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RESPECT IS EARNED PM

15/09/2024 06:57:00 Editor

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Prime minister’s (PM) breakfast meeting with editors held on Friday at Mountain View Hotel in Mbabane will go down in the history books as the worst and unprecedented spectacle.
PM Russell Dlamini and Bheki Makhubu, the Editor of The Nation Magazine, headlined the event punctuated by emotions and flaring tempers.

We had not anticipated that the meeting would turn chaotic in such a manner. In his preamble, the PM emphasised on respect, which is a virtue or value that emaSwati have cherished for the longest time. I thought both camps (editors and Cabinet) would respect the meeting, but that was not the case. The PM was the first to disrespect and humiliate a Senior Editor in Martin Dlamini, the Managing Editor (ME) of the Times of Eswatini Group of Newspapers. He disrespected him in front of his subordinates, journalists from other media houses, principal secretaries and ministers.

He failed to respond to the ME’s questions on school opening readiness, inadequate resources at schools and the failure by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to arrest bigwigs or ‘big fish’. Instead, the ACC went for what the principal editor and what many emaSwati have rightly said are ‘small fry’. I recall vividly His Majesty the King’s Speech from the Throne, when he called for the arrest of corrupt bigwigs (bobhabuli), something that every liSwati can see is not happening within the ACC. In various platforms, including teachers, tackled the issues that the ME raised for the PM’s attention.

Instead of responding to the questions, he told him that it was his personal opinion, expressing himself in a sarcastic manner as he went to attack the Times of Eswatini Group of Newspapers, which he accused of having been negative about the country. So we the media should not probe and ask why the King’s mandate about arresting bobhabuli is not being followed? Nor should we ask on behalf of every liSwati who writes letters to the Times, callsin and complain about the ACC catching small fry? It becomes ‘our opinion’?

Sarcasm

I disagree with the PM here. In a manner untypical of a senior politician like him, he also urged us to do some ‘research’ on a simple matter about the ongoing Green Chert mining when asked if government is not undermining one of its important aspects of environmental protection as the mining is going on in a nature reserve. No one said it should be shut down as jobs are needed by emaSwati we agree, but we simple want all environmental procedures followed. Are you not supposed to preserve nature and take care of our environment for future generations? A simple response could not do for you PM; you had to add a tone of sarcasm, yet we are talking respect.

He did not answer questions on how journalists would actually differentiate between his personal statement and official statement. The last time government claimed he expressed a personal opinion about the integrity of the Office of the Auditor General (AG). This was despite the fact that he was addressing the editors’ breakfast meeting. Was this not an important question to respond to, but as you had said in your preamble, you reserved the right to choose which questions to respond to and which not to respond to. I wonder what was personal about this one. In fact, I can describe the attitude by the PM as unnecessary as it did not depict the good image of his office. From where I am sitting, I can safely say the premier fully contributed to the spectacle that unfolded. If he had not stooped to the level I mentioned above, I doubt Makhubu would have used strong words.

I also did not warn Makhubu against uttering those words because I was personally aggrieved and utterly shocked by the PM’s own conduct. I felt disrespected and humiliated by the PM whom Alpheous Nxumalo, the Government Press Secretary, defended in a statement he released on Friday night. I want to mention now that it is not true as alleged by the government press secretary that the names of Their Majesties were brought into disrepute by Makhubu’s behaviour. It is the government’s press statement that is devoid of truth and fairness, thus bringing the name of the King into disrepute.

As a matter of fact, Makhubu recognised the person of His Majesty, even stating clearly that the country is under the leadership of the King, not any other person. Government must stop lying to the authorities of this country. If government continues to lie in this fashion, it is doing disservice to the nation. I cannot let government or Alpheous lie to the Throne unchallenged.

Statement

Anyway, I had expected Alpheous to defend his boss at Hospital Hill; after all he has to sing for his supper. However, yesterday morning, Alpheous’s tone appeared to have been modified a little bit. In his statement, he said it is important to point out that there is no particular animosity between the PM and Times of Eswatini ME. He said the questions posed by the ME and responses provided by the PM did not suggest anything other than a normal process of engagement in a set-up of that nature wherein, the media has a certain interest to get into the bottom of a matter. “That’s your personal opinion, take it,” was this supposed to be a response from a PM to the ME?

Alpheous said any misunderstanding, which might have existed, was resolved between Martin and Russell in a meeting which he (Alpheous) personally arranged two months into the term of office of the PM. He said the meeting was also attended by the Principal Secretary in the PM’s Office, Bertram Stewart. He claimed all issues were discussed and resolved amicably. After that meeting, Alpheous said he arranged another one between the executive of the Editor’s Forum and the PM. He said this meeting proceeded very well and whose good and positive results were the revival of the Editors Forum monthly meetings with the PM.

“I must also point out that I have taken timeout to reach to Bheki Makhubu immediately after the editors’ meeting yesterday, and impressed on him that the Prime Minister’s Office is a public office and should he desire or have any need to visit and meet anyone there, including the PM himself, he would be most welcomed, irrespective of what transpired in the past,” Alpheous said. He said all of us have the responsibility to align our interests with the larger interests of the nation, which among others; the dissemination of government information to the nation.

The meeting which Alpheous arranged does not prove that there was rehabilitation of some sort or change of attitude. As far as the PM is concerned. Nowadays, Alpheous, who has been around for many years, can agree that the country’s traditional media is not government’s headache. But, we see a PM who wants to be hailed for great achievement if he is successful in controlling the media. Any politician whose programme starts with the media raises suspicions. “Why do you want to start with the media?” We have respected the PM from the first day His Majesty appointed him into office. We gave him almost a year to acclimatise or familiarise himself with the Office of the Prime Minister. That, we did, even when we knew that most of the former PM tabled their policy statements a month after their appointments. It took him almost a year to do so. It is an indisputable fact that the PM proved a few days after his appointment in November 2023, that he is not a media-friendly politician, all well and good, but respect us. In his first days in office, he was determined to crackdown on the media.

Media

The first notable thing he did when he assumed office was tell the media to put its house in order. In one of the meetings with editors, he relayed his personal experience with the Times of Eswatini, which had nothing to do with State duties. At the peak of the 2021 civil unrest, this newspaper’s car was burnt. Some reporters were evacuated from their homes for safety reasons. We are the ones who told the outside world that the State authorities had not fled the country as reports were abuzz. We were hated and branded as State-captured media for telling the truth. We have never disrespected the person of His Majesty the King and we have been reporting on positive government programmes we see.

Just like we take government to task and hold her accountable where we should as we serve the tax paying public, we are not here to be governments’ public relations office.
Never! However, it beats me when a politician of the calibre of the PM tells a public forum that the Times of Eswatini Group Newspaper has been negative about either the State or government. That is totally incorrect and unacceptable. I may not condone Makhubu’s tone, but the disrespect shown to me as well as to the ME gave him the reasons to attack the PM in the manner he did. When we pose questions, we do so for the nation – the taxpayers and everyone who lives in this country, including the foreign investors. As a media, we represent the people and we do not ask on behalf of our families.