Swazi Media Commentary (Gaborone)

Swaziland: Gay Hate Speech Writer Suspended

21 May 2012

The Swaziland writer at the centre of a gay hate speech storm has been suspended by his newspaper.

The Times of Swaziland acted against Qalakaliboli Dlamini when an 'unprecedented' number of readers complained at his article last week attacking homosexuals.

His weekly column did not appear yesterday (20 May 2012) and may never appear again.

Times Sunday editor Innocent Maphalala told his readers, 'As Editor, I also take full responsibility for publication of the said article and unreservedly apologise to all our readers who found it in bad taste.'

He said, 'We have received an unprecedented number of concerns regarding Qalakaliboli's last article.'

A formal complaint to the Times of Swaziland readers' ombudsman has been made against Dlamini for breaking the Swaziland National Association of Journalists code of ethical conduct.

Separately, Times Managing Editor Mbongeni Mbingo said, 'We shall be having further discussions on a permanent way forward.'

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