By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Savannah Maziya,the Minister of Information, Communications and Technology(ICT) has protected the country’s image by stopping political novice Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini from regulating the media with an intention to undermine press freedom.

Minister Savannah Maziya has established a media self-regulation team that include members of the Parliament Portfolio Committee,Editors Forum and the Eswatini National Association of Journalists(SNAJ), the team recently travelled to South Africa to gather information from the Press Council on media self-regulation.

The PM acted with emotions after the media exposed how he failed to account for about R180million public and donated COVID-19 funds, he vigorously called for urgent media State regulation while telling journalists that, no amount of criticism will stop the process.

“Noma ningahamba nibhale ini kutsi Hulumende wants to muzzle, because that’s not what we want”,said the PM during a recent meeting with editors where he stated that Government will regulate the media.

But sources within the delegation told this Swaziland News that, the process to self-regulate has started and that, this publication will be contacted as well to share views during the process.

“We will contact you for views and suggestions as the process continue  because we want it to be to be all inclusive and credible”, said one of the journalists.

Eswatini Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo declined to comment about the latest developments.

 On another note,the independent minded Minister of ICT Savannah Maziya publicly opposed the Prime Minister inside Parliament saying, it had never happened that, the media be regulated by Government as this “will undermine press freedom”.

Eswatini has over thirty(30) laws that undermine media freedom and this include the Books and Newspapers Act and the Supression of Terrorism Act that restrict journalists from interviewing individuals or entities accused of terrorism.