I’ve been conducting research on the lawsuits and/or court judgements against the media particularly the Times of eSwatini and some of these judgements suggest that,the judiciary has been pushing a corrupt agenda to undermine the independence of the media.
Apart from the judgement in the matter between African Eco(Pty) Ltd trading as the Times of eSwatini and the then Senate President Gelane Zwane, there are other matters that were concluded and the courts awarded damages while disregarding the provisions of the law of defamation.
In South Africa where the media is free and independent,it cannot be so easy to successfully challenge a newspaper for publishing articles of vital public interest particularly where the conduct of the journalist in the process of establishing facts before publishing, has proven that, there was absolutely no intention to defame.
It should be noted that even before concluding that the applicant was defamed, the Presiding Judge must be convinced with evidence that, there was an intention to defame and the story was not of public interest and/or, it was intended to defame.
The courts have an obligation to protect the media in line with the constitutional right to information but in eSwatini,the judiciary is colluding with corrupt individuals to award huge monies as compensation for defamation with an intention to discourage journalists from exposing corruption,the Times of eSwatini has been,over the years,a victim of this corrupt agenda.
The media, as the Fourth Estate institution must be protected particularly by the courts to promote the free flow of information.
A free and independent media positively shapes the society by providing information to enable citizens to make informed decisions regarding issues affecting their welfare either politically, socially, economically or otherwise.
The Times has written many stories about public figures including some of us(journalist) but, you cannot suggest that,the media must be destroyed just because it has exposed or criticized you, the media was established to inform the public and hold those in power accountable.
Judge Nkululeko Hlophe who used to call the Times and complain about articles involving him, opted to use his judicial powers to attack the Times and award huge monies to applicants, perhaps, as a revenge and this, I would suggest,is very unfortunate.
Now, we will monitor the conduct of Judges particularly on cases involving or threatening the independence of the media, Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala once fined the Nation Magazine and its editor Bheki Makhubu two hundred thousand Rands(R200,000.00) merely for criticizing the Judiciary, he wanted the Magazine to struggle financially and subsequently close.
I once wrote an article for the Sunday Observer titled “The Judicial Dictatorship” where I was criticizing Judge Hlophe and the then corrupt Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi, after reading that article Judge Hlophe asked journalists in an open court saying “where is the journalist who wrote this, I want to issue a warrant of arrest”.
As journalists, we are not here to massage the feelings or egos of corrupt Judges, all public figures must be subject to criticism, even editors and/or journalists, criticism is meant to, among others, enhance or demand accountability of public power.
It should be noted that,there are established editorial structures within newspapers to discuss complaints and where a lawsuit has been filed, the court must balance the public interest and the dignity of the affected person and award a reasonable amount as compensation.
The statements by Mbabane East Member of Parliament(MP) Honorable Welcome Dlamini who suggested that the media,must be regulated by the State will never see the light of the day while we are still alive, we cannot allow the Executive,Judiciary and Parliament to collude against and/or undermine the independence of the media.
We will capacitate the society to understand what media State regulation means and where the need arise,the people must rebel against the State and protect the media because the media is their only voice.
Regulating the media would mean those in power will establish policies that will undermine the independence of the media so that, the corrupt can loot more public resources with impunity.
As the situation stands,we are monitoring each and every Judge who is handling a lawsuit against the Times or any newspaper, Judges must research on South African cases involving the media and come-up with fair judgements not to award huge monies and then claim a certain percentage from the lawyers behind the scenes.
We are not suggesting that the media must be allowed to disregard the law, journalists must uphold an ethical conduct but, it is the duty of the courts to strike a balance between public interest and the right to human dignity.
But having said that, where a newspaper has been found to have deliberately published stories with an intention to defame, the courts must protect members of the public in this regard.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala.