By Bongiwe Dlamini

MPUMALANGA:Mpumalanga High Court Judge Vincent Ratshibvumo noted that,King Mswati and the eSwatini Government are using public funds to take Swaziland News and it’s editor to court.

The Judge made these comments before postponing the matter between the editor with the Kjng and the eSwatini Government to allow the editor to engage new lawyers.

Judge Ratshibvumo said he was not convinced by Dlamini's argument on why the case should be postponed, but nonetheless agreed to delay the hearing because he believed that the matter was “important" and required legal input from both sides.

“This is a very important case and it raises issues of great importance, not only in terms of freedom of expression, the right of the media to publish stories on events that are of interest to the public, but it's also an important case when it comes to the international law,” said the Judge on Tuesday.

On another note, News24, a South African publication reported on Wednesday that, the Eswatini’s monarchy and government want a South African court to rule that an exiled Swazi editor and his online publication, who they accuse of defamatory and “wildly improbable" reporting, "have committed acts of terrorism”.

They claim that Swaziland News editor Zweli Martin Dlamini is guilty of terrorism because he and his publication “clearly support" the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SISF), a group aligned with an extremist faction of the Eswatini pro-democracy movement.

“According to Eswatini authorities, the SISF is guilty of terrorism - and, by extension, Dlamini and the Swaziland News’ allegedly favourable coverage of them amounts to “acts of terrorism". 

While lawyers for the Eswatini monarchy and state have slammed dozens of Dlamini's reports as potentially fabricated, human rights groups have increasingly raised alarm about the alleged violent repression of the pro-democracy movement in the country, which is Africa's last absolute monarchy.Three years ago, the tiny region was shaken by pro-democracy protests, which were followed by a violent crackdown that resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians and triggered a political crisis.Two opposition lawmakers elected in a 2018 election were jailed and a third is in exile”, reads the News24 report.