SWAZI POLICE BAN LEGAL MARCH

It’s started. Less than a month after he was illegally appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, Barnabas Dlamini has clamped down on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in the kingdom.

The Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) was due to march on the Cabinet offices in Mbabane on Friday (7 November 2008) to deliver a petition. Instead, police halted the march and illegally transported SWAYOCO leaders to various parts of the kingdom.

This illegal transportation is a common tactic of the police when they want to disrupt protests. This even happens when the march and protest in question is entirely legal (even under Swaziland’s strict laws that are designed in effect to stop protest).

The Weekend Observer reported yesterday that the protestors had been allowed to visit the Prime minister’s office to deliver their petition, but ‘this was not to be as police were deployed at strategic places to prevent them from making their initiated march. As that was not enough, the police deported members of the organisation to various parts of the country to avoid them from regrouping.’

The newspaper continued, ‘SWAYOCO President Wandile Dludlu said they received a directive from the Regional Commander Senior Superintendent Velaphi Sibandze that they were no longer permitted to stage the march.’

The excuse given by the police to ban the march is bizarre. According to the Weekend Observer, Dludlu said the Regional Commander told them that the Prime Minister had already received the petition. This is obviously nonsense, since the marchers were in possession of the petition and intended to hand it over yesterday.

Of course, this was just an excuse to stop legitimate protest in Swaziland, highlighting the arrogance of the Prime Minister and the police force who work for him.

The Regional Commander confirmed to the Weekend Observer that the police had received an order to stop the march, but he refused to give further details.

Meanwhile, SWAYOCO says this isn’t the end of the matter and it will try again to deliver the petition.

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.

CHIEF SAYS ‘BEAT UP PROGRESSIVES’

People who support political parties in Swaziland should be beaten up and denied any form of legal representation, according to a Swazi chief.

The Swazi Observer reported yesterday (6 November 2008) that Chief Mnikwa of Hhelehhlele in the Northern Hhohho ‘left many in stitches when he branded political parties as “liars” with the sole intention to destroy the government’.

The newspaper doesn’t record whether the chief’s audience laughed because they could see the chief is a fool or because they agreed with what he was saying.

In Swaziland political parties have been banned since 1973 and this week the Commonwealth Expert Team that observed the Swazi elections in September 2008 called for political parties to be allowed in Swaziland and for the Swaziland Constitution to be rewritten so that Swaziland can become a democracy.

It would seem that such serious issues are not to be reported in the Observer, the newspaper that is in effect owned by King Mswati III.

According to the Observer, Chief Mnikwa said, ‘I am saying no to political parties in the country. These people’s main agenda is to pronounce false statements about the country. They are now and again talking about baseless, endless and meaningless concerns.’

The Observer added, ‘The chief said these people need to be hurried down to Esibayeni to be dealt with accordingly.

‘“There are no lawyers allowed to represent them once brought into that place. It will serve them a lesson. They deserve thorough beatings not to make the useless noise again,” said the chief.’

The newspaper went on, ‘Meanwhile, he congratulated Dr. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini for his appointment to the position [as Prime Minister].’

Dlamini, who was illegally appointed by the king last month, was previously Prime Minister from 1996 to 2003 when his term of office was noted for his complete disregard for the rule of law in Swaziland and the reign of terror he unleashed against the Swazi people.

The Observer reported the chief saying, ‘We are happy that His Majesty, through your great work during your tenure as PM, has given you another opportunity to lead his government. We assure we will fully rally behind you and cabinet.’

See also

BARNABAS DLAMINI

WHY HAVE A NEW UNIVERSITY?

News that a new university is set to open in Swaziland in January 2009 raises questions about what is the role of a university in the kingdom.

In September King Mswati III, the chancellor of the kingdom’s only university (the University of Swaziland), told graduates that they should look outside Swaziland for jobs because there weren’t enough in Swaziland.

Now, a Malaysian-based university called the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) has announced it will open in Mbabane in January. It is hoping to attract 1,000 students for its courses.

LUCT has been gaining a lot of attention internationally for its rapid expansion in the developing world. Recently it has announced new campuses in Cambodia and Botswana.

The university is a ‘private’ university (that is not funded by government), but unlike many such universities which run as charities, this one intends to be profit-making.

I welcome a new university in Swaziland. The University of Swaziland has become complacent over the past few years and has lost its way a little. It is difficult to find a coherent statement from the university about what its purpose in Swaziland is. The instruction from the king that graduates should go abroad just highlights the problem: what is the point of studying at the University of Swaziland?

I don’t think the LUCT has made much of an improvement on this score. LUCT has yet to publish a prospectus of the courses it intends to offer, but according to a report in the Times of Swaziland (29 October 2008) it will focus on technology, arts, communication, television and broadcasting, business, sound and music, lifestyle, creativity and innovation. You can see the full list of courses it offers here.

It is difficult at first to see what jobs graduates from such courses would get in Swaziland and there is no obvious sign that LUCT’s courses will aid the development of Swaziland.

I would like to see a new university succeed in Swaziland, but I think LUCT has its work cut out. There are unresolved issues of funding of students (the Swazi government has no money for fees and the University of Swaziland is crumbling through lack of funding) and as far as I can see no lecturers have yet been appointed.

Add to those problems the fact that everything moves very slowly in Swaziland I’d be surprised if LUCT will meet its January deadline. But I’d be happy to be proved wrong.

MULTI PARTIES WILL SAVE SWAZILAND

Introducing a multi-party democracy into Swaziland may be the best way to save the kingdom from disaster.

This is according to the Commonwealth Expert Team that observed Swaziland’s elections in September 2008.

In its report just published the CET highlighted the concern expressed within Swaziland about how the new Swazi constitution was not protecting human rights.

The CET reports that the Government of Swaziland is party to a number of international agreements on human rights ‘It is widely accepted internationally that democracy includes the right of individuals to associate with and support the political party of their choice,’ the CET states.

‘Yet in practice this right currently does not exist.’

It goes on, ‘Swaziland has stark economic and social problems. According to statistics two thirds of Swazis live in chronic poverty and a majority of the population depend on food aid. Cultural norms undermine women’s rights. The country has the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the world, 10 percent of the population are orphans and the life expectancy is now 31 years for the newly born. We were also informed by a number of sources that corruption is on the increase.

‘Swaziland has deeply established cultural traditions which place considerable emphasis on the rights of the individual. However, the country may be fast approaching a crossroads, as in the light of the socio-economic problems, its citizens may decide to seek ways to improve their lives through the introduction of a multi-party system which gives them powers to collectively question and change the status quo.’

The CET has got it right. The problems within Swaziland stem from its undemocratic nature. A tiny elite control the kingdom and the vast majority have no say in how their lives are controlled.

When anyone (such as the CET) objectively studies the situation in Swaziland the problems are clear and so are the solutions.

To read the full CET report, click here.

See also

SWAZILAND: ‘REWRITE CONSTITUTION’

SWAZI P.M. IS ENEMY OF MEDIA

One of Swaziland’s major journalist commentators has been reminding his readers how the kingdom’s new Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini hounds the media.

Dlamini, who was illegally appointed by King Mswati III last month, was previously Prime Minister from 1996 to 2003.

According to Vusi Sibisi, who writes a weekly commentary in the Times of Swaziland, Dlamini was ‘responsible for raining hell on the media industry and presided over the enforced albeit illegal closure of two newspapers’.

The newspapers in question were the Nation magazine and the Swazi Guardian. I have written myself about the way the government illegally closed down the journals. Even after a court order said publishing could resume, the government sent police to raid the offices of the Nation (to read more on this click here).

Sibisi, writing in the Times last week, said that Dlamini salso ‘hounded’ journalists out of newsrooms.

Sibisi wrote, ‘Not only did he flex his political muscles to shut down two newspapers but he also ensured that anyone of the media, particularly that in private ownership, who refused to toe the official line was blacklisted from getting government advertisements. And since he was law no one could question his word.'

Sibisi is not optimistic about the future (and with Dlamini’s record on human rights and disregarding the rule of law who can blame him?).

He writes, ‘As I see it the media will once more be in the eye of the storm given that for his second time around he has been given additional ammunition, far more lethal that of the rule of law crisis he visited on this country, to fight an imaginary war. If he could do what he achieved then without his power being embellished then the media, not least the whole nation, will be facing hell fire now that the man is back with unfettered additional powers.’

Don’t say, we have not been warned.

See also

BARNABAS DLAMINI