PM WILL NOW HOLD MONTHLY MEDIA CONFERENCES

MBABANE – Having taken a decision to no longer engage with the Editors Forum on a quarterly basis throughout the year as was previously done; government has said that it will now host monthly media conferences.

The new strategy, according to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, will be structured in such a way that the Prime Minister (PM), Russell Mmiso Dlamini, will brief the media on national issues and the work of government plus respond to questions of public interest. This time around, according to Nxumalo, it will be up to the media houses to decide who they send to be part of the conferences.The latest developments come after an incident, which occurred during the breakfast meeting held on Friday, where The Nation Magazine Editor Bheki Makhubu took on the PM and accused him of being hostile towards the media.

Nxumalo shared the information on the new strategy when sought for clarity after he issued yet another press statement, whereby he said government wishes to reiterate the commitment to stay engaged with the media in Eswatini as one of the many avenues through which government communicates with the public and in process; receive feedback from the same. This going forward, he said, will be done through a different format where the PM and members Cabinet shall address the media from time to time.

Accountability

He said this is with a view to continue to promote transparency, integrity, accountability and openness between the government and the nation. “Government also wishes to provide clarity that the now defunct ‘Editors Forum’, was actually an initiative of the Office of the Prime Minister, not the other way round as it seems suggested on some social media platforms,” he said. Nxumalo said as per his maiden address to the  nation immediately after his appointment, the PM will continue to employ an open-door policy on dealing with issues of public interest and concern.

“As the prime minister continues to interact with members of the public through various platforms and structures such as his social media accounts; the Office of the Government Press would like to urge those who participate to do so with a certain degree of public decorum. We are nation that is known for respect,” Nxumalo mentioned in the statement. He said the tendency of what he termed denigrating, undermining and insulting authorities and other public figures, is not politics but criminality. According to Nxumalo, practising and promoting hate speech also remains a criminal offence and that building a strong nation requires giving honour where it is due and critique where criticism is required.

Power and Authority

“I have been to some forums, wherein insults were hurled and traded to power and authority without any restraint or whatsoever. And you do not just regret that you have attended those forums, but just felt like the ground should open up and swallow your chair right away during the proceedings. Pitiful indeed! No wonder the message of these formations never gets to resonate with anyone,” he said.

It should be noted that during the breakfast meeting held on Friday, the PM used an unpleasant tone when responding to some of the questions posed by editors, in particular Martin Dlamini, the Times of Eswatini Managing Editor, something which raised questions about the state of the freedom of the media and the extent to which government’s accountability can be questioned. In the press statement issued yesterday, Nxumalo pointed out that there is no particular animosity between the PM and the Times Managing Editor. He said the questions posed by the latter and responses provided by the former do 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.

Misunderstanding

According to Nxumalo, any misunderstanding which might have existed was resolved between the two in a meeting which he (Nxumalo) arranged two months into the term of Office of the PM. He detailed that the meeting was also attended by the principal secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and that all issues were discussed and resolved amicably. “After that meeting, I arranged another one between the Editors Forum Executive and the PM, a meeting which proceeded very well also and whose good and positive results were the revival of the Editors Forum monthly meetings with the Prime Minister.” He also said, “We all have the responsibility to align our interests with the larger interests of the nation here, which among others; includes dissemination of government information to the nation,” he stated.

With the content of the press statement raising more questions than answers, this reporter sought for more clarity from Nxumalo. In particular, this publication asked to know if the PM was not at fault for using an unpleasant tone when responding to some of the questions  posed to him. This is in relation to his assertion that it was just an opinion that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) only arrested the ‘small fish’, a question which was posed by Times of Eswatini Managing Editor Martin Dlamini. The government spokesperson was also asked if stopping the breakfast meetings meant that all the editors were at ‘fault’ as they termed it.  Still on seeking clarity, it was brought to the attention of Nxumalo that the breakfast meetings were the idea of the Editors Forum not government.

Meetings

In response, Nxumalo first said that stopping the breakfast meetings did not mean that all the editors were at fault. He referred this reporter to the press statement he had issued on Friday after the incident, whereby he said government even acknowledged the attempted intervention of the Chairman of the Editors Forum, Mbongeni Mbingo, who is the Managing Editor of the Eswatini Observer. When Makhubu took on the PM, Mbingo grabbed the microphone from him and advised that he apologised, something which, however, did not happen as the PM threatened to walk out.Still on the clarity, Nxumalo said the PM will continue to receive written questionnaires from the media and provide answers thereof, at monthly media briefings to take place at Cabinet offices.Regarding the question of who started the breakfast meetings, Nxumalo said he chose to reserve his comments as he does not want to entangle himself on the origins and that in government’s view it was not a big issue.

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