The Nation, Swaziland’s only independent monthly magazine for which I’m a freelance writer, has done it again. It has broken ranks with the pervasive editorial policy of fear and carefully skirting around topics that the Tinkhundla establishment may interpret to be inimical to the state and therefore deserving of the ultimate punishment – closure.
Two of the magazine’s senior staff braved the likely hostility of the state and prison authorities and headed to the Matsapha Correctional Services maximum security facility to talk to the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Mario Masuku, where he has been detained without trial since 16 November 2008. Masuku, now officially recognized as Swaziland’s only prisoner of conscience by human rights watchdog Amnesty International, was arrested under Tinkhundla’s Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA).
The legislation, which has been condemned as ill-defined and inordinately suppressive by both Amnesty International and the International Bar Association, only came into effect long after Mario uttered the words which allegedly violated it. Masuku uttered the words at the funeral of PUDEMO cadre and lawyer, Musa John Dlamini (aka “MJ”), who was killed when a bomb in the car in which he was traveling mysteriously detonated prematurely under the Lozitha overhead bridge last September.
When Masuku’s lawyers argued that he could not be charged under a law that was not in existence when he is alleged to have committed the offence, the state trumped up sedition charges. However, the state’s continued failure to commit him to court raises suspicions that even the latter charges won’t hold in an open court of law. In fact, the state has, rather bizarrely, repeatedly advised Masuku to apply for bail. Masuku has rejected this gesture mainly on grounds of principle, demanding immediate commencement of trial instead.
The Nation’s interview with Mario does not in and of itself yield much beyond confirming his physical fitness and dogged determination to fight on despite his well documented diabetic condition and a debilitating prison environment. The limitation is understandable given the restrictive environment in which the interview took place. What the interview does bring out, at least for me, is the Nation’s insistence on going out on a limb to provide us with what I will call alternative media in a political milieu where it would be in their best economic and survival interest to just blend with the rest and go with the flow.
The magazine is doing all this fully aware of a threat from the unconstitutionally appointed Tinkhundla Prime Minister (and bogus Dr[1]) Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini that the media would not be spared if they were seen to be associating or even sympathizing with individuals and organizations designated “specified entities” under the STA legislation. Both Mario and PUDEMO fall in this category. Visiting Mario and interviewing him could easily be interpreted to be a show of solidarity and keen interest in his political cause and welfare. The Nation is knowingly treading precariously and I say BRAVO to the people’s magazine for its gallant activism!
[1]Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini calls himself a Doctor despite his lack of both a medical qualification and PhD. He’s as fake as the very rogue regime he serves. After all, he wasn’t even an elected MP (a constitutional requirement) when he was handpicked by Mswati to once again (mis)lead by example. His sole constituency is therefore Mswati.
