholic Caritas Centre at the end of March. For the first time, they could freely debate media issues on freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information. They unanimously agreed to collaborate with the media fraternity in all campaigns for freedom of expression, media professionalism, and access to information, media-led advocacy and liberalisation of the airwaves. History was also made when government joined media practitioners, civil society actors, political activists, diplomats and the public to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2016. MISA Swaziland hosted a public debate on the topic Locating freedom of expression within the justice system. Panellists were drawn from the media, human rights defenders and the law society. The principal secretary in the ICT Ministry delivered an inspiring speech encouraging MISA Swaziland to continue organising media literacy workshops for the benefit of the citizenry, decision-makers, lawmakers and media practitioners. The media fraternity scored a victory when government heeded calls for the reinstatement of journalism in the list of priority areas sponsored by the Swaziland Government Scholarship programme in institutions of higher learning. Efforts by MISA Swaziland and its media partners bore the desired fruits, with aspiring journalists enrolled for journalism at universities in Southern Africa. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, responsible for training, had kept the programme on hold for five years. To press government to liberalise the airwaves, the Swaziland Community Multimedia Network (SCMN) stepped up its campaign for the issuance of community radio licences. It formed the Broadcasting Bill Committee (BBC) to lobby legislators to speed up the process of passing the Swaziland Broadcasting Bill into law. In response to this campaign, the Information and Media Development Directorate drafted the Swaziland Broadcasting Bill of 2016. The ICT Ministry also issued two one-day provisional community broadcasting licences to community radio initiatives in the year under review. To crown it all, there was a two-week People’s Parliament held in the cattle byre at the traditional headquarters, Ludzidzini Royal Residence, in early August 2016. Swazis from all walks of life enjoyed their constitutional right of free speech. The leadership and government were criticised for poor governance. Speaker after speaker called on the powers-that-be to completely overhaul the non-partisan tinkhundla-based system of government. At the end, King Mswati III promised to implement the people’s recommendations. Notwithstanding positive developments, 2016 proved to be a mixed bag as there were few noticeable negative developments in the media sector. The security forces disregarded the royal command to allow every Swazi access to the cattle byre. As usual, they targeted journalists covering the People’s Parliament. Journalists were refused entry into the royal byre. The police also tracked down people who criticised the authorities during the two-week People’s Parliament. On the media front, the Swaziland Television Authority (STVA) struggled to pay its staff members on time in the year under review. The television station was So This is Democracy? 2016 95