KING MSWATI, AN ILLEGAL RULER

First we had the nonsense that King Mswati III was chosen by God to lead Swaziland.

Now we have a load of bull about his ancestors being angry because he illegally took the throne when his father King Sobhuza II died.

King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is also said to have a brother who has been hidden away in Taiwan to make it possible for King Mswati to take the throne.

It’s all because a black ceremonial bull escaped during the recent traditional Incwala ceremony. It injured seven of King Mswati’s ‘warriors’ with its horns.

Now, Lucky Lukhele, a spokesperson for the Swaziland Solidarity Network wants us to believe the bull’s escape was an omen from ancestors.

Lukhele told reporters, ‘ancestors are angry with the kingdom for hiding the fact that Mswati was not supposed to be king in the first place, because he has a brother from his mother's side who has been hidden away.



‘To be a king in our culture you need to be the only child on your mother's side, but Mswati has a sibling who has been hidden away in Taiwan for over 40 years.’



Lukhele said the majority of Swazis were unaware of the brother's existence.



‘If this brother comes back, it will be the end of the Swazi kingdom, and so the ancestors are probably tired of all the deceiving going around,’ he said.



The king was meant to sit on top of the bull during a ritual in early January 2010, after which the warriors were supposed to kill it with their bare hands.



The Incwala ceremony is held every year to strengthen the king’s rule and to mark the beginning of the first fruits.



This isn’t the first time King Mswati has had problems with wild animals. Before his coronation, in 1986, he was required to undergo a series of initiation rites, including slaughtering a lion armed only with a spear and shield. Since no lions lived in Swaziland, however, the hapless beast was flown in from a South African game reserve.



Another snag was that the king had never learned to hunt.



The imported beast was therefore tranquilised for the conquering king’s safety.

The stooges who surround him, laughing at his jokes and condoning his excesses, have been shielding him from the real world ever since.

SWAZI POLICE HARASS JOURNALISTS

Journalists covering a traditional ceremony in Swaziland were harassed, banned and had their equipment confiscated by the police while trying to cover the event.

Brian Mohammed, a journalist with the Times of Swaziland, was banned and kicked out of a royal residence where he had gone to cover the first day of the Incwala event.

According to a report from the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), a police officer, who gave no reasons for his actions, told Mohammed that he was not welcome to cover the event and ordered him to leave. Not even the intervention of a colleague from another media house could convince the officer to allow Mohammed to cover the event so he eventually left without covering the event.

A television crew from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) also felt the brunt of police harassment. They had their equipment confiscated by the police when they were caught filming the event. This was despite the crew having the necessary accreditation.

Members of the SABC crew were quoted in the local media saying that the police had confiscated their equipment without giving any valid reason. It was not until the intervention of traditional authorities that the journalists were able to get their equipment back. But even then, they were told to stop covering the event.

During the festival’s main event on Monday (15 December 2008), MISA said, the situation was even worse as there was a blanket ban on media coverage of the event. Police officers made it a point that no journalist took photographs and those who attempted to do so had their cameras confiscated. No reasons were given for the blanket ban.

The MISA Swaziland chapter said these actions violate the freedom of the press. MISA-Swaziland plans to raise this with the relevant government and traditional authorities.

This was the first time the media have been harassed and banned during the Incwala ceremony. In the past, the media have been allowed to cover this event without any problems, though there were some limits, MISA said.