Government targets editors

The eSwatini Government is contemplating shutting down the country's Editors Forum after a senior journalist had a verbal showdown with Prime Minister Russell Dlamini last Friday. Government spokesperson Alpheus Nxumalo said the editor of The Nation magazine, Bheki Makhubu, ‘meted a verbal attack’ and, in the process, brought the name of King Mswati III into a discussion that had nothing to do with him during the Editors Forum breakfast meeting. He said in order to protect the office of the Prime Minister, ‘government has taken a decision to redesign how the public will be informed about government business and issues of national importance going forward’. In an interview with News24, Makhubu said the vindictiveness towards journalists extended to the courts. ‘There's an ongoing fight between the state and the media over freedom of speech. It's a battle that's been going on for a while now and it includes the courts, which are extremely hostile towards the media. The authorities want the media to operate on their terms, so some of us are resisting that,’ he said.

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