By Zweli Martin Dlamini
Africa-Press – Eswatini. When Cabinet, through Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo issued a memo banning all public officials from responding to this Swaziland News, knowing the Transparency and Accountability laws in the country where this publication is registered, I interpreted that as a penalty without a goalkeeper.
Indeed, on Monday Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini ordered Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo to equalize through a public statement defending his corrupt dealings, the good thing is that despite that ban, we always send questionnaires to Prime Minister Russell Dlamini and all Government officials.
It is worth-mentioning that, as a publication, we will make good use of these penalties without a goalkeeper awarded to us by this corrupt regime, we will score more goals by informing the public about all corrupt public officials, by the time they realize that, the decision not to respond was a blunder, it would be too late.
Transparency and accountability forms part of the job description for all public officials and in terms of the Transparency and Accountability laws, no public official can successfully sue a newspaper if he/she decided not to respond or clarify allegations of wrong-doing.
It is for these reasons, I am saying “it’s a penalty without a goalkeeper” and whether Government Spokesperson decides to respond through parables, it’s up to those who decided to ban a publication.
Ours is to make sure we get our facts right and send questionnaires before publishing as per the ethics and principles of journalism.
This is not the first time we are experiencing such arrogance from corrupt public officials including a Prime Minister, Government once tried to ignore this online publication saying people read the Times and Observer but, we forced Government to go online and clarify issues.
Even on this particular ban,we will shape the public discourse and inform the public about what is happening in the corridors of power, goalkeeper or no goalkeeper, we will score endless goals.
As the editor, I will not beg any public official to respond, the power to investigate, write an article decide on the headline is vested upon journalists and the duty of a public official is to respond and clarify allegations.
Therefore, if a public official decides not to respond, that would mean the facts will be presented in the court of public opinion unchallenged and the ‘Judges’ of that court will be forced to make a decision based on the available facts.
It should be noted that,failure to respond to the media is a demonstration of arrogance and disrespect to the public and we all know the sad ending of arrogant public officials.
As mentioned,there’s no where in a democratic and independent court where a whole government can issue a memo documenting a refusal to subscribe to accountability and then opt to successfully take legal action against a newspaper,that will never happen.
King Mswati through his Spokesperson Percy Simelane demonstrated wisdom by defying the ban, you can’t hire a goalkeeper(Spokesperson) only for that goalkeeper to leave the goal posts wide open,hoping to equalize once goals are scored, a Spokesperson who is afraid to face a critical newspaper and opt to entertain the captured ones is very weak.
A critical publication will never beg for a response but circumstances and pressure will force Government officials to respond, in this regard, ours is to be consistent and feed the public with investigative stories.
The media through the power of the people, is vested with the powers to decide and influence public discourse through the dissemination of accurate information.
It has never happened anywhere in the world, where the Executive will just yield power and tell public that “don’t listen or follow this particular publication” follow that one.
Members of the public are not fools, they are fully aware that most Government officials including politicians are corrupt and therefore, they will always follow a publication that demand accountability by exposing corruption.
After all, the role of the media is to, among others, demand accountability in the public administration.
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