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Monday 14 April 2008

SWAZI PROPAGANDA DISGUISED AS NEWS

A Swaziland newspaper has made an outspoken attack on Swazi trade unions, claiming they are on their knees.

The Swazi News (12 April 2008), in what purports to be a news report, but is in fact a piece of propaganda, tears the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) to pieces.

Without offering its readers a single source for its information, the Swazi News claims the SFTU is a ‘toothless dog’.

The newspaper reports, ‘The once fearless SFTU is down on its knees.

‘It took the once mighty and vibrant labour movement less than 10 years to crumble, leaving the workers vulnerable to their employers. It once boasted 83,000 membership but today that has been brought to more or less 30,000.

‘This effectively means SFTU has lost over 53,000 members.

‘The chronic downfall has been attributed to several factors of which some have been witnessed by the affiliates from puberty stage until they toppled the federation with no one actually attempting to solve the problem.’

The report goes on the state that the ‘last days of the mighty SFTU’ were in 1996/7 when there was a mass stay-away of workers, ‘forcing the economy into the mortuary. It never recovered.’

The report goes on, ‘The Federation’s Secretary General, Jan Sithole was idolised by every worker.’ It then attacks Sithole for running a one-man show at the union.

What disturbs me most about this report is its dishonesty. You don’t have to be a supporter of trade unions to see that what the Swazi News published was not a piece of disinterested journalism. The reporter (and it was written by a reporter, not a comment writer) has simply given his own opinion of matters. Nobody else is consulted and no verifiable facts are given in the report.

I wrote only last week about the Swazi News and its coverage of the election and how it was biased against the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) referring to a ‘mockery press briefing’ and calling by the board ‘illegally appointed’.

It did it again this week in a front-page report about Chief Gija Dlamini, the Chairman of the EBC. In a news report, it called Dlamini the ‘illegally appointed chairman’ and went on to say that Dlamini said he would not resign his day job to concentrate on the work of the Commission.

This is how the Swazi News report put it, ‘Dlamini, presumably out of arrogance coupled with ignorance says he does not see the need to quit his job.’ Perhaps I should point out that the only ‘arrogance’ and ‘ignorance’ on display here is from the journalists at the Swazi News.

There is a code of ethical conduct for journalists in Swaziland. Article 1 of The Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) Code of Conduct makes it crystal clear that it is

‘the duty of every journalist is to write and report, adhere to and faithfully defend, the truth. A journalist should make adequate inquiries, do cross-checking of facts in order to provide the public with unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive information.’

The Swazi News has clearly not met Article 1.

The Swazi News must be very careful. It is gaining the reputation, not as a newspaper, but as a propaganda sheet.

Getting back to the article on the SFTU. The reporter played the oldest trick in the book for biased journalists. Having set up a false scenario (the crumbling trade union movement, toothless dog and such like) in the minds of the readers he asked trade unionists to respond. This meant trade unionists weren’t given a chance to talk about what they saw as their role and what trade unions might be able to do for working people in Swaziland, instead they had to accept the agenda set by the Swazi News and defend themselves.

The fall in the number of trade union members is easy to explain. Anyone who knows the history of trade unionism in any country in the world (developed or developing) knows that union membership is cyclical. Put simply, that mean when the economy is doing badly (as Swaziland’s is) people are out of work or are poorly paid, they tend not to be members of unions. When times are good and people are in work, they belong to trade unions.

If you add to this the political climate in Swaziland that is hostile to people forming political parties and trade unions it is no wonder that unions find it difficult to recruit. But if you look at the effort police officers and prison warders have made to form trade unions in Swaziland over the past year or so, you cannot be in any doubt that people do understand the benefits of trade unions and very much want to join them.

Let the Swazi News report on that.

See also
SWAZI ELECTION DATE ABSURDITY
SWAZI POLICE REFUSE TO ARREST

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