IS SWAZI KING READY TO SACK PM?

Has King Mswati III signed the political death warrant for Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister?

As I predicted in December 2010, the Observer newspapers, in effect owned and edited by King Mswati III, are continuing their calls for Dlamini to resign.

The latest call comes today (22 January 2011) from Alec Lushaba, editor of the Weekend Observer. And he seems to be writing with the full support of the King.

Lushaba writes in his own newspaper, ‘My view is that the prime minister and his collective failed His Majesty the King in 2010. Their actions have put the name of king and country into disrepute and for that and that alone, they have to go.’

He goes on to say that the King’s ‘image’ internationally has been damaged.

You will notice that Lushaba says Dlamini has failed the King and not the people. The King’s ‘good name’ is really all the newspaper cares about.

Lushaba also accuses Dlamini of making the King look like a liar over support for the Royal Jozini Big Six, the tourist development that was closed down by the King in November 2010.

Lushaba previously told us that his newspaper would never publish anything about King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, without the King’s permission.

So we must assume that the King himself supports the Observer’s call for Dlamini’s resignation.

Lushaba writes, ‘... it is unSwazi and foreign in our culture to use His Majesty the King and iNgwenyama as your shield when under attack. If anything, it is expected that iNgwenyama uses or sacrifices his lieutenants when under-siege.’

He goes on, ‘Now that iNgwenyama is officially out of seclusion, what do we expect him to do?’

I cannot believe Lushaba would dare write such words unless he had the permission of the King.

Dlamini should start collecting cardboard boxes now in readiness for the office clearout he will surely have to make shortly.

The only question that remains is does he resign or is he sacked?

See also

‘SWAZI OBSERVER’ PLOTS FOR THE KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/swazi-observer-plots-for-king.html

IS IT TIME TO PULL THE TRIGGER?

http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20171

LUTFO: SWAZI MEDIA TALK IN RIDDLES

I wish the newspapers in Swaziland would stop talking in riddles about the Lutfo Dlamini corruption scandal.

Today (21 January 2011), it’s the turn of the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.

Its managing editor Mbongeni Mbingo writes about how the Swaziland Government Cabinet often talks about ‘collective responsibility’.

He then asks, ‘How does Cabinet reconcile this with what is happening with their colleague at foreign affairs?

‘We do not know as yet the extent of the problem that we are made to believe the minister has got to answer to, to his superiors, but I was just thinking that his colleagues would perhaps have taken the fall too.

‘But then again, perhaps this was a decision that did not involve Cabinet! Only time will tell, and the public waits, with bated breath.’

Indeed, if by the ‘public’ Mbingo means Times’ readers, they do indeed wait with baited breath to find out what’s going on. The rest of us know that Lutfo Dlamini, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Phesheya Dlamini, Swaziland Ambassador to Kuwait, were both sacked from their jobs last week because they are implicated in a corruption scandal involving missing millions of emalengeni that was intended for King Mswati III, King of Swaziland and the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yesterday, the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned and edited by King Mswati, dribbled on about Lutfo Dlamini being away from work ‘sick’ and his cabinet post being assigned temporarily to Clement Dlamini, the Agriculture Minister.

We expect this misleading reporting from the Observer, but the Times claims to be an ‘independent’ newspaper. Could the people at the Times show us that independence and tell their readers what is really going on. Please.

MEDIA BAFFLE ON LUTFO SCANDAL

There must be a lot of people in Swaziland baffled about what’s happened to Lutfo Dlamini.

And the Swazi media are mainly to blame for this.

As readers to this blog know, Lutfo Dlamini, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Phesheya Dlamini, Swazi Ambassador to Kuwait, were picked up on Thursday (13 January 2011) by senior police officers and taken to see Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister.

Both Lutfo Dlamini and Phesheya Dlamini were sacked from their jobs. Both are heavily involved in a corruption scandal centred on missing money that the Kuwaiti Royal Family sent to King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

But the Swazi media refuse to tell the Swazi people this. Instead the media either say nothing, or like the two newspaper groups in the kingdom, claim to their readers that there is some mystery to the meeting.

The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned and edited by King Mswati, even reported ‘Staff at Lutfo’s ministry was left bemused by the “invasion” of the police and wondered what the minister had done to be “visited” by senior police officers who looked mean.’

The Weekend Observer today (15 January 2011), plays a dirty trick on its readers. It knows full well why the Dlamini twins were called to Thursday’s meeting, but it claimed in a report that Phesheya Dlamini might have been called to see Barnabas Dlamini, because the PM holds a grudge against Phesheya because, in 2003, while Swaziland’s’ Attorney General, he sent an SMS text message to Barnabas Dlamini telling him that the king had sacked him from the premiership. The Observer suggests that Barnabas has been biding his time all these years to get back at Phesheya.

There was no need for all this media deceit, because three days previous to the police visit; it had been revealed across the globe that Lutfo Dlamini and Phesheya Dlamini, were implicated in the Kuwaiti corruption.

Of course the Observer won’t tell the Swazi people any of this. We know, because Alec Lushaba, editor of the Weekend Observer told us last week, that the Observer newspapers won’t report anything about the Swazi Royal Family without the King’s permission. Permission in this case was clearly denied.

If we accept that the Observer is simply a propaganda rag for King Mswati, why did it bother to report the meeting at all? By turning the events of this week into a mystery it not only deceives its readers, but it shows utter contempt for them.

The Observer hit new depths (even by its own low standards) and managed to turn the political crisis into a fashion show. Instead of levelling with the Swazi people about what was going on, it chose to publish 380 words on how the participants arrived at the meeting and what they were wearing.

I do not lie to you.

So, we learnt that ‘top lawyer’ Musa Dlamini arrived ‘clad in a navy blue suit blended with a white shirt. The blazer was on his left hand while the other hand was in his pocket’.

Ambassador Phesheya Dlamini ‘was in traditional attire’.

Minister of Justice David Matse, ‘looked conservative in a green suit’.

The star of the show Lutfo Dlamini was in ‘white attire (trouser and shirt) with brown shoes’.

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, didn’t do much better. It too mistook the crisis for a fashion show, but decided to feature fewer models in its catwalk commentary.

'SWAZI OBSERVER' MUST STOP LYING

King Mswati III’s newspapers in Swaziland are once again trying to fool us that they are independent chroniclers of events in the kingdom.

The latest to try is Alec Lushaba, editor of the Weekend Observer. Writing today (8 January 2011) in his own newspaper, he says the Observer is not directly linked to the Swazi Government. That is true. But he admits the paper is owned by King Mswati.

And, let’s face it, that fact alone tells us that the newspaper cannot be trusted to tell the truth about Swaziland.

Lushaba has the gall to write this, ‘We are just a newspaper that Serves the Nation.’

He goes on, ‘We are called upon by our shareholder to publish without fear or favour all news of public interest in the following areas, politics, business, social, economic and sporting activities. We further make a commitment to inform and educate the public on matters of their social well being.’

Nonsense. I make this challenge to Lushaba. If your newspaper serves the nation then tell your readers about the Royal Family sex scandal that was reported around the world in August 2010, but not in Swaziland.

Report what the world knows: that Forbes revealed in 2009 that King Mswati has a personal fortune estimated at US$ 200 million. Then tell the readers where he got the money from.

And lastly: tell your readers about the present scandal involving a senior cabinet minister. Tell your readers who he is (half of Swaziland is already gossiping about the name) and tell them how the Swazi Royal Family is involved in the scandal.

Once you do these things, you can claim to be a newspaper that publishes without ‘fear or favour’.

And if my readers think I’m being a bit harsh on Lushaba, the following are his words, from his article:

‘We commit ourselves into respecting and observing the institution of the Monarchy by ensuring that all publications with regard to Their Majesties are factually, culturally and traditionally correct. The sensitivity of the institutions demands that all facts be checked or verified with the traditional structures and/or have been in direct consultation with Their Majesties.’

I rest my case.

See also

OBSERVER STILL PROPAGANDA RAG

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/observer-still-propaganda-rag.html

‘SWAZI OBSERVER’ PLOTS FOR KING

I smell a rat at the Swazi Observer.

For the past two weeks Thulani Thwala, the newspaper’s editor, has attacked Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, on his personal character (for being involved in a corrupt deal that stole government land from the people for his own personal benefit) and his competence in handling the economy of the kingdom.

Yesterday (29 December 2010), he called on Dlamini, along with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to quit.

At the same time as condemning Barnabas Dlamini, Thwala praised Themba (AT) Dlamini, the man King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, replaced as Prime Minister in 2008, after what in Swaziland passes for a ‘parliamentary election’.

The king replaced Themba with Barnabas, even though this was against the constitution of Swaziland.

Thwala’s praise of Themba Dlamini had a few tongues wagging in Swaziland. The reason is this: after he left office as Prime Minister the king made Themba Dlamini Managing Director of Tibiyo, the conglomerate that runs the Swazi Observer on behalf of the king.

So we have Thwala praising his boss and saying that the boss made a better PM than the present post holder.

Did Themba Dlamini instruct Thwala to praise his work as PM and put it into people’s minds that he would be an ideal replacement for Barnabas, or was this just a bit of freelance brown-nosing by Thwala?

We can be sure of one thing: the attack in the Swazi Observer and its companion Weekend Observer on Barnabas Dlamini and his government has been sustained and I expect will continue in the days and weeks ahead.

King Mswati appointed Barnabas Dlamini and the king owns Observer newspapers, so it is inconceivable that Thwala would make this attack if he didn’t have the support of Themba Dlamini (his boss) and the king.

Thwala, his journalists and paid commentators, make it clear in their criticisms that Barnabas and his minister are to blame for the current crisis in Swaziland and that King Mswati has nothing to do with it.

This isn’t true, of course. King Mswati chooses the PM and the cabinet and sets the tone of government and parliamentary business. He also bleeds his subjects dry to pay for his 13 palaces and lavish lifestyle: he is to blame for the dire plight the Swazi people face today.

So, Barnabas is being targeted as the cause of the problem. And the solution? Get rid of Barnabas and replace him with a ‘competent’ new PM. Step forward Themba Dlamini.

And in one single move King Mswati thinks he has solved his problem. With Barnabas gone, the king, his new PM and his state-controlled media can tell the Swazi people that the crisis is over. The Big Bad Barnabas is no more and we can all rest safely in our beds.

Or at least the ruling elite can rest safely.

There is only one problem: Themba is no more able to solve the problem of Swaziland than Barnabas. It will take more than a swap of personalities at the top of government to do that. It can only be achieved by complete root-and-branch change of Swaziland and that is something the king and his hangers-on do not want to see.