SNAJ DISAPPOINTED AT ICT MINISTRY

MBABANE – The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) on Monday snubbed members of the media fraternity as there was no representative in attendance during the World Press Freedom Day Commemoration.

This did not go down well with the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ), which resolved to write a letter to the ministry expressing its disappointment. The commemoration was held at the Mbabane Theatre Club Auditorium and about 100 media workers were in attendance. SNAJ President Welcome Dlamini, when making his remarks, expressed his disappointment that there was no government representative.
This was after the Programme Director, John Pires, highlighted that there was no government person present.

Celebrating

He said he was disappointed because looking at the government Twitter account, they had posted celebrating World Press Freedom Day. “Where are they commemorating it, do they have their own event?” rhetorically asked Dlamini. He said if he had the time, he would extensively address the issue. Dlamini said media workers should realise that the ICT Ministry did not take journalists seriously. “Tomorrow they will be calling us to attend their functions yet they fail to come to this very important function today,” said Dlamini. He said the Ministry of ICT had a whole Media Department yet they had snubbed the event.

Dlamini encouraged the Editors’ Forum and the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) to assist in penning the letter to the ministry expressing their disappointment at how they do not take the media seriously. He said this was the same treatment that government gave the media when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. “They issued a list of essential workers, the media was not included, we had to call them, at that time the Acting Minister was Manqoba Khumalo, we had to call him to ask him and he was shocked, he said he was sorry they had forgotten us, so they keep on forgetting us,” said Dlamini.

Prioritised

He said this was the similar scenario during the COVID-19 vaccination exercise, where the media was not prioritised and those who got a chance to get a shot had hijacked events they were covering.

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