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GOVT AMPLIFIES BAN ON ZWEMART, SWAZILAND NEWS

By Saturday Observer Reporter | 2024-01-21

Zweli Martin Dlamini, also known as Zwemart and his online publication Swaziland News (PTY) (LTD) have been banned from communicating with all state agencies.

This is with effect from January 19.
Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo yesterday highlighted that these were declared “specified entities” through Legal Notice Number 261 of 2022 in line with the Suppression of Terrorism Act, 2008, in that these entities “knowingly facilitate the commission of terrorist acts.”

“Government has since issued a circular memorandum to all government ministries advising all government officials and employees to desist from communicating and/or responding in any form or method to such entities and individuals, including on Facebook and related social media platforms,” said Nxumalo.

Government, he said, continues to advocate for press freedom and the right to information. He said, however, this must be done in a manner that is objective, credible and following all journalism ethics and by accredited media institutions.

“Government, will therefore, not be entertaining any self-acclaimed media entities and will continue to give the nation an accurate update of all government activities and programmes through credible media houses and official government platforms,” he added.

In July 2022, government branded both the online publication and its editor as ‘terrorist entities’. This was when Attorney General (AG) Sifiso Khumalo accused the editor of ‘threatening to kill police officers’ and of instigating ‘violence, the burning of public and state property, the seizure of state power and overthrow of lawful government’.

The order was published in terms of the Suppression of Terrorism Act.
The AG wrote that the editor had “on numerous occasions and at different intervals published articles that instigate violence, the burning of public and state property, the seizure of state power and overthrow of lawful government”.

He was accused of doing this through the Swaziland News and on his Facebook page.
“In his latest antics, Zweli Martin Dlamini is threatening to kill police officers” and it was “worth noting that there had been recent shooting of officers by unknown gunmen”, Khumalo wrote in his recommendation of action against Dlamini.

This fell within the definition of terrorism, he said.
Dlamini moved to South Africa in 2018 when his print newspaper, Swaziland News, was banned under the country’s Registration of Books and Newspapers Act. He registered and set up his website in South Africa and has joined the Press Council of SA, a self-regulatory body which monitors media conduct.

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