Media rights group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Eswatini government to probe an incident in which a journalist was assaulted by prison officers while covering an anti-government protest.
According to CPJ, Nomthandazo Maseko, a reporter for the privately owned news website Swati Newsweek, was early this month attacked by about 20 correctional officers in Matsapha, a town about 40 kilometres from the capital Mbabane.
Quoting Maseko and her editor Eugene Dube, CPJ said the journalist was assaulted as she livestreamed on Swati Newsweek’s Facebook page a protest by members of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (Swalimo) outside the local prison where two pro-democracy members of parliament have been detained since July 2021.
She was allegedly pulled out of her car and slapped, kicked, beat up with sticks. An unidentified officer pointed a gun at her and threatened to shoot, Maseko told CPJ, adding that she lost her two cell phones during the beating.
“Eswatini police must investigate the vicious assault on reporter Nomthandazo Maseko and ensure that the prison officers responsible are brought to justice,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from New York.
“A prison visit by pro-democracy activists is a legitimate news story, and to violently attack a journalist for being on the scene is unacceptable and must not be condoned by authorities.”
Maseko said she was denied medical attention at a state-run hospital and later went to a private hospital where it was discovered that she suffered tissue injuries and was badly bruised.
JN/APA