TRUTH ABOUT THE SWAZILAND KING

While the Swaziland media are busy telling us what a success King Mswati III is having on his state visit to Zambia voices of dissent are being raised in the country itself.

The Zambia Post newspaper has attacked its own president Rupiah Banda for inviting the king, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa, and for paying public tribute to the king by congratulating him on his ‘wise leadership’ and saying that he ensures ‘that the Swazi people benefit from economic development and actively participate in the election of their representatives in the government’.

The Post isn’t taken in at all. In a long and hard hitting editorial the newspaper says, ‘Mswati is running a tyrannical royal dictatorship in Swaziland’ and calls on the Southern African Development Community ‘to put serious pressure on Mswati for the democratisation of Swaziland’.

Swaziland, it reminds us, is a kingdom where political parties are banned and freedom of association is suppressed. The newspaper called the 2008 elections in Swaziland a ‘daylight fraud’.

The Post says, ‘Whilst the Swazi King was entertained to a state banquet here and enjoyed game viewing in one of our national parks in the company of Rupiah, he has subjected the people of Swaziland to hunger and poverty whilst he and his family enjoy a lavish lifestyle.’

The newspaper goes on to say that while the king and his family enjoy fabulous wealth the majority of Swazi people are poor and do not have access to basic services.

‘Swaziland is a neo-colonial and semi-feudal enclave ruled by an absolute monarchy together with his family. It is a country that is naturally endowed with abundant resources, but is suffering from the crisis of a royal kwashiorkor, called the Tinkhundla system. This system by definition is about the entrenchment of royal hegemony in all spheres of Swazi society, thus turning the people into objects of royal pity and plunder. This is the essence of royal rule, through imposed hegemony, where the King is everything. He is the chancellor of the university, he is the commander-in-chief of the army, he is the patron of thousands of NGOs that front for his hegemony in the name of serving the poor, he is a head of state and more than anything else, a very key businessman, with huge economic interests in every sector of Swazi society.

‘His hands are full of activity that reinforces his greed and entrenches his monopoly over every sphere of Swazi society, not least the economy. This basic truth is important to always remember and recite in order to capture the real essence and structure of Swaziland, and why it is performing. It is obviously suffering from the heavy weight of royal plunder, lack of innovation and creativity, and more than anything else, greed and cancerous corruption, which had permeated every sector of Swazi society and has destroyed its moral fibre.’

And that’s only half of it. To read the full editorial click here.

SWAZILAND’S T-SHIRT TERRORISM

In Swaziland wearing a T-shirt is now considered an act of terrorism.

This was revealed yesterday (18 July 2008) when a man was arrested and charged at the People’s Dialogue in Manzini.

He was wearing a T-shirt calling for the release from jail of Mario Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).

Norman Xaba was charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) which allows for prison sentences of up to 25 years on conviction.

Also arrested and charged under the STA at the same event was Mphandlana Shongwe, who is reported to have ‘chanted slogans’ in sympathy with PUDEMO.

The arrests come as no real surprise in Swaziland where the STA is being used to oppress freedom of speech. Amnesty International, among other human rights organisations, has condemned the use of the act, introduced last year, to stop any criticism of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed prime minister and the government.

Dlamini has even gone so far as to threaten journalists with the STA if they publish reports about banned political parties in Swaziland.

It probably comes as no surprise that the arrests were made yesterday by plain clothed policemen who infiltrated the People’s Dialogue, which was called by churches, trade unions and civil society organisations to discuss issues in Swaziland.

Although organisers made it clear the meeting was not about challenging the power of the state, it was widely condemned by supporters of the status quo in Swaziland because it was convened as an alternative to an official ‘smart partnership’ meeting due to take place next month which will be attended by the king and the prime minister.

Supporters of the People’s Dialogue believe previous ‘smart partnerships’ had no value because they did not achieve anything.

UNION LEADER ON SWAZI STRUGGLE

Asking the majority of people around the world what they know about Swaziland is likely to draw a blank stare. But Swaziland is a country with a strong history of political struggle against formidable odds. Despite the determined suppression of democratic expression by the country's government, the last few years have seen a resurgence in civil society's drive for greater freedom, something which will pave the way for progressively greater interest from the international community in coming years.

These are the thoughts of Jan Sithole, secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, writing in Pambazuka News ahead of the first ever Swaziland ‘People’s Dialogue’ that takes place tomorrow (18 July 2009). The dialogue will cover HIV/AIDS, health, education, gender, youth, governance, human rights, privatisation, food sovereignty, the environment, the informal sector and other related concerns.

To read the full article click here.

SWAZI ELITE THREATENS JOURNALISTS

Journalists working for the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, are being harassed by traditional authorities after reporting that the son of one of the king’s advisors had been arrested on assault and damage charges.

The story involves Bishop Nash Shongwe who is a member of King Mswati’s advisory committee liqoqo, also known as the Swazi National Council (SNC).

The Observer reported that the bishop’s son Sikhumbuzo had been arrested following an incident at a club in which he allegedly attacked patrons’ cars with a bush-knife and assaulted some of them. He is charged with two counts of malicious damage to property and assault.

Sikhumbuzo is also awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting Observer news editor Ackel Zwane, in December 2008.

In January 2009 the Swazi News reported that Sikhumbuzo had been arrested for assaulting his wife with a bottle causing a wound that needed seven stitches.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland Chapter reports that following the publication of the most recent story, ‘One journalist who declined to be identified for fear of victimization’ told MISA that they have received ‘disturbing’ calls from traditional authorities ‘who have warned them against the continued publication of stories about the bishop’s son’.

MISA says it is thought the bishop might have complained to the traditional authorities against the newspaper, which is owned by the King, to influence the censoring of the newspaper.



‘Soon after the stories, we received calls, mostly from members of the SNC, warning us against further publishing of the stories about the bishop’s son,’ MISA reports the journalist saying.



‘We are not happy. The traditional authorities have no right to censor us on stories which are of public interest. Moreover, this man has proved to be a public nuisance and does not deserve to be protected,’ he added.