EVIDENCE OF SWAZI POLICE TORTURE

Wandile Dludlu, the president of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) is setting out to prove that he was held and tortured by police after being arrested at a border protest earlier this month (September 2009).

He says after police released him he got a doctor’s report detailing his external and internal injuries.

Dludlu said he was tortured by four police officers for almost two hours on allegations that he had information about guns and explosives which were allegedly smuggled into the country to ‘assassinate’ top politicians.

Dludu took reporters from Swaziland’s Times Sunday to the place in an isolated forest at Mhlam-banyatsi where the torture took place.

The Times Sunday reports today (13 September 2009) that the bush he was taken to was about three kilometres from a public road. Dludlu said police placed a blanket on the ground and made him lie on it when torturing him.

Dludlu said once he was released he went to Mbabane Government Hospital but doctors there did not do any checkups on him. Later he went to a private doctor for an X-ray and the doctor’s report confirmed that he suffered physical and internal injuries.

According to a report in the Swazi News, police arrested and tortured Dludlu because they believed he knew where guns, explosives and ‘war missiles’ were being stored and these were to be used ‘in an operation to assassinate the country’s influential politicians and other high ranking members of royalty’.

Police deny Dludlu’s account of torture.

POLICE TORTURE SWAZI DEMOCRAT

A Swazi democrat leader was arrested by state police yesterday and tortured for information.

And Swaziland police has warned that others will face the same treatment if they dare to speak out against the undemocratic regime in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Wandile Dludlu, President of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), was arrested at the South African border post at Ngwenya during a planned blockade by progressive forces of South Africa and Swaziland to draw attention to the lack of democracy in Swaziland.

Swazi police arrested and tortured Dludlu because they believed he knew where guns, explosives and ‘war missiles’ were being stored. According to a report in the Swazi News today (5 September 2009) these were to be used ‘in an operation to assassinate the country’s influential politicians and other high ranking members of royalty’.

Police claim attacks were planned for sometime during September and say Dludlu was suspected of being a mastermind and ‘was planning the whole operation’.

Police claims are suspicious since the police admit that they at first arrested Dludlu at the border post where he was trying to enter following a private trip to South Africa. At first the police tried to arrest him for uttering seditious remarks at the border as part of the border protests.

When they failed to stand up this accusation with evidence, the police made the fresh accusation of masterminding assassination plots.

Police took Dludlu to a police station at Mhlambanyatsi in a rural area and there tortured him for information, the Swazi News reports. With no knowledge of what the police were talking about, Dludlu pleaded his innocence but in vain.

‘He was told that what follows next for him is death. I think he is pleased to be alive as at one time one police officer while in the forest suggested that he be killed and that no one will know or find him,’ a source told the Swazi News.

Dludlu later confirmed to the newspaper that he had given out names to the police of people who were marked out for assassination and admit knowledge of guns and explosives.

Dludlu said he had to do this to save his life.

Vusi Masuku, police spokesperson later told the Swazi News, ‘One may also sound some words of advice to some citizens of this country to desist from the habit of colluding with foreign nationals with intent to disturb peace and undermine the economy of the country.

‘Members of the law enforcement agencies have the duty to question and advise any person who might be infringing an existing legal principle,’ said Masuku.

The Swazi News reports that an intensive search by senior police to find the people behind the planned assignations is ongoing.

At the time of compiling this report police have not claimed to have found any weapons.

SWAZI BORDER DEMOCRACY PROTEST

Media release

Swaziland Campaign for Democracy

Join us for global days of action in support of the Swazi people’s struggle for democracy

4^th September, 2009

@ Oshoek Border Post, Mpumalanga

In solidarity with the people of Swaziland who toil under impossible conditions to eke out a meager existence to maintain their dignity, the Campaign for democracy in Swaziland calls on

· SADC to place the issue of “Democracy Now” for Swaziland high on their agenda, and in so-doing we call on SADC to remove King Mswati from the organ Troika on Politics, defense and Security Cooperation.

· We call for the immediate and unconditional release of PUDEMO President Mario Masuku,

· We call for the immediate unbanning of People’s Organisations

· And finally we call on the South African Government to terminate its working relations and support of all dictators including Swaziland.

September 6^th marks 41 years of Swaziland’s independence from British colonial rule. Unfortunately, for the majority of Swazi’s, independence rings hollow and is evidenced by the fact that seventy percent of the one million population live in abject poverty earning less than one US dollar a day. Up to 600,000 people had to receive some form of food aid in the past 18 months to fend off starvation. HIV/Aids was taken a heavy toll, with more than 40% of the population believed to be infected. In Swaziland, 1 in 3 girls has experienced sexual violence by age 18. 22% of Swazi women between ages of 15 and 24 are HIV positive. Life expectancy has plummeted to one of the lowest in the world,: 40 years (men), 39 years (women) (UN)



Meanwhile, King Mswati has amassed a personal fortune worth 200 million US dollars, as the beneficiary of two funds created by his father Sobhuza II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute personal discretion over use of the income. As well as his personal wealth, King Mswati receives money from the Swazi taxpayer. In this year’s Swaziland national budget he gets E130 million (about 16 million US dollars) for his family’s upkeep.



This is more than the money Swaziland will spend on capital expenditure for education (E113 million) or capital expenditure on social security and welfare (E73 million).

Or put another way, 70 percent of the families of one million Swazi people live on less than E10 a day, while the Royal Family gets by on a third of a million a day.

Media freedom and freedom of expression are non-existent in Swaziland. Political parties have been banned from operating since 1973. Members of political parties are hounded and languishing in jail on trumped up charges.

We call on all South Africans, Swazis and people of the region to support the “Day of Global Action for Democracy in Swaziland at the Oshoek Border post of the 4^th September. Transport from Johannesburg and Mpumalanga will be provided.

This marks the beginning of a series of activities aimed at supporting the Swazi people’s struggle for democracy and forcing Mswati to change and embrace democracy.

We also take this opportunity to announce the Joint Swazi Campaign Committee made up of representatives from both Swaziland and South Africa as agreed at the last Swazi-South Africa Consultative meeting held in Benoni on the 12^th August, 2009.

The Joint Swazi Campaign Committee is made up of;

1. Venitia Govender – Co-convenor, South Africa

2. Barnes Dlamini – Convenor, Swaziland

3. Jan Sithole - Swaziland

4. Vincent Ncongwane - Swaziland

5. Sipho Msibi – South Africa

6. Oupa Lebogo – South Africa

Operational support team (comprised of COSATU in South Africa):

1. George Mahlangu – Campaigns department

2. Bongani Masuku – International Department

3. Fidel Mlombo – Mpumalanga Province

SWAZILAND RESTRICTS PRESS FREEDOM

The Swaziland Government restricted freedoms of speech and the press during the past year and banned the publication of criticism of King Mswati III.

These are the main findings of a survey on press freedom in Swaziland, released last week.

Although the Swaziland Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, the king may waive these rights at his discretion, and the government restricted these rights during 2008, especially regarding political issues or the royal family.

Most journalists practiced self-censorship even though the law empowers the government to ban publications if they are deemed ‘prejudicial or potentially prejudicial to the interests of defense, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health’.

The US State Department in its annual Country Report on Swaziland 2008 states, ‘During the year the attorney general and the prime minister warned journalists and diplomats against making statements that could be interpreted as seditious. After the arrest in November of Mario Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), several civic organizations, including the Council of Swaziland Churches and the Law Society, published notices in daily papers alerting the king to their concern about the ‘selective implementation of the country's constitution’.

The State Department notes that journalists were threatened, harassed, assaulted, and detained during the year, particularly after Attorney General Majahenkhaba Dlamini warned in November that journalists who criticized the government could be viewed as supporting terrorists and arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Journalists received anonymous telephone calls advising them not to pursue particular stories, and many of them complied, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).

In June, traditional governor Jim Gama harshly criticized the print media for negative reporting on a national gathering called by the king.

In August, soldiers assaulted a Times newspaper team and seized their cameras; the journalists were at the airport to cover the return of nine of the king’s wives and their entourage from a lavish shopping spree abroad. No action was taken against the soldiers.

In September, police searched and harassed freelance journalist Lunga Masuku and Times newspaper reporter Peter Mavuso, who were covering a labur demonstration aimed at blocking the movement of goods between Swaziland and South Africa. Police also threatened to delete photos from the camera of the Times journalist. After a verbal confrontation, the officers allowed the journalists to carry on with their duties.

In December, police officers detained two freelance journalists for six hours after raiding the location where they were meeting an informant. The police repeatedly slapped the journalists and broke their equipment. No investigation of the incident had been conducted by year's end.