Statement: Swaziland, Angola, SA and Zim: defend freedom of expression, stop criminalising dissent!
Thulani Maseko and Bheki Makhubu
The Right2Know Campaign is deeply distressed that respected Swazi editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko have begun their second year in jail. The pair was sentenced for contempt of court to a two-year prison term on March 18 last year for writing articles critical of the Swazi judiciary.
Their incarceration has been the subject of protest by numerous African and International human rights organisations, including R2K who twice last year picketed in solidarity at the High Commission of Swaziland in Pretoria. The AU’s African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Pansy Tlakula, together with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Commissioner Reine-Alapini Gansou, last year also expressed their concern about Makhubu and Maseko’s arrest and urged the Government of Swaziland to order their immediate release and withdraw all charges against them.
The articles in question were critical of the arrest and detention of a government vehicle inspector, and the handling of the case by Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi. The inspector had issued a fine to another judge’s driver who was transporting the judge without proper authorisation for the use of a government car. Makhubu and Maseko took up the inspector’s cause by writing two articles in The Nation magazine in which they criticised the judiciary for abusing their powers and privileges.
Authorities argued that the articles interfered with the administration of justice, as the matter was still before the court. But a plethora of legal experts and human rights organisations in the world have strongly argued that the two men were legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression in commenting on the conduct of the judiciary.
Makhubu and Maseko’s trial was also marked by procedural irregularities and violations of their rights from the onset, which started with their detention after a closed court hearing on 18 March 2014. An appeal hearing was scheduled for the case on November 3 last year, but never took place. It is unclear when the appeal will be heard.
R2K also condemns similar attempts by the Angolan authorities to punish and intimidate journalist, human rights activist and lawyer Rafael Marques de Morais for speaking out against corruption and abuse of power. In the case of Marques de Morais, criminal defamation is being used as a means to silence critical voices and stop journalists from holding the powerful to account. Marques de Morais’ exposé of grave human rights violations in an Angolan diamond mining region is what appears to have alarmed powerful figures, whose response has been to muzzle him. He is due to go on trial today, March 24, and could face years in prison.
Defamation cases against critics and journalists are used recklessly across the region, despite being at odds with the views of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. In 2010 the Commission adopted a resolution stating that “criminal defamation laws constitute a serious interference with freedom of expression and impede the role of the media as a watchdog”.
Last year there was a flash of hope in Zimbabwe when the constitutional court ruled that criminal defamation must be struck off the statute books. This came after a landmark ruling on charges brought against editor, Nevanji Madanhire and reporter Nqaba Matshazi for criminally defaming businessman Munyaradzi Kereke. Unfortunately, the judiciary has said that this ruling applied only to the old constitution and it remains to be seen whether or not criminal defamation will be upheld in the new constitution. Worryingly, Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Professor Jonathan Moyo, who earlier this year criticised criminal defamation as “unconstitutional”, now appears to have backtracked – hardly a surprising twist in a country that is among the most repressive for journalists and media workers.
We must not lose sight the same problems even closer to home. In South Africa criminal defamation remains a very real threat to the notion of an accountable, transparent democracy underpinned by the free flow of information. Tom Nkosi, a community newspaper publisher, is the latest victim of such reactionary, unjust legal measures. He has been criminally charged for publishing allegations that two former members of the Congress of the People wrote affidavits claiming the Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has promised to pay them to break into the party’s offices and steal computers containing sensitive information.
R2K demands that the charges against Makhubu, Maseko, Marques de Morai and Nkosi be dropped immediately and we call on South Africa and other regional countries to adhere to Article 9 on the Right to Receive Information and Free Expression in the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights.
There are sufficient means to ensure that journalists do their jobs properly and to protect innocent people’s reputations without there being a need for reactionary legislation, which all too often is used to stifle dissenting voices. Criminal defamation will only have the effect of cowing journalists and others who are needed to hold the powerful to account. It is not in the public interest, it is anathema to accountability and democracy and it must be abolished!
Also see the video on Bheki Makhubu here:
