SWAZI MEN AGAINST VIOLENCE

In Swaziland men are taking a stand against domestic violence.

This video, recently uploaded to YouTube looks at a program to involve men in the fight to stop violence against women in Swaziland, which emerged from a partnership between the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia (THANS) and Canadian Crossroads International.

SWAZILAND DEMOCRATS ON YOUTUBE

The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), one of the banned political parties in Swaziland, has set up its own YouTube channel to provide information about its policies and activities. At the time of writing there are four videos on the site, but we are promised more.

Click here for more.

Click below to view one of the videos from the site that highlights police brutality, royal decadence, disregard for the rule of law, political persecution and the arrest of Mario Masuku, the PUDEMO President on false charges of terrorism.

SWAZI PRINCESS TELEVISION SHAME

I wrote in May 2008 that Swaziland King Mswati III’s eldest daughter Princess Sikhanyiso has been named one of the world’s most talked about royals by Forbes.

Now some kind soul has shared with us a short film that Forbes made about the girl who claims she is ‘an ambassador for Africa’.

In an interview published on the Internet site YouTube, she says she is a rebel because she pursues what she wants against all the odds.

She says she is completely honest about who she is. She is one of the king’s 22 children.

Close followers of the princess will be delighted to know that she entertains the television viewers with one of her raps. She also talks in some detail about her love of clothes and her 3,600 dollar boots. [Reality check: in Swaziland 70 per cent of the population live in abject poverty earning less than one dollar a day.]

Princess Sikhanyiso concludes, ‘The best thing about being royal is getting anything you want.’

The princess may come to regret her television appearance if the comments left by viewers to YouTube are anything to go by. As one contributor puts it, ‘one day she will look back on this with great shame and regret ... however, unlike the rest of us - her period of stupidity and ignorance is being documented and broadcast to the entire world’.

To see the clip click below or go to this link.

SWAZI KING’S DAUGHTER PARTIES

Here’s a small offering courtesy of the YouTube video share site. It’s about the 21st birthday celebrations for Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of King Mswati III.

The princess turned 21 in September 2008 and the video shows a Lozitha Palace state banquet in her honour, attended by King Mswati III, Her Majesty Queen Mother Ntombi Tfwala, the queens and royal family, the Prime Minister, members of the diplomatic corps, and selected friends.

Some viewers may find the video offensive. Especially those who know that while the Royal Family parties, seven in ten people in Swaziland try to exist in abject poverty, earning less than one dollar a day. More than six in ten needed overseas’ food aid in the past year and four in ten are reported to be moving from hunger towards starvation.

Forbes of New York last August estimated King Mswati’s net worth to be 200 million US dollars (about E1.6 billion).

The video was placed on YouTube by someone calling themselves ‘trueraagency’. I haven’t been able to find out anything about them – if you have information, please let me know.


To see the video which lasts 2 mins 40 secs, click below or follow this link.