SWAZI PRINCE AND THE ‘LYING MEDIA’

Prince Mahlaba, who received worldwide condemnation with his statement that journalists who criticise the Swaziland state should die, has once again called journalists liars.

Prince Mahlaba, a brother of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and member of the shady group Liqoqo that advises the king, says that he never made a death threat and journalist are lying about him.

The death threat statement was made in public at the so-called Smart Partnership public gathering last month (July 2010).

Then he was reported saying, ‘I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country, rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country’s international image.

‘Journalists who write bad things about the country will die.’

He also said at the time, ‘It’s a fact that journalists earn their living by writing lies and if they do not write the lies then their source of livelihood is threatened and this is fact and beyond debate.’

Now in an interview with the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, he says he never made a death threat against journalists and those who say that he did, wrote ‘nothing but lies’.

He went on, ‘Is it then not true that reporters tell lies in order to earn a living? They changed my story.’

There were many journalists and members of the public present when the prince made his original statement, but none of them have come forward to say he was misquoted, even though his remarks gained international attention and he was roundly condemned for making them.

Prince Mahlaba wondered why journalists who were present have not disputed the lies that he said journalists would die. Now, he wants the Swaziland nation to defend him.

Over to you Swazi nation.

REPEATED CALL FOR SWAZI SANCTIONS

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) has renewed its call for sanctions to be imposed against members of the ruling elite in the kingdom.

This follows a month of activity in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

In a statement, SDC says it condemns King Mswati’s outright rejection of any discussion with his subjects who advocate for democracy in the kingdom. The king made his opposition to dialogue clear at the so-called Smart Partnership meeting last month (July 2010).

‘We consider the king’s renouncing of dialogue to be worse than the 1973 decree which proscribed political parties,’ SDC says.

SDC is also critical of the Swaziland Government’s attempt to try to block the arrival in Swaziland of a ‘High Level Mission’ from the International Labour Organization (ILO) to inspect the human rights situation in the kingdom.

SDC also condemns the handling of the Swazi economy by Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, who has reported ‘rampant corruption’ in his government, and an as yet unconfirmed report that a number of the king’s wives are currently on a multi-million dollar shopping trip to Europe with 80 people.

‘It is in this light that the [SDC] reiterates its call to the international community for the immediate imposition of targeted smart sanctions against key figures of the ruling class and their associates. Such sanctions should include freezing of all offshore funds and assets, travel bans, studying in foreign universities and schools, etc., until such time that King Mswati III and his Tinkhundla regime embrace multiparty democracy,’ the statement says.

POLITICAL DIALOGUE DEAD - MSWATI

King Mswati III of Swaziland has ruled out any form of political dialogue with progressives in the kingdom who want democratic change.

The king, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, said the question of reviewing the political structures in Swaziland was a closed book that would not be opened.

King Mswati was speaking at the Smart Partnership this week in a tense meeting with journalists.

Alec Lushaba, editor of the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati himself, asked King Mswati if he agreed with comments made previously by Prince Masitsela that Swaziland needed to review its current political status if it wanted to meet its stated aim of becoming a ‘first world’ country.

According to a report in the printed version of the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, today (23 July 2010), the question sparked an angry intervention from Prince Mahlaba, a member of Liqoqo, the shady group that advises the king.

Prince Mahlaba denounced Lushaba as ‘not Swazi enough’ to know what he was talking about. Prince Mahlaba claimed that the Swazi people were all behind the present system of government and did not want change.

When Prince Mahlaba allowed the king to answer the question, King Mswati said prospects of reviewing the kingdom’s political system were closed.

The Times reports that Lushaba told the king that political dissenters were also Swazi people and should be called so they could tell the king what their problems were.

King Mswati, who has banned political parties in Swaziland and branded groups who are in opposition to him terrorists, said dissenters would not be entertained.

UNIONS READY TO BOYCOTT SWAZILAND

The following news report appeared in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, yesterday (19 August 2009). I particularly like the response of the Swaziland government minister in the final paragraph.

SA unions to boycott goods to and from Swaziland

MBABANE – South African organisations have targeted five types of goods to and from Swaziland, which they want to boycott handling.

This is part, of that country’s organisations show of solidarity with Swazi organisations pursuing the agenda of democratising Swaziland. It is aimed at mounting pressure on the kingdom’s authorities to democratise.

Efforts have been intensified as the organisations have also decided to engage their Mozambican counterparts to join in the programme.

Targeted

The targeted goods are fuel, arms, sugar, goods destined for the royal household as well as electricity. However, the electricity issue is subject to various considerations that are still to be discussed with relevant unions.

This decision was taken last week Wednesday during a meeting convened by the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) and its Swazi counterparts led by the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) in Benoni, South Africa. Ironically, this was the same time Swaziland was having its National Smart Partnership Dialogue where the Swazi organisations that were in South Africa were expected to attend, but opted to boycott the meeting.

Campaign

"Following the request last year by the Swazi trade union movement, particularly the SFTU (Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions), calling on COSATU to campaign against the handling of goods and services destined for Swaziland, COSATU identified 10 key affiliates to drive this process and were linked closely with their Swazi union counterparts identified by the request submitted to COSATU.

"A discussion on co-ordinating solidarity in South Africa to improve cohesion between South African and Swazi comrades, in which case a Joint Swazi Action Committee was proposed. The Joint Action Committee will be able to link all activities happening outside the country with the actual momentum inside Swaziland to avoid disjuncture, parallelism and fragmentation of efforts," states a report from the meeting.

The campaign to boycott goods destined for Swaziland began last year following a decision taken by the COSATU Central Executive Committee (CEC) on September 1-3, 2008. The campaign was originally targeted at Swaziland and Zimbabwe but action against the latter country was suspended following the talks towards a peace deal there.

Sought for comment, Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister Lutfo Dlamini requested that a questionnaire be sent to his office so that he could give a comprehensive response.

Source: Times of Swaziland

FALSE HOPES FROM SWAZI RULERS

I wonder sometimes who King Mswati III thinks he’s kidding. And I’d say much the same about Barnabas Dlamini, the man the king illegally-appointed as prime minister of Swaziland.

For two days this past week the ruling elite in Swaziland has been engaged in what it likes to call a ‘Smart partnership’. In theory everyone who wanted to came together to discuss openly (without fear or favour etc) what ails Swaziland and what can be done about its problems.

The Weekend Observer, a paper in effect owned by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, led the cheers for the king and the prime minister yesterday (15 August 2009). Reporting on what a huge success the Smart Partnership was it told us also that the king and Dlamini were leading Swaziland to a bright future.

In particular the Observer pointed to the ‘gem’ that is the Swaziland National Development Strategy National Vision 2022. Don’t hold your breath but these two fellows are going to put Swaziland in the top 10 percent of nations in the world when it comes to ‘human development’ in terms of sustainable development, social justice and political stability.

They’d better gets their skates on if they’re going to meet the 2022 deadline.

A report out last month looking at Swaziland over the past year highlighted just how much work still needs to be done. Freedom House in its annual Freedom in the World report gave Swaziland five out of ten for civil liberties and declared that the kingdom was ‘not free’.

‘King Mswati III is an absolute monarch with ultimate authority over the cabinet, legislature, and judiciary,’ it reported.

It went on to state that political parties are banned; corruption is a major problem (Swaziland was ranked 72 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index); freedom of expression is severely restricted in practice, especially regarding political issues or the royal family; the government has restricted freedoms of assembly and association, and permission to hold political gatherings has often been denied; government pressure – including the repeated arrest of Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions leader Jan Sithole – has greatly limited union operations; and there were numerous incidents of police torture, beatings, and suspicious deaths in custody.

Of course the king and his illegal government have no intention of improving the ‘human development’ of Swaziland. They are the problem, not the solution. And that’s why so many in Swaziland decided to boycott the Smart Partnership and leave the king and his cronies to talk to themselves.

Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2009 – Swaziland report is available here.