EXPOSE THE LIES ABOUT SWAZILAND

The following is a press release issued by the Swaziland Democracy Campaign.

SDC calls for Commonwealth parliamentarians to expose tinkhundla MPs

Press Release 30 April 2010

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign notes that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) branches of National Parliament, KZN, Gauteng and Limpopo together with the Swaziland branch are holding a session in South Africa to deliberate on matters related to the governance systems in these countries, particularly in the branches listed herein.

We take this opportunity to reiterate our demands for the fundamental rejection of tinkhundla model of governance, which is based on exclusive and monopolistic exercise of power by the ruling royal regime and its cohorts in Swaziland. The system denies the people and their representative organs their rights and access to public policy participation, democratic election of leaders of their choice as public representatives and banning of all legitimate political and social activism. In summary, the people have no right to speak, organise and associate on the basis of shared interests and opinions related to matters of national interest and governance.

We call upon MPs from South Africa and the rest of the democratic world to expose these opportunists and isolate them for misrepresenting the facts on how the tinkhundla system has thrown the country into a state of permanent crisis.

In the same way that the Foreign Affairs Minister of Swaziland Lutfo Dlamini told lies about Swaziland in London recently, we do expect that such misinformation will continue and call upon all democracy-loving peoples of the world to refuse to be misinformed, but challenge and reject any attempt to fool them.

The unbanning of political parties, freedom of speech, rights to organise and associate freely, and unconditional return of all exiles remain our key demands and do assure the world that no change will happen unless these conditions are met.

STOP THE LIES ON SWAZI DEMOCRACY

Lufto Dlamini, the Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is getting agitated by the continuing demand across the globe that Swaziland become a democracy.

But the trouble is he is lying to the people of Swaziland and the world in his defence of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and his puppet government.

Dlamini’s latest outburst came yesterday (28 March 2010) after news spread across the globe that democrats in Swaziland and their supporters across the world were demanding targeted sanctions against members of Swaziland’s ruling elite. One suggestion is that the European Union and others should stop paying for Swaziland’s leaders to travel outside the kingdom.

Dlamini reacted loudly and dishonestly to this suggestion. He told the Times Sunday newspaper, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, that the ‘current government was legitimately voted into office’.

He also said, ‘the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observers and other international organisations liked Swaziland’s election system.’

Let’s look at Dlamini’s statements. First, the government was not elected by the people. Barnabas Dlamini, the prime minister was not elected by anyone.

King Mswati ignored the Swaziland constitution and gave the job to Dlamini.

More than half the cabinet ministers were appointed by the king, along with 10 members of the House of Assembly and 20 senators. The other 10 senators are chosen by MPs – none are elected by the people. That’s not what I call a government ‘legitimately voted into office’.

The king also chooses members of influential committees and councils in Swaziland. The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, reckoned that in total at least 20 princes and princesses and 16 chiefs have been appointed to highly influential decision-making positions that they will occupy for five years.

In his outburst Dlamini also said the SADC and ‘other international organisations liked Swaziland’s election system’.

That statement is a distortion of the truth. The Commonwealth Expert Team (CET) that monitored Swaziland’s last election in 2008 was so unhappy with the system that it advised Swaziland to look again at its constitution, this time ensuring that there is full consultation with the people, civic society and political organisations.

The CET said that the elections were not entirely credible because the constitution banned political parties and members of parliament had few real powers.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) also denounced the poll because political parties were not allowed to take part.

Immediately after the election amid many accusations that MPs had bribed voters, the Times of Swaziland called many new MPs ‘cheats’. It said, ‘We no longer have an election; we have a selection of those who were able to buy their way into power.’

Even Swaziland’s Attorney General (AG) Majahenkhaba Dlamini has said that candidates bribed voters to win parliamentary seats.

After the elections, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) criticised the Swaziland Supreme Court for siding with the Swaziland state and confirming a constitutional right to ban political parties in the kingdom.

Then it was the Swazi gender activists who were angry that King Mswati III betrayed their hopes, and the Swaziland Constitution, by not appointing more women to the House of Assembly and the Senate.

And it goes on. All of this is no secret. Lufto Dlamini knows this and we should not let him get away with telling the international community that all is well in Swaziland.

SMEAR AGAINST SWAZI LONDON VIGIL

It was only a matter of time before the Swazi government started to smear the protestors who have been holding a weekly vigil outside the Swaziland High Commission in London.

Lufto Dlamini, the Swaziland Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told the kingdom’s parliament that the people on the vigil were not Swazis, nor were they British. They were, he said, a ‘hired group from an African country who are paid to speak bad things about this country’.

You will notice that he doesn’t name the country, nor give any evidence for his claim. But rather sinisterly he went on to tell parliamentarians, ‘We are working on the issue and have a plan in place’.

Quite what he thinks he can do about a group of people protesting half a world away remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the vigil protestors themselves have hit back at Dlamini. On their website they say they have permission from the UK government to hold their protest. They say that ‘the question of nationalities has nothing to do with fighting for human rights as the world has joined hands in the fight for human rights abuse’.

SWAZI KING’S PRIVATE LINE TO GOD

Pass the sick-bag please.

Even by its own extraordinary poor standards of journalism, the Swazi Observer today (21 October 2009) surpasses itself.

King Mswati III is, the Observer tells its readers, ‘ordained by God to lead his people’.

Says who? Well not God at any rate. Musa Ndlangamandla the Observer chief editor who wrote the article didn’t get a quote from a reliable source.

Instead, he used Lufto Dlamini, Swaziland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

In what has to be one of the most embarrassing examples of brown-nosing ever recorded Dlamini stood up in public and recited a ‘poem’ he had written about the king.

I won’t inflict much of it on you but it contained the line, ‘You are living proof that Kings and Monarchs are ordained by God to lead his people’.

He also calls the king who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, ‘the champion of unity’ and (this one particularly made me heave because the king forces 70 percent of his subjects to live in absolute poverty) ‘the anchor of prosperity’.

Dlamini went on to tell the king, ‘Your Majesty we once again wish to take this opportunity before your gracious self to pledge our unwavering loyalty to honest service to Your Majesty and to uphold the values whilst upholding the pride of the Swazi nation at all times.’

Editor’s note: The Swazi Observer is a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati.

SWAZILAND FANTASY WATCH STARTS

Today I want to introduce a new game that anyone can play. It’s called Fantasy Watch.

It’s very simple. Every time King Mswati III or one of his hangers-on makes a claim that big business is coming to Swaziland we make a note.

Then (unlike the Swazi media and just about everyone in power in Swaziland) we don’t forget all about it until the next claim is made - we keep watching.

Here’s the first round. I’m calling it The King’s Folly - Sikhuphe International Airport.

I’ve written before about how the airport, presently being built in the middle of nowhere in Swaziland is a waste of time and money. Today (16 October 2009), the Swazi Observer, the king’s own newspaper, reports that what it calls ‘one of the world’s leading airlines’, Etihad Airways wants to use the airport when it is built.

In gushing prose the newspaper tells us that King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, met with ‘key people’ in the Gulf State of Abu Dhabi and they showed ‘deep interest’ in using Sikhuphe.

The Observer reports, ‘Sikhuphe's strong point is that it is at the heart of the Southern African region and within easy, hassle free reach to the region's national parks, habours and major infrastructure.’

The Observer quoted Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Lutfo Dlamini, saying, ‘His Majesty once again proved to be the number one ambassador for the country as he was eloquent in his presentation about the airport and its viability.’

I for one am fed up with the Swazi media barking on about what a wonderful job King Mswati does in bringing business to Swaziland. They cheer him on but then nothing happens, and they just forget about it until it’s time to cheer on the next announcement.

So back to the game. Let’s all watch Etihad Airways and see if anything at all happens.

While in Fantasy Watch mood, we have been constantly told that Sikhuphe will be open for business in time for the FIFA World Cup in June 2010. That’s a little over eight months from now.

Let’s see . . . the clock is ticking and we are watching.

A WINDOW IN SWAZILAND

US Ambassador to Swaziland Maurice Parker got in hot water with the Swazi Government last month (January 2009) when he said his embassy would support pressure groups campaigning for democracy in the kingdom.

To put it crudely, he was told to mind his own business by Swazi Foreign Minister Lufto Dlamini.

I doubt very much that we’ve heard the last from Ambassador Parker or his American colleagues.

He has clearly unsettled the non-democratic regime in Swaziland and this window display at the US information centre library in Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland, won’t make them any happier.

I haven’t seen Lufto Dlamini’s library card so I can’t report that he was among the first people to check out the two books on display (Democracy, The Right to Strike).

Picture source: The Language Business

SWAZI MINISTER UNDER NEW ATTACK

Swaziland’s Foreign Minister Lufto Dlamini is under a new attack after making accusations against a top UK diplomat.

Dlamini, who was roundly criticised last week for condemning Maurice Parker, the US Ambassador to Swaziland who had spoken out on behalf of Swazi pressure groups who were advocating for democracy.

Now Dlamini has upset the British after he said the Deputy High Commissioner Mark Norton was in league with terrorists in Swaziland.

Dlamini claimed that Norton had been spotted at night distributing suspicious material to political activists at the Jubilee Park in Manzini.

Dlamini told a press conference that Norton was no longer a ‘diplomat’ but was instead a ‘progressive’.

Dlamini offered no evidence to support his claim.

Norton angered the Swaziland Government in November 2008 when he tried to visit Mario Masuku, the president of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) who is held in the Matsapha Maximum Security Prison where he awaits trial on terrorism charges.

Now the British High Commission has dismissed Dlamini’s allegations of supporting terrorist groups as unfounded. But it said it had met opposition groups such as PUDEMO and would continue to do so.

The past week has come as a bit of a shock for Dlamini and other supporters of the undemocratic regime in Swaziland. Following the inaugural speech of US President Barak Obama last Tuesday (20 January 2009) in which he said that those who ‘cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history’.

Although the President didn’t mention Swaziland specifically, his words have been widely interrupted to mean that undemocratic states such as Swaziland will not receive support from the US in future unless they mend their ways.

Ambassador Parker immediately stated that his embassy would support groups in Swaziland that were working towards securing democracy in the kingdom, which has sub-Saharan Africa’s last remaining absolute monarch.

Meanwhile, the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) has added its voice to condemn Dlamini for his attack on the US Ambassador. ‘The outburst by the Minister of Foreign Affairs shows how the ruling party is fearful of change and the truth,’ it said in a statement.

It went on to say having ambassadors of Parker’s calibre in Swaziland was of great benefit to the ordinary Swazi. It also said there were few diplomats who stood for the interest of the people when dealing with an iron fist state.

It seems to me that the pendulum has swung towards the democrats and Swazi ruling elite hasn’t been able to stop this. Its only response so far has been to deny that there is a problem and to try to discredit the senior foreign diplomats who speak out for freedom.