experiences with local content producers and media stakeholders. Soon after, the STVA went on a study tour to the SABC, which resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Within the scope of the MOU, the SABC started assisting the STVA in developing its local content quota strategy. They agreed on an employee exchange programme that would enable the SABC to train and mentor STVA employees. Digital Migration Having failed previously to meet the deadline agreed by the International Telecommunication Unions (ITU) for digital migration, Swaziland migrated on the 31 December 2016 deadline. By this set date, the ICT Ministry assured the public that the state broadcasters had successfully switched over to digital without any glitches. Reasons given for the delay were that the country had been held back by the delays experienced by its neighbours, Mozambique and South Africa. They had asked Swaziland to delay its switchover because they were not ready. This was meant to address the issues of frequency sharing and frequency coordination, common among neighbours. The ICT Ministry, STVA and MVtel, a company selling the set-top-boxes (STBs), mounted a national campaign educating people about digital migration and the need to install the STBs that enable non-digital television sets to receive the digital signal. However, TV watchers and radio listeners made numerous complaints about the quality of the STBs and their failure at times to function properly on other television sets. They also complained that the price of STBs was prohibitively expensive for ordinary Swazis. 98 So This is Democracy? 2016 Violations of the Right to Freedom of Expression Security forces continued to infringe on the constitutional right of freedom of expression and media freedom during the People’s Parliament at the Ludzidzini Royal Residence cattle byre. Journalists were denied entry to the cattle byre and detained for an hour in August 2016. The security forces did not want the journalists to take their cameras into the venue, thus preventing them from taking pictures. However, they relented later after discussing the matter with the press control corps. Senior Times of Swaziland journalist, Sibongile Sukati, seized the opportunity to voice his concerns on the harassment of journalists by the security forces in the line of duty. She reported the unabated violations of the right of media freedom to higher authorities. She mentioned that the harassment of journalists in the line of work amounted to denying the public the right to information as they too played a public service role of purveying information. During the People’s Parliament, police tracked down an elderly man from the Vuvulane area for criticising the King and Queen for their involvement in land evictions. An evicted Vuvulane smallholder farmer, William Nkhosiyemantjoli Mkhaliphi, was arrested shortly after for making scathing submissions at the People’s Parliament. Reportedly, they questioned him about his statements in the cattle byre. This was, however, denied by the police, who claimed that his arrest was linked with theft of tractor parts belonging to the liquidated Vuvulane Irrigated Farms Company.