SPEAKER SLAPS DOWN ILLEGAL P.M.

The Speaker of the Swaziland House of Assembly has told Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister to his face that he is answerable to Parliament.

Dlamini had asserted earlier in the week that he was answerable to no one, and even King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch had to consult him on some matters.

Yesterday (26 February 2010,) Speaker Prince Guduza told Dlamini and the whole House of Assembly that the Prime Minister answered to Parliament.

The House was meeting to hear Finance Minister Majozi Sithole deliver his annual budget speech, but before e could begin Speaker Guduza read a prepared statement.

In it he said, contrary to the PM’s assertion, the PM was not head of Parliament, instead, the king was.

He said, ‘No member or individual of this House, regardless of his status or position is above the authority of the Speaker. On the contrary, the Speaker is accountable to this House in its collective form and to His Majesty the King.’

He said the Swaziland Constitution sections 68 and 69 made this clear.

He said anyone who said otherwise ‘should be condemned by all law abiding citizens’.

Senate President Gelane Zwane had previously said that there was a separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in Swaziland. Dlamini angrily denounced Zwane and told the kingdom that he was in complete control.

In what may have been a reference to Dlamini’s subsequent bullying of Zwane, the Speaker said, ‘Intimidation, manipulation of politicians by another, and in part, using the treasury as battle-ground to settle political scores is devoid of civilised decency and smacks of flagrant abuse of State power.’

The Prime Minister reacted angrily to the Speaker. Dlamini told the Speaker in the House of Assembly, ‘We will answer on what you have just said. You should not take advantage just because you’re the Speaker.’

The Speaker called the PM to order and instructed him to stick to what was in the order paper and nothing more.

According to the Swazi News, an independent newspaper, ‘During recess, legislators conversed in hush tones regarding what had happened inside the chamber; with others predicting that more was still to come.’

More still to come? Yes, I think that’s a fair prediction. Dlamini will not want to take this, but he has now been publicly reminded of his limited powers by both the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Assembly. If he continues to abuse his power he will no longer be able to claim that Swaziland is a democracy.

SWAZILAND P.M. VICITIMISES CRITIC

Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, is victimising the senate leader who said he and the Swazi government are answerable to parliament.

Senate President Gelane Zwane pointed out what everyone who understands democracies knows, that there should be a separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

But Dlamini said: No. He was in charge of everything and not answerable to parliament.

Now as punishment for speaking the truth, Dlamini has decided that Zwane cannot travel outside of Swaziland on official business without his permission.

It’s a very petty move from the Prime Minister, but one entirely in keeping with him: he will bully anyone who stands in his way.

SWAZILAND P.M. LEADS SILENT COUP

We all know that Barnabas Dlamini is the illegally-appointed Prime Minister in Swaziland, but now he has set himself up as a dictator to rival King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, himself.

Dlamini has told the media in Swaziland that he is in charge of nearly everything in the kingdom – the members of parliament, the senate and the judiciary. The only one above him is the king himself and sometimes even he has to act on the recommendation of Dlamini, he said.

He was reacting to a statement from Senate President Chief Gelane Zwane who said there is a ‘separation of powers’ in the kingdom. She said parliament was not an arm of government and the cabinet, including the PM, was responsible to parliament.

Not so, says Dlamini. It’s me and me alone. Even the king has to listen to Dlamini when it comes to dissolving parliament, he said.

He said Zwane had spoken out of line.

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, went so far as to say Zwane had been ‘put in her rightful place’ by the prime minister.

In fact, she hadn’t been. She was right and the Prime Minister is wrong.

Dlamini’s taking of power (a coup you might say) was not noticed by the Swaziland media which (as they nearly always do) simply recorded his words.

The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) was more alert. It said in a statement,

‘At last the Prime Minister has openly admitted that the full and proper independence of both Parliament and the Judiciary is a sham and that the control of budgets, staffing, legislative and judicial timetables are all within the power of the Prime Minister to exercise and manipulate. Yet he calls Swaziland a “fully democratic state”. ‘

It goes on, ‘In a democratic state, the will of the people is expressed in its choice of government. In Swaziland, the people’s will had no say in the choice of government. There were hundreds of thousands of votes for parliamentarians whose wishes are now being overruled by the Prime Minister who only received one vote [that of King Mswati who appointed him]. How can he call that a democratic state? He is not accountable to the people or parliament.’

NEW ATTACK ON PRESS FREEDOM

Press freedom is once again under attack in Swaziland as a Swazi senator called for a ‘stringent’ law to ‘deal’ with the media.

And the Minister for Information, Communications and Technology Nelsiwe Shongwe has said her ministry was doing something about the concern, but she was not specific.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reports that Senator Themba Msibi, a former Minister for Information, told a session of parliament that ‘enacting a stringent law will deal with the journalists once and for all’.

Msibi was making a submission during a debate over a newspaper article in which it was said a journalist with the Times of Swaziland misquoted the Senate President, Gelane Zwane, during a previous Senate seating.

He said asking the media to apologise for wrong articles does not help ‘because they will continue doing this. This is not a mistake but they are doing it purposely.’

During the same debate the Senate President Zwane herself verbally attacked the Times' journalist, Arthur Mordaunt, who was also present in Parliament to cover the proceedings.

MISA said an angry Zwane accused Mordaunt of having a vendetta against her and she went on to threaten the journalist.

‘I have been watching you very closely and I have realized that ever since you started writing about me you are always writing negatively. If you want to survive in your journalism career you should immediately stop it,’ Zwane was reported to have said.

She went on to say that had it not been for the fact that she was not an ordinary member of society, she would have already done something to Mordaunt and expressed in SiSwati [the language of Swaziland] something to the effect that she would have already set her ‘dogs’ upon Mordaunt to ‘tear’ the journalist apart.

In a statement, MISA Swaziland chapter said the threats not only constitute a serious attack on press freedom, but it is also plain abuse of parliamentary privilege by the senators.

MISA Swaziland National Director Comfort Mabuza said MISA Swaziland rejects the call by Senator Msibi for a law to regulate the media. He said such a call was out of place and inconsistent with the kingdom’s constitution and the universal principles of media freedom and also goes against a 1997 Parliamentary resolution to have the media regulate themselves.

SWAZILAND SENATOR IN DISGRACE

The Swazi senator who wanted to muzzle the media because they reported she had a public fight with the Senate President has been censored by a select committee.

Ndileka Dlamini had a fight with Senate President Gelane Zwane at a hotel in Pigg’s Peak in March this year.

When the media reported that the two women had to be dragged apart to stop violence taking place, Dlamini accused the media of having embarrassed her.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reported at the time that a senate select committee was set up to investigate the media with a view to punishing journalists. The senate warned the media against publishing further reports on the matter.

Now it is revealed that a Senate Select Committee has in fact found that Dlamini was at fault and is guilty of insulting the Senate President. The Committee said Dlamini displayed ‘gross insubordination, unprofessional conduct, and disrespect’. The committee recommended that Dlamini be suspended from the Senate for three months.

The committee also said Dlamini should apologise to Zwane and to the Swazi public at large. If this happens, according to the Times of Swaziland (the kingdom’s only independent daily) this will be the ‘first time in the history of the Swazi Parliament’.

Senate previously passed a motion that banned the two from talking to the media about the matter. This motion has not been lifted.

SWAZI SENATE MEDIA FREEDOM FIGHT

Not for the first time Swaziland senators are threatening journalists with contempt of parliament because they are writing reports that they don’t like.

The latest attempt to curtail the freedom of the press comes after Swazi media reported about a verbal fight between the Senate President Gelane Zwane and Senator Ndileka Dlamini that took place in a hotel.

The spate between the two women was over allegations made by Dlamini that Zwane had undermined her in Parliament.

News reports said that the two women had to be dragged apart to stop violence taking place.

After reports appeared, the Senate President raised the issue in Parliament and accused the media of having embarrassed her.

Of course, the fight was public and she was indeed involved in it, so if there was any embarrassment caused it was caused by Dlamini and Zwane. I wasn’t there so I can’t say who tried to throw the first punch, so let’s say they were both equally to blame and both showed themselves up (and senators generally, because we don’t expect parliamentarians to behave like this).

But Swazi politicians being the arrogant lot they are, these two childish senators couldn’t see they were at fault: instead they want to blame the media, yet no one denies the fight took place.

Now, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reports that a senate select committee has been set up to investigate the media with a view to punishing journalists. The senate has warned the media against publishing further reports on the matter.

It is a typical tactic in Swaziland. Senators would do well to remember that the Swazi Constitution allows for freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

The last time senators tried to bully the media by launching a senate select committee was when the Times Sunday editor Mbongeni Mbingo was accused of bringing parliament into disrepute by publishing critical articles. In a groundbreaking decision the committee found Mbingo not guilty and confirmed his constitutional right to free speech.

But then in a contradictory move, the committee said it wanted to accredit all journalists who reported on parliament (in effect choosing who could and who could not be a parliamentary reporter). If such a move went ahead journalists who cover Parliament would be intimidated against reporting critical stories for fear of losing accreditation and maybe their jobs as a result.

Presently in Swaziland there are many attempts to muzzle the media. Among them is the continuing saga of Swazi dissident Mfomfo Nkhambule, a weekly columnist with the Times of Swaziland, who has received threats for criticising King Mswati III.

In February 2009, the government threatened to charge with sedition anyone who criticized the state of the nation address delivered by the king. This followed a number of statements by media commentators that the king’s speech was stale and lacked substance.

MISA reported last month (March 2009) that it had issued a record number of alerts about media freedom violations in Swaziland, mainly around harassment of journalists, censorship, intimidation and assault of media persons.