MBABANE:Zweli Martin Dlamini,the editor of this Swaziland News has clarified that, Government, Ministers,the King including public officials will be given seventy-two hours(72) hours to respond only on critical articles.
This comes after the Mpumalanga High Court issued an order directing the editor to give the Government, Ministers,the King and all public officials seventy-two(72) hours to respond to questions, the Government had demanded seven(7) days.
“I have read the court order and it refers to critical articles without giving clarity who will decide and clarify what is a critical article. So I urge public figures to ensure that they respond as soon as possible, in the meantime, we will afford Government and the King the said 72 hours on what I(as the editor) believes is a critical article until I receive a proper definition from the court “what is a critical article according to the court order” and what measures are used to define that, this is a critical article. Therefore in other urgent articles, public figures will be given, three(3) more or less hours for breaking or urgent news”, said the editor.
The editor further clarified that, various international human rights organizations are analyzing the court order to fully understand it if does not undermine media freedom. He said to the best of his understanding, the court order was meant to promote fairness not to undermine the constitutional right to information.
“We have always afforded the Government an opportunity to respond and they opted to release a Circular saying they won’t respond to a terrorist entities, I hope they will respect the court order and respond”, said the editor when giving clarity on the matter.
The editor maintained that breaking news will not wait for seventy-two(72) hours before being published as to his understanding, that’s not what the court order suggests.
Editor Zweli Martin Dlamini.