Swaziland bans two new publications
Mbabane - Swaziland has officially banned a weekly newspaper and a monthly news magazine critical of the authorities, according to a gazette notice obtained on Monday.
The ban of the privately owned Guardian newspaper and the Nation magazine was effected under a 38-year-old law that empowers the information minister to outlaw publications.
The gazette, signed by minister Mntonzima Dlamini on Friday, came a day after he ordered the two publications to stop operations until they met the requirements of a publishing law, which has not previously been invoked.
Among the stipulations of the Swazi Books and Newspapers Act of 1963 is that publishers must secure a 1 000 emalangeni (about R963,6) bond, which the government said the Guardian failed to do.
King Mswati, who fell ill last month and has been out of the public eye for the past few weeks, denied that he had been poisoned when he resumed his public functions on Saturday, denouncing some media organisations for reporting lies about the royal family.
The Nation, meanwhile, has been highly critical of Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini and other government officials.
The government has given publications which have existed for at least five years a two-week period to comply to the requirements of the act.
However, publications that have existed for a shorter period must stop operating until they comply.
The Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) has observed that the government action was meant to stifle the independent press.
The Guardian was established by a group of media workers who lost their jobs when the authorities closed the establishment-owned Swazi Observer in February 2000 for refusing to disclose its sources to the police. - Sapa-AFP
Published on the Web by IOL on 2001-05-07 15:07:02
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