Swaziland Human Rights: Dlamini Lindiwe

Showing posts with label Dlamini Lindiwe. Show all posts

Sunday, January 16, 2011

SWAZI PM ‘FACES NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE’

Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, faces a vote of no confidence in parliament.

Swazi MPs are fed up with his handling of the land corruption scandal and want him and all his Cabinet ministers to be sacked.

The no-confidence vote on the Cabinet could come at the same time MPs vote on the future of Lindiwe Dlamini, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, who allowed the Prime Minister; his deputy, the millionaire Themba Masuku; four members of the Swazi Royal Family and at least nine cabinet ministers (past and present); an array of Mbabane City Council officials and others to purchase government land illegally at discounts of up to 50 percent.

Although MPs are keen to get rid of Lindiwe Dlamini, they believe the entire Cabinet and the Prime Minister should also be sacked.

According to the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, today (16 January 2011), ‘The MPs felt the housing minister did not unilaterally take the decision to award the land illegally to the ministers but cabinet as a whole, was responsible. On his return from Libya, the Prime Minister admitted that cabinet took decisions as a team.’

One MP, close to the revolt, told the newspaper that a report into the land swindle is due to be presented to Parliament soon. ‘The report to be presented to us by the Parliamentary Select Committee probing the matter will show us the direction we should take but we won’t just pass a vote of no confidence on Lindiwe alone. We want the whole cabinet to go home en masse.’

Swazi MPs are angry about a range of bad decisions the Cabinet has collectively made recently. These include the purchase of land from Essa Holmes for E31 million in violation of government procedure and the impromptu closure of the Royal Jozini Big Six development project.

One MP told the Times Sunday, ‘In a period of two years, they have committed three serious mistakes. This is the worst cabinet ever and it has to go home as fast as possible.’

Cabinet has 20 ministers. Never before in the history of Swaziland has a vote of no confidence in Cabinet been passed.

If the MPs did succeed in passing the no-confidence motion, it would not necessarily mean that the Cabinet would stand down. King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, who appointed the PM and cabinet, would make the final decision.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

LAND-SCAM MINISTERS NOT ELECTED

The Swaziland land-scam that has Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister, along with his deputy, four members of the Swazi Royal Family, at least nine cabinet ministers (past and present) at its heart, has shone the spotlight on one unsavoury aspect of the undemocratic kingdom.

It turns out that the Swazi Cabinet members who put their snouts in the trough for their own benefits are all unelected. Members of the cabinet who are elected to parliament kept away from the deal – knowing that it stank to high heaven and if they did become involved the voters would kick them out at the next election.

The Swazi News, an independent newspaper in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reports that only one minister elected by the people applied for the plot - Kukhanyeni MP Clement Dlamini, the Minister of Agriculture.

The News reports the other ministers who received government land in contravention of the Crowns Land Disposal Act and Crown Lands Disposal Regulations of 2003 are appointed MPs.

These are Prime Minister Dlamini; Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku; Prince Hlangusemphi, Minister of Economic Planning and Development; Princess Tsandzile, Minister of Natural Resources and Energy and Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, Minister of Home Affairs.

Appointed MPs who are ministers are a majority in the current cabinet. There are 11 of them from a total of 20 ministers – this is even though the Swaziland Constitution says a majority of ministers should be elected MPs.

The Swazi News reports that one of the ministers is reported to have telephoned his colleagues and sternly warned them against any attempt to acquire the land.

‘The helpful minister had been advised by some professionals from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development that the sale of the land was in total violation of the laws of the country,’ the News reports.

However, no one was brave enough among the dissenting ministers to question the legality of the sale during one of the cabinet meetings, the newspaper adds.

The News also says ‘the issue of the land is said to have become topical after ministers had complained of shortage of accommodation in Mbabane. Others complained of travelling long distances from home to work on a daily basis.’

Lindiwe Dlamini, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, was asked if there was any vacant land around Mbabane that could be sold to the ministers.

The News says, ‘well placed sources said the idea was not to find land for ministers in their official but personal capacities’.

It quotes an unnamed source saying, ‘If government had realistically wanted land for the ministers in their official capacity, there would have been no need for it to adhere to the law because the land basically belonged to it. The government would have simply built ministerial houses there.

‘Now, it’s a different story because the plots have been registered under the names of the ministers yet the law was flouted.’

LAND-SCAM PM DECIDES HE’S INNOCENT

The arrogance of Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister knows no bounds. He says he acted legally over a land-scam in the kingdom, even though a parliament select committee set up to investigate him has yet to conclude its work.

Dlamini, along with his deputy, four members of the Swazi Royal Family, at least nine cabinet ministers (past and present) and a gaggle of petty council officials, are embroiled in a controversy over the purchase of Swazi nation land in Mbabane, the Swazi capital. Dlamini got his land at half the real market value and saved himself E304,000 (US$43,000) in the process.

The others got discounts of between 30 percent and 50 percent.

Last week, it was revealed that the prime minister and his cronies had acted illegally because the discounts they claimed as their own were only meant for people on low incomes. There is also considerable evidence that Lindiwe Dlamini, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, acted against the law when she allowed the deal to go ahead, without even advertising that the land was available for purchase.

But Dlamini, who was handpicked for his job at the head of government by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, feels he doesn’t have to wait for the verdict of a legitimately constituted parliamentary committee.

He arrogantly told a meeting of the Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce, ‘We bought the land in Mbabane legally along with other ministers who also purchased it.’

By doing so he was sending a clear message to members of the select committee on how they should decide. Dlamini, who has no regard for the rule of law, will expect it to clear him.

Committee members will also know that Dlamini has a long record of bullying his parliamentary colleagues (see, for example, how he refused to let a legitimate debate into the awarding of contracts from government take place in parliament and how he set himself up as a dictator above the Swazi Parliament.)

Now, he is letting the committee members know what he expects them to report - and take note that unless they want a good kicking too, they will do as he tells them.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

PM ‘STOLE FROM POOR’ IN LAND SCAM

The Swaziland Prime Minister, his deputy, four members of the Swazi Royal Family and at least nine cabinet ministers (past and present) are today (5 December 2010) exposed as law breakers who exploited poor people of the kingdom in the multi-million emalengeni land scam.

Barnabas Dlamini, who was illegally-appointed prime minister, had claimed that he was entitled by law to buy the government land at a 50 percent discount on its true value. The others bought land at discounts of between 30 prcent and 50 percent.

Lindiwe Dlamini, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, claimed the deals were all legitimate and that she had the legal power to allow the Prime Minister, the Royals and her other cronies to have the land, even though it was never advertised for sale.

Now, they have been exposed for their greed and dishonesty – because the law states that discounts on the land are only available to poor people.

The Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, today reports that the land deals are controlled by the Crown Lands Disposal Regulations of 2003 and Schedule 4 and 5 of the Regulations state that high earners should buy the land at commercial value and pay the full price.

It is also stated in the law that the applicant’s ‘purchasing power’ should be traceable.

The Times Sunday says, ‘In this regard, the people who bought the government land fell under the middle and high income group.’ And no one who got the land cheaply (which the newspaper says includes the ministers, lawyers and managers of the Mbabane City Council, where the land is situated) fall under the low income group.

The newspaper says, ‘The approval of the sale and 50 percent discount by Pastor Lindiwe Dlamini, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, implies that cabinet ministers live from hand to mouth – they live below the poverty line.’

The Times Sunday says that Lindiwe Dlamini was legally obliged to get advice on the land sales from the Crown Lands Disposal Committee, which she did not do.

The law also says that if there were more people interested in buying the land than there were plots available, a raffle-type draw should be held to determine who gets the land.

Barnabas Dlamini is under increasing pressure to explain his actions over the land deal. He and the others stand accused of greed and cronyism. They have in effect stolen the land from the poor of Swaziland.

Barnabas Dlamini says he will speak on the matter on 15 December 2010 at a regular monthly meeting he holds with editors.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

KING’S PAPER ATTACKS PM’s LAND SCAM

One of the Swaziland newspapers in effect owned by King Mswati III has called the land scam involving the kingdom’s prime minister, his deputy, four members of the Swazi Royal Family and at least nine cabinet ministers (past and present) ‘a stinking deal’.

The Weekend Observer today (4 December 2010) says ‘this transaction is not clean’.

Alec Lushaba, the editor of the Weekend Observer, writing in his own newspapers, says the deal that gave discounts of up to 50 percent on the true price of the publicly-owned land ‘was hatched by the most senior people in government’ who went out of their way to find a piece of legislation ‘to benefit themselves and those closer to the deal’.

He goes on, ‘That the Prime Minister [Barnabas Dlamini] and his deputy are beneficiaries of this deal does not make it holy and divine either. Depriving society or the State of its assets is a sin and whosoever is doing it must repent. Amen to that!’

He says, ‘But the interesting part, the nature of the whole transaction stinks and could not have smelt otherwise. Only a society that is blind cannot read through their actions.’

He says, ‘But immediately you have six cabinet ministers all buying into the same property at very low or next to nothing price, you have to be worried. There is just no justification for this action other than depriving the State of its prized asset, land.’

He goes on, ‘With the Prime Minister in charge of all corruption affairs, how was he going to investigate this one?’

He adds, ‘We cannot talk in double tongues when dealing with corruption. If it is our resolve as government that we are sick and tired of corruption, we must not tolerate even one engineered from within.’

He adds, ‘Anyone who tries to re-define corruption as we know it is an enemy of the state. Corruption is corruption whether it involves an MP, a judge, a civil servant or businessman. But the most dangerous one is when systems are manipulated and the law abused to further individual interests.’

Lindiwe Dlamini, Housing and Urban Development Minister, has said she didn’t bother to advertise that the land was for sale because that would have attracted too many people.

Or put another way, she took it upon herself to allocate the land to people she knew and give them huge discounts on the real value of the land. This is a clear example of greed and cronyism.

In his article Lushaba says, ‘Government has clear procedures of disposing its assets. One fundamental principle is that it has to be done in a transparent manner.’

Lushaba accuses Lindiwe Dlamini of acting unconstitutionally. ‘The powers that she claims vests on her no longer do. The Land Management Board is, under the Constitution, charged with all land issues. Those pieces of legislation that she claims she used when appropriating that land are now the preserve of the Land Management Board.’