NOW IT’S DOCTOR KING MSWATI III

King Mswati III of Swaziland has became a doctor. Or so he’d like us to believe.

Yesterday (2 August 2010), the king, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was given the title by Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, for (hang on to your hats now) ‘outstanding leadership and profound contribution in the promotion of health and wellbeing’.

The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, thought this was so important it devoted the front page to the story.

The Observer went on to say that the doctorate comes a few days after Ma Ying-jeou (who, the Observer doesn’t say, survived a lengthy corruption trial to emerge as winner of the presidential elections in Taiwan) described 'His Majesty as a visionary leader, who went to all lengths for the improvement of the lives of his people’.

The report was written by Musa Ndlangamandla, editor-in-chief of the Observer, who is on record as saying it is the duty of his newspaper to stress the integrity of the king, called the award of the doctorate a ‘historical recognition’.

Without a hint of irony Ndlangamandla says, ‘the University leadership is also impressed with His Majesty’s role in the promotion of peace’. Tell that to the progressives in Swaziland who are being terrorised by the king’s police.

No one, apart from the king’s hangers-on is fooled of course. Just as we weren’t fooled when Barnabas Dlamini, the man the king illegally-appointed as Prime Minister of Swaziland, was given a bogus doctorate by the University of Swaziland (Chancellor: King Mswati).

Ever since that happened the Swazi Observer has dutifully referred to the Prime Minister as Doctor Dlamini. What on earth will they call the king from now on?

Wouldn’t ‘Doctor King’ be too precious?

KING BYPASSES COURT, JAILS MINISTER

A Swazi cabinet minister has been jailed on the orders of King Mswati III.

His ‘crime’: sleeping with one of the king’s many wives while the king was on a trip to Taiwan.

King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has ordered that his instruction, which is completely against the Swaziland Constitution, be kept a secret.

Some hope. Ironically, the man now behind bars is the Swaziland Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba.

It is alleged that he was caught having sex with Nothando Dube, the 12th of Mswati’s 14 wives, at the luxury hotel, the Royal Villas, at Ezulwini outside the kingdoms capital, Mbabane.

The minister was detained by police and then moved to Big Bend prison, according to reports circulating outside Swaziland.

One report said the jailing was ‘on the orders of the king, who also instructed that the matter be kept secret and that the minister be kept in jail until the king returned from a 10-day state visit to Taiwan’.

There were fears that if they were freed the two could flee the country.

In a sinister development, Swazi media houses fear their telephones may be bugged after Swazi authorities warned them not to talk with newspapers and media in South Africa about the arrest.

Meanwhile, Nothando Dube is being held under 24-hour surveillance at the queen mother’s royal palace at Ludzidzini in Mbabane while waiting for the king to return.

The City Press in South Africa reported on the case yesterday (1 August 2010) and says it has four separate sources for the information. It also gives detailed background of the possible consequences to the Swazi Royal Family of the scandal. To read more click here.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network has also issued information about the scandal. Nothando Dube was 16 years old when she married King Mswati and is a year younger than King Mswati’s eldest child. Nothando Dube attempted to commit suicide when she felt the king had betrayed her by taking another wife. To read more click here.

FACEBOOK PROGRESSIVES AHEAD

The Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland that ought to know better, gave space yesterday (1 August 2010) for a letter writer to crow that the Tinkhundla system of government (undemocratic, all political parties banned, ruled over by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch) in Swaziland was gathering support from all over the world.

The evidence for this? Someone has set up a site on the Internet site Facebook and it has 122 members and ‘the number keeps growing’.

This the Times Sunday erroneously stated gives one ‘food for thought’ and asked readers for their comments.

Well here’s one. The Facebook site for the Swaziland Solidarity Network, which is ‘an open forum for everyone interested in seeing Swaziland, Afrika’'s last absolute monarchy, evolve freely into a democratic society’ has 1,699 members – that’s nearly 14 times as many people in favour of multiparty democracy than against it.

Also, the Facebook site for the Swaziland Democracy Campaign for democracy in the kingdom has 565 members (at least four times the Tinkhundla site).

I look forward to next week’s Times Sunday giving as much space to that as it did to the sad apologists for King Mswati’s corrupt regime.

ELITE HIDE THE SWAZI POOR PEOPLE

Here’s further evidence that those of us using the Internet to get the truth about Swaziland out to the world are having an impact.

A group of Taiwanese journalists were taken around Swaziland and shown business establishments and the building site that is Sikhuphe International Airport.

According to one media report they had a swell time. Only one important thing was missing from the trip – they wanted to see kingdom’s ‘backwater rural environment where they could appreciate the extent of the poverty they had read about on the internet’.

Some chance. But what did they expect? If you come to Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, on the king’s dollar, you are going to see what the king wants you to see – which, according to the Times of Swaziland, included ‘the deep blue sky’.