Legalise Community Radios in Swaziland

Swaziland is a small landlocked country in Southern Africa under the ruling of the last absolute Monarchy of Africa. Together with Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Angola, Swaziland is one of the most media unfriendly countries of the region; and together with Zimbabwe, remains the only country with no operating licenses for community radios.

Community radio stations are community owned and operated entities that serve either localised geographic communities or community of interest, such as minorities, religious groups or universities. Community radios are unique because they are owned and managed by the same people they serve.

At the moment only the State owned Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service can broadcast through its two channels: SBIS
1(Siswati) and SBIS2(English).

The national radio station, SBIS, is overtly state-controlled. SBIS operates as an arm of government and its programs are subject to government censorship as well as frequent self-censorship to ensure content reflects the interests of the authorities.

The pioneer community radio initiative- Lubombo Community Radio- first started advocating in 1999, and has been joined by many others up to date.

Applications for broadcasting licenses since then have been presented, however the lack of political will to update the legal framework has so far taken 13 years.
Lubombo Community Radio has broadcasted 4 days in the last 13 years, doing so with day licenses only issued to mostly cover the King's Birthdays celebrations.

Until 2012 the country was operating on a restrictive and outdated media Bill from 1962.
Last June, the Electronic Communications Bill was passed, leaving the passing of the Broadcasting Bill as the last obstacle for a conducive legal environment for community radios to operate.

Help us to press the Swazi government to urge the passing of the Broadcasting Bill and make community radios a reality in Swaziland!