41 SOUTHERN AFRICA PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2019-2020 CENSORSHIP Constitutional rights to free expression are severely restricted, with the media and journalists working hard to remain on the right side of the law. Security agencies monitor personal communications, social media and public gatherings, and criticism of the king or other elements of the regime can be punished under laws such as the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, the Suppression of Terrorism Act, and the Public Order Act. (53) According to the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index for 2020, Eswatini ranks 141 out of 180 countries, (54) a slight improvement from 2019 when the country was ranked 147th. Activists say this slight improvement in ranking does not mirror what is happening on the ground. A number of journalists and activists have gone into exile for fear of arrests and harassment. Self-censorship (55) has become the guiding principle for journalists working in Eswatini. The risk for arrests, harm, abduction and being shut down for publishing anything is extremely high. In its 2020 report for Eswatini, Freedom House noted that the absence of an access to information law fuels the culture of no proactive disclosure of government information. (56) The judicial system in Eswatini is often used by authorities to undermine media freedoms such as access to information and free expression. In April 2019, Judge Nkosinathi Maseko banned the publication of investigative news articles detailing how the Farmers Bank was issued an operating licence under unclear circumstances. (57) The court ruled that documents used in the news articles were unlawfully obtained and therefore could not be used even in the interest of the public. The editorial independence of private media is compromised by editors and media owners who have a cosy relationship with the monarchy, big corporations and the government. (58) Journalists in these media houses are by extension compromised as they cannot work on articles their editors and publishers will not publish. PERSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS A number of arrests of journalists and editors have been reported. These include: — the October 2020 case of Mbongeni Mbingo, editor of Eswatini Observer, who was suspended following reports that he was part of a group that has allegedly formed a political party to oppose King Mswati III. (59) the April 23, 2020 case when police officers raided the home of Eugene Dube, the editor and publisher of the privately owned news website Swati Newsweek, and seized his three mobile phones, a laptop and work documents. Dube fled to South Africa, although he has since returned to Eswatini.