JOBS FOR KING MSWATI’S BOYS

The following is a media release issued today (26 January 2011) from the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN). It criticises the Swazi Royal Family for using jobs in the kingdom’s civil service as a way of rewarding supporters. As the International Monetary Fund seeks 7,000 job losses among civil servants, SSN shanes those who are on the government payroll, courtesy of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, but who do no work.

SOURCE

The IMF’s Recommends A Less Effective Civil Service as Mswati's Cronies Take Enemas at Tax Payers' Expense.

SSN PRESS RELEASE –

26th January, 2011

According to the latest Public Information Notice (PIN) released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the 24th of January 2010, the kingdom of Swaziland has the second largest wage bill in sub-Saharan Africa after Lesotho. The country’s finance minister once reported that with this wage bill makes up 54% of the country’s overall budget.

Despite the fact that the IMF has recommended the reduction of this wage bill by taking drastic measures such as not hiring any new civil servants, implementing early retirement exit schemes and things continuing its privatization policy among other things, the government has stalled on implementing this recommendation out of fear that it will spark social upheaval.

What it has since done, however, is to claim to have cut overtime wages, freeze the hiring of civil servants and reduce ghost workers, the latter being a serious problem in the country’s civil service. The wage bill is artificially inflated by the fact that some unscrupulous civil servants draw salaries of nonexistent workers. This is one of the many fruits of the royal blanket covering corruption.

Due to the Royal family’s extended patronage systems many other registered civil servants draw salaries that they never work for. This is most prevalent in the armed forces, particularly in the defence force, which has gone to the extent of hiring the king’s two sons despite the fact that they are rarely ever in the country and do no soldier work.

The king’s brother in law, Sibusiso Mngomezulu is another well connected individual who draws a high salary in the country’s defence force despite the fact he has a job as a financial director at Chancellor House, the ANC’s private investment firm that recently bought a coal mine in Swaziland. All this rot is happening while both countries are struggling to create quality jobs for its citizens.

A large number of civil servants in less senior positions are also guilty of this grossly unprofessional behaviour. Many of them during this time of the year are found relaxing at the country’s natural hot spring in Lobamba bathing and taking enemas during working hours having told their superiors that they are on official royal duty.

As the financial crisis deepens in the kingdom these are the issues which should be dealt with immediately before any hard working and vastly experienced civil servants are pressured into taking early retirement schemes, a move that will render the civil service less effective than it currently is and in the end add to the country’s economic woes.

Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa Chapter.

SWAZI SOLIDARITY PICKET RESUMES

The Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] is to restart its regular protest picket outside the Swaziland Consulate in Braampark, Braamfontein, Johannesburg , South Africa.

The pickets take place on the first and last Fridays of each month. The first of the new series is on 21 January 2011. The picket starts at 13.00 hrs.

In a statement the SSN said the pickets were in support of the incarcerated terrorism suspects Swaziland Youth Conrgress (SWAYOCO) President Bheki Dlamini, Zonke Dlamini and Amos Mbendzi.

SSN said, ‘We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all three comrades because they are political prisoners who cannot have a free and fair trial under the prevailing system of governance in Swaziland.

‘These pickets are a continuation of those demanding the release of Amos Mbendzi and Mario Masuku from 2008 to 2009. To this day we insist that the release of Masuku was a result of political pressure rather than a mere judicial one.’

LUTFO CASH ‘WAS TO BUY KING A JET’

A new twist in the scandal engulfing Lutfo Dlamini, who was sacked on Thursday as Swaziland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, emerged yesterday (14 January 2011).

It is reported that he and Phesheya Dlamini, Swaziland’s (now ex-) Ambassador to Kuwait, stole money that was intended as a personal gift from the Kuwati Royal Family to allow King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, to buy himself a private jet.

The latest accusation comes from the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) which reported, ‘The king apparently wanted another private aeroplane in order to be able to use the one he currently owns for business purposes.’

It added, ‘The Kuwati Royal Family initially deposited ten million dollars to a private account belonging to the King. The remainder was meant to be delivered by the minister and the ambassador, who both decided to pocket the money for themselves. The ambassador did not waste time in making the most of his new found wealth as he reportedly spent two months living in a five-star hotel.’

Previously, it was thought a sum of US$ 1 million intended for King Mswati had been stolen and that it was meant to help Swaziland in its present dire economic circumstances.

LUTFO ‘WILL NOT FACE CHARGES’

Lutfo Dlamini, Swaziland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who was arrested today (13 January 2011) will be released tonight and will not face charges.

According to a usually reliable source, Lutfo Dlamini has been saved by the intervention of the Queen Mother, who is said to have told the King not to proceed with a prosecution.

Lutfo Dlamini, will however be sacked from the Swazi Government. What will happen to him next is unclear.

Lutfo Dlamini is accused of stealing money from the Kuwaiti Royal Family that was meant for Swaziland’s King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Earlier today, the Swaziland Solidarity Network in a media statement reported that Lutfo Dlamini’s ‘secret lover the queen mother “Ntombi Ftwala” has seen to it that he is well cloaked in the infamous Royal blanket against corruption charges’.

LUTFO ARREST: DETAILS EMERGE

The following is a media statement from the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), issued today (13 January 2011) regarding the arrest of Lutfo Dlamini, the Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.

SOURCE

News emanating from the troubled little kingdom indicates that the minister of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Lufto Dlamini, has been arrested.



The arrest comes a few days after it was exposed that Dlamini, along with the ambassador to Kuwait, had been involved in a diplomatic and financial scandal. It is alleged that the two stole money that the Kuwait royal family had sent them to give to the Swazi government.



There are still no details as to the exact nature of the charges against him. However, the nation had been anticipating that he would be fired imminently.



Minister Lutfo is one of the longest serving cabinet ministers in Swaziland and has been associated with corruption for a better part of his tenure. Despite this, however, his secret lover the queen mother “Ntombi Ftwala” has seen to it that he is well cloaked in the infamous Royal blanket against corruption charges.

Unfortunately this blanket cannot save him from this latest scandal because it deeply embarrassed the king, who can be faulted for continuously harboring corrupt government officials.

The Kuwait royal family is also at fault for blindly trusting thugs enough to give them hard cash when they could have easily transferred the money via the Central Bank of Swaziland. The minister's arrest should be viewed as a personal act rather than a fight against corruption because the king himself is the centre of corruption in the country and witting surrounds himself with charlatans.

The minister was picked up at his parental home by a contingent of police officers who took him to the Prime Minister's office to be officially relinquished of his duties. This was done before the former ambassador and cabinet minister, Prince David, was allegedly taken to the same premises, presumably to hand over Lutfo’s post to him.



Influential insiders close to the king are deeply worried about the scandals involving the royal family, especially because the king recently suspended his private secretary and an advisor to him. These sources feel that the king is no longer in control of his mental faculties and has lately become irrational and unpredictable.

Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa Chapter