14/12/2024
2024 IN THE EYES OF THE MEDIA (PART 1)
.......A Year of Crisis, Chaos, and Credibility Erosion
By Editorial Comment
As the year draws to a close, Eswatini’s 2024 calendar reads like a textbook of turmoil. From the political stage to social media wars, failing institutions, and frustrated workers, the events of this year have left many citizens questioning the country’s direction. Below, we analyze the major stories/events that shaped 2024 in Eswatini, exposing the cracks in leadership, media, and civic organizations.
1.SNAT’s Digital Transformation: Elevating Teachers Amidst Chaos
The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) found an unlikely platform to make teachers feel important: Facebook. SNAT turned its page into a hub of validation for teachers, reminding the public of their role as society’s bedrock. All teachers in Eswatini seemed to need was to feel appreciated: a metaphorical hug, a kiss on the forehead, and a simple affirmation of their worth and to be told "you are loved."
We now know our teachers don’t need much; they need a Minister that has an open line with their union, who comes to their events and dances with them, and someone who negotiates for salary adjustments in good faith. And Minister Owen Nxumalo did just that. Who would have thought just posting teachers on Facebook in their colourful T-shirts would have them so excited? Calling them "Valued Members" proved a simple yet effective gesture, injecting pride into the profession. Through storytelling, teacher profiles, and highlighting academic achievements, SNAT humanized its members while subtly positioning them as pillars of hope in a crumbling social fabric. It was a refreshing narrative in a year otherwise dominated by negativity.
2. Progressives Imploding on Social Media
The progressive movement, long seen as a counterbalance to the monarchy’s rule, spent 2024 in a spiral of self-destruction. All you needed to know about those calling for an alternative future of this country played itself out on social media for all to see. No one needs convincing who is who in the jungle anymore or what each group represents. Social media became their battleground, with factions hurling insults, accusations, and counter-accusations.
It became difficult to separate truth from propaganda, leaving Swazis bewildered by the fluid alliances and ever-shifting narratives. In fact, if you want an entertaining soap opera from the progressives, you just need to know which accounts to follow on Facebook—provided you don't get confused by their ever changing allegiances. One minute so-and-so is a darling; tomorrow, an enemy; the next minute they support party A, and tomorrow party B. These characters are now the uofficial public faces of their chosen political parties and provide a window into the thinking of their principals.
Instead of presenting solutions to Eswatini's pressing issues—such as unemployment, poverty, and underdevelopment—the progressives focused on vilifying exposing each other's criminality in the name of activism. This only just confirmed the struggle has no short supply of double agents and also just how close the country was from moving from the pot to the fire. The movement, once seen as a beacon of hope, ended the year with diminished credibility, unable to rally the nation behind a coherent vision for change. If anything, sensible observers kept wondering who is capable of even belling the cat as different factions sought to outdo each other on insults, accusations, and downright lies. It will take some time for the silent yet observing majority to believe in the same people they have watched discredit each other with such reckless abandon.
Perhaps, Matthew 7:15-20 seems eerily relevant:
"Beware of false prophets... By their fruits, you will know them." But who else can gospel the progressives into mending their ways if even the nation's favourite spokerson turned wanna be pastor has thrown in the towel. The soupy continues!
3. Prime Minister’s Media Fallout
Prime Minister Russel Dlamini’s strained relationship with the media came to a head this year, with a particularly public feud with The Nation editor Bheki Makhubu. The spat highlighted deeper tensions between government and independent journalism. Dlamini accused the press of bias and sensationalism, while Makhubu fired back with accusations of authoritarianism and a lack of accountability. This clash symbolized the growing divide between the state and the press in an era where information is power.
The fact that the breakfast meetings were abruptly ended at the heat of the moment spoke to the lack of emotional intelligence from our Premier, allowing himself to be poked by the media and then falling for it. The breakfast meeting also gave us a cameo peek into the power play within Cabinet, as shown by the actions of Ministers Neil and Mancoba Khumalo during the tense standoff between the Prime Minister and Bheki Makhubu. Rumours of insubordination of the PM or being undermined by the more experienced Cabinet cabal led by Neil seemed to be confirmed.
4. The UNESWA Crisis: An Institution in Decline
The University of Eswatini (UNESWA) continued its descent into dysfunction. Recurrent strikes, salary delays, and a lack of resources painted a grim picture. Government officials blamed mismanagement, while university leadership pointed fingers at inadequate funding. The result? A disillusioned student body and an eroded reputation for what was once Eswatini’s premier institution of higher learning. While government must be commended for appointing the Muzi Siyaya-led commission of inquiry, questions still need to be asked about the management of the university. Yes, we can blame government, but the university management is oftentimes allowed to get away with murder.
5. Partisan Online Media: Propaganda Over Journalism
Eswatini’s online media has devolved into a battleground of political propaganda, oftentimes puppet-mastered by factions of the feuding political parties. The democratization of (online) media ownership once heralded opportunities for alternatives to state-controlled outlets. However, these pages (because some are not media houses) have become mouthpieces for political factions and are clearly partisan, openly pushing agendas of their political handlers in the name of journalism. The death of Bheka Magagula, the poisoning of Mlungisi Makhanya and the Mduduzi Magawugawu Simelane prayer event at KaMhlushwa just proved beyond any shadow of doubt how deeply factional, vengeful and unethical the online media is. Their reporting on these events bordered on insulting the collective intelligence of the nation.
Accusations of bias, lies, and narrative construction abound, with each outlet appearing to serve its shadowy principals with no respect for the basics of journalism—the truth. Ironically, the very criticisms progressives leveled against traditional media are now their own undoing. Objectivity, fairness and impartiality seem to have taken a backseat to agendas and personal vendettas. The agenda is never to inform or educate but to pander to the worse vices of society and providing a platform to slander their chosen villians while sanitising their favourites. The first rule of journalism is that the journalist is never the story but not to our online spaces. Nothing in their works talks to journalism or ethics. And Swazis love gossip and cheap controversy to a point that some openly dislike well informed and nuanced perspectives instead prefer sensationalism, slander and gossip. At best they seek easy answers to complex problems and therein lies the rub!
And the owners of these pages understand this very well hence have no interest in ethics and truth as long as they can click bait people into one million comments. Perhaps the Times and Observer are doing what the online pages do except they report to a different master. So we can conclude then that each to his Master and no more accusing others of embedded journalism in 2025. Cry the journalism profession.
6. May Day Mayhem: TUCOSWA vs. the Prime Minister
The Workers’ Day celebrations turned into a spectacle of chaos as TUCOSWA clashed with the Prime Minister. Party-aligned activists disrupted the event, testing the independence of the trade union movement, especially the right to make independent decisions. While the activists appeared undisciplined and juvenile, the Prime Minister emerged looking like a victim of political opportunism. The incident was a microcosm of Eswatini’s political immaturity, where dialogue is replaced with drama and also shows government why years of antagonising workers was always goig to create such hostile environments. On the othe hand the return of SNAT President Mbongwa to work after a court verdict showed that trade unionism is not a sin and that the courts can still be used for Judicial activism Perhaps it is about time the courts also helped bring back Stick Nkambule from exile because his persecution is just unjustifiable.
7. Football in Crisis: Leadership Deficiencies on Display
Eswatini’s football scene mirrored the broader crisis of leadership. The struggles at Mbabane Swallows and Manzini Wanderers highlighted poor management and infighting. Fans, once united by their love for the game, have grown disillusioned as the sport’s potential to inspire and uplift is squandered by shortsighted leadership. The crisis at Mbabane Swallows exposed the fragility of the big man syndrome, where an institution relies on the brilliance of one powerful leader without creating systems, processes—including of succession—that can ensure that organizations don’t collapse into factions when the strong leader leaves or dies. Sihlangu continues to disappoint while Manzini Wanderers just need to swallow their pride and go and rebuild ka Mkhwenyana.
8. Judiciary and Police Frustration
Junior police officers and magistrates faced 2024 without contracts, proper pay, or acknowledgment of their plight. The lack of a Judicial Service Commission (JSC) further highlighted the government’s neglect of its first line of defense. These frustrations are a ticking time bomb, emblematic of a state that is failing its most critical personnel. 2024 taught us the bravery of young officers who are courageous standing for their rights amid the threats and intimidation. Ans the dismissive arrogance of the government is playing with fire. Not when these officers did all their dirty job in 2021 and are thanked with p**p.
