SWAZI ARMY NOT LOYAL TO THE KING

If King Mswati III, of Swaziland, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa, thinks his military forces will defend him in any impending civil uprising he had better think again.

There is increasing evidence in the kingdom that the Army or so-called ‘defence force’ is one of the most corrupt institutions in Swaziland.

A report on ‘perceptions’ of corruption in Swaziland from the kingdom’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) named the Defence Force and ‘Public Administration’ as the most corrupt sectors in Swaziland.

I assume it didn’t include King Mswati and the Royal Family in its deliberations because they are considered untouchable. Forbes reported in 2009 that King Mswati has a personal fortune estimated at US$ 200 million and I can’t see how the King could have amassed that wealth honestly.

Swaziland’s Defence Force is rotten to its core, according to the ACC.

Alpheous Nxumalo, writing in the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned and edited by King Mswati, speculates that corruption in the Defence Force includes taking bribes for enlistment in the defence force, money for promotions, payment for scholarships involving army cadets, receipt of commissions from contractors / suppliers, irregular expulsion of defence personnel, harassment of junior members of the defence force by the commanding generals, subverting the morale of defence personnel through false reports to the appointing authority, frustrating army officers who advocate for the protection and professional custody of army values and professional ethics.

Nxumalo’s list goes on, ‘Entrenchment of nepotism and patronage to consolidate the positions of the generals, the rampant misuse of defence assets for personal profits, the deliberate bad decisions that led to the collapse and inefficiency of the defence force air wing; the deliberate flouting/violation of defence policies and regulations to benefit the army authorities is a threat to state security.’

Nxumalo concludes ‘It is a kind of threat to the state exactly as the same level of a threat of war.’

Nxumalo goes on to say that the corrupt generals should be sacked. Quite right too, but I suspect if that ever happens there won’t be many generals left.

The corrupt ‘everyone for himself mentality’ in the Defence Force demonstrates that no commander has loyalty to the King. Their loyalty is to themselves – and whosoever will continue to allow them to keep their snouts in the trough, should the King be forced into exile.

So, the good news is the generals won’t necessarily side with King Mswati when the uprising starts. The bad news is that they won’t be on the side of the people either.

At heart Swaziland’s military are simply mercenaries: ready to serve whoever will give them the most.

See also

ARMY BULLIES ANTI-CORRUPTION TEAM

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/army-bullies-anti-corruption-team.html

ARMY BULLIES ANTI-CORRUPTION TEAM

Swaziland’s top military officer Lieutenant General Sobantu Dlamini threatened members of the kingdom’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) with violence if they went ahead with a corruption investigation into defence forces personnel.

In a letter to the ACC Commissioner Michael Mtegha he wrote that he would not be responsible should soldiers harm ACC officers.

Rightly, the ACC took this as a thinly-veiled threat and Dlamini has been reported to the authorities.

Dlamini wrote the letter to try to stop the ACC investigating five members of the defence force’s Air Wing on charges of corruption.

They are said to have repeatedly defrauded government, to the tune of E310 000 (about US$45,000).

Charges of corruption were made in September 2010 and in the days leading up to them, the ACC had received a lot of pressure not to make the arrests, according to a report in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.

The Times reports an anonymous source, saying, ‘You would not believe the names of some of the people who felt that the military should not be put under a microscope as most of their activities border on matters of national security. The message was loud and clear; leave the military alone.’

The source said the military went so far as to claim that the arrests put the very safety of Swaziland at stake. Why? Because with the arrested men out of circulation, no one would know how to fly Swaziland’s one-and-only military helicopter.

The source hinted there might be a major corruption scandal in the military that is not yet uncovered. The Times reports the source saying there was a concern that if this case against members of the military was allowed to proceed, it would open the door for more cases against soldiers to be investigated.

And the source is almost certainly telling the truth. In an unrelated Army corruption probe, last week, the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned and edited by King Mswati III, reported that Major General Manyosi Simelane, who ranks third in the Army hierarchy, quit the service on advice from lawyers before he was arrested on a corruption charge. Lawyers said if he was not a serving officer at the time of his arrest he could retain some of his long-term service benefits.

The Observer reported that the corruption allegations against Simelane include among others, abusing the name of royalty within the army, army supplies procurement irregularities and taking bribes for army jobs.

The Swazi News subsequently reported that Simelane had confessed to a magistrate that he took bribes from people seeking jobs in the Army. The Swazi News reported that Simelane might have received as much as E300,000 in bribes, from up to 100 different people.

‘CORRUPT’ CANDIDATES STILL FREE

No legal action has been taken against candidates at Swaziland’s national election who are alleged to have engaged in corrupt practices.

Last week the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) reported on a host of irregularities during the 2008 election, ranging from intimidation to bribery.

But it has emerged that even though the EBC had information about the identities of the accused, it did not contact the Swazi police or the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The controversial EBC chair Chief Gija Dlamini refused to discuss the matter with the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, claiming that he couldn’t do so until the report had been discussed by parliament.

In typical fashion, Chief Gija, who was widely criticised for his lack of experience when he was appointed to the EBC chair (he is an electrician, not a judge), did not say why he had to wait until parliament deliberated.

If information that a crime has been committed is available it should be passed on to the ACC and the police for action to be taken.

Because of the chief’s complacency the guilty may be walking free.