PRINCESS ON TV: BLUSHES ALL ROUND

Australia’s Channel Nine Network Television embarrassed itself on Saturday (5 May 2012) when it interviewed Princess Sikhanyiso of Swaziland.

It took four people to interview the Princess, another woman they described as THE Queen of Swaziland and the princess’ dopey brother, Prince Lindani.

And they blundered their way along a five minute interview.

Princess Sikhanyiso is KingMswati’s eldest child and ‘the queen of Swaziland’ was her mother Inkhosikati LaMbikiza. She is King Mswati’s first wife, but he has 13 in total. At least one of them is younger than his eldest daughter.

The interview was to mark the graduation from Sydney University of Princess Sikhanyiso. She has just received a Masters in Digital Communication.

The interview was on the Nine Network’s Weekend TODAY breakfast show. Prince Lindani sat silent for the most part, hiding behind his sunglasses. He only woke up when one interviewer asked him to show his enormous bling wristwatch to the camera.

Princess Sikhanyiso was described as ‘well loved’ by the Swazi people. Even she was embarrassed by this – and anyone who has followed her so-called career in rap music will know she is usually incapable of embarrassment. ‘I’m well-loved in Australia too,’ she whimpered.

The interviewers had no clue that King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and his Royal family live life high on the hog, while seven in ten of his subjects live in absolute poverty, earning less than two US dollars a day. Nor, did they realise they were perpetuating a myth about the Swazi Royal Family that they are loved by the Swazi people.

Only last week a Gallup opinion poll revealed that 43 percent of the people interviewed disapprove of the way the King runs the kingdom.

The interview ended with Princess Sikhanyiso performing a rap song.

If you have a high embarrassment threshold, you can watch the full interview by clicking here. 

(Pictured. The Princess, her mother and the Prince on Australian TV. Picture: Screen grab)

See also

SWAZI PRINCESS FACEBOOK BLUNDER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/swazi-princess-facebook-blunder_08.html

SWAZI PRINCESS TALKS WITH ‘TERRORISTS’

Swazi Princess debates with ‘terrorists’ on Twitter

SOURCE Afrika Kontakt, 2 October 2013 

In an unprecedented move, Princess Sikhanyiso (a.k.a. Pashu) of Swaziland debated for several hours with banned political movement the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) via her Twitter account on Sunday, even though her father, Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III, has branded PUDEMO as “terrorists” and refuses to negotiate with them, writes Afrika Kontakt.

The debate started with the Princess amiably asking several questions about PUDEMO, such as “who is your President,” “can you give me an example of a country that you wish Swaziland to operate similarly to,” “what is your plan to eradicate poverty,” and “what is your ultimate goal?”

Later in the conversation, Princess Sikhanyiso had some suggestions of her own in regard to Swaziland’s problems. “Countries suffer from poverty but they don’t act poor for tv to draw false sympathy from oblivious foreigners,” she said, seemingly believing that her father was not responsible for the extreme poverty in a country where two thirds survive on less than a dollar a day in concluding that “unemployment will be solved by God.”

On the possibilities of PUDEMO interacting with her father, Princess Sikhanyiso advised PUDEMO to “ask [the governor of the King’s Royal Ludzidzini palace, Timothy] Mtsetfwa to apologize on your behalf & seek HM’s audience. You’ll be surprised,” although she seemingly insisted that political parties such as PUDEMO had no role to play in Swaziland as she claimed that “a house divided against itself cannot stand. Let the common goal be the peace and prosperity of Swaziland not organizations.”

So if members of Swaziland’s largest political party PUDEMO are really such dangerous “terrorists,” then what was the king’s eldest daughter doing discussing with PUDEMO on Twitter for several hours? 

The fact of the matter is that PUDEMO are not terrorists.  PUDEMO advocates a peaceful transition from the present absolute monarchy, via a negotiation process that includes a national convention and a transitional period of interim authority towards democracy, like the process in South Africa in the early nineties. 

 

As PUDEMO Secretary General, Skhumbuzo Phakathi, said in a statement on Monday, “we have repeatedly affirmed our commitment to peaceful resistance and dialogue … our struggle is not against the royal family or the king, but about the capture of the state and the dispensing of benefits to the majority of the people … Our debate with Princess Sikhanyiso was an opportunity for political education not just of her but to all those who followed the discussion.”

But being branded a “terrorist” in Swaziland is surprisingly easy. Swaziland’s infamous Suppression of Terrorism Bill from 2008 defines terrorism very broadly, for instance as an act that “involves prejudice to national security or public safety.” Anybody who “solicits support for, or gives support to, any terrorist group” or even meets with them can be punished with up to 15 years in prison.

According to Amnesty International, “the failure to restrict the definition of ‘terrorist act’ in the Suppression of Terrorism Act to the threatened or actual use of violence against civilians [as defined by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights] undermines the Suppression of Terrorism Act in its entirety.” 

Amnesty International has therefore asked Swaziland to repeal or immediately amend the Terrorism Bill, “because it is an inherently flawed piece of legislation which is inconsistent with Swaziland’s obligations under international law and regional human rights law as well as of the Swaziland Constitution.”

A high-profile example of the inexplicable nature of Swaziland’s Terrorism Act was when PUDEMO President Mario Masuku was charged with terrorism in 2008 for a statement about a bridge bombing. After having been imprisoned for 340 days, his case was laughed out of court in a matter of hours. Even the courts in Swaziland could not bring themselves to send him to prison for a mere statement. 

Some might see the Princess’s debate on Twitter, together with Swaziland’s government’s promise to the ILO that they would amend the Suppression of terrorism Act, as a sign of an increased willingness to discuss with PUDEMO, however.

But if this is the case, then why was her Twitter profile closed Monday? And why has the Swazi regime increased spending on security equipment and supplies fiftyfold since last year even though Swaziland has no external enemies?

SWAZI PRINCESS TALKS ABOUT HER DAD

Swazi Media Commentary has been giving Swaziland’s King Mswati III a hard time lately, what with all these posts about how the Swazi media are scared of him and won’t report things that offend him and then there’s the public relations disaster over the 40/40 celebrations. On top of this there was the talk about how Mswati actually came to be king. And let’s draw a veil over the worry that women in Uganda were said to have about the king.

You see the truth is that the king is a misunderstood man. He isn’t a dictator and the money he spends on his lavish lifestyle is his own money and he can do with it what he likes. And people in Swaziland are not oppressed.

So there.

No, of course these are not my words. They are the words of Princess Sikhanyiso, the king’s eldest daughter.

In my report on censorship in Swazi newsrooms I make reference to the king being angry that the media once interviewed Sikhanyiso. He told them never to do it again.

I don’t know why he got so upset; she sticks up for Swaziland’s ‘absolute monarchy’ like a trooper.

Here’s Sikhanyiso from an interview published in the Daily Express, United Kingdom, and reproduced in the Nation magazine in Swaziland in January 2007.

On the king taking many wives

‘No one is forced to be his wife. Everybody has a choice to say ‘no’ if they don’t want to.’

On the king’s lifestyle

‘People at school would say we were taking all the money and wasting [it]. Quite frankly, I don’t see where I come in, and even where my father is concerned, half the money he gets comes from his own businesses. It is his money, so he does have the right to spend it.

‘His cars are meant to be bought by the government, but he’s started buying them himself because people have been complaining.

‘If people knew what kind of a person the king is, they’d want it to continue as an absolute monarchy, because he’s a kind and generous man. There is a plethora of charity groups he has started.

‘He has so much to deal with: he has 500 (five hundred) siblings to look after and then he has the political arena as well. They like to give out the idea the Swazi people are oppressed but they’re not.’

It seems to me that Sikhanyiso is a Godsend to the monarchy. The foreign media love her and she gives out the ‘official’ message that Swaziland is a heavenly place rather well.

Oh, and if the pictures that went along with the article are anything to go by she has good legs and big breasts, which she doesn’t mind showing.

See also
KING MSWATI III
CENSORSHIP AND THE SWAZI MEDIA
WITHOUT THE SWAZI KING ON TOUR

WITHOUT THE [SWAZI] KING ON TOUR

The quite possibly seditious documentary Without the King is now freely circulating in Swaziland.

‘Pirated’ copies of the DVD have been winging their way around the kingdom and I have received reports of it being watched in every major urban area in Swaziland.

According to the documentary’s own publicity, Without The King ‘captures the birth of a nation’s revolution’. Personally, I suspect the ‘revolution’ is some way off yet, but the DVD does show scenes where ordinary people in Swaziland talk about their dissatisfaction with the ruling elite – including King Mswati III.

Swazi media are not allowed to voice such sentiments – and it is not really safe for ordinary people to say them out loud in most places in Swaziland.

I hear there have been some discussions in the main cities of Mbabane and Manzini about showing the documentary at a public venue. People are quite understandably scared to do this for fear of what might happen either at the showing itself (police in Swaziland are brutal when it comes to dealing with dissent) or what might happen after the event to the person or organisation that allowed the showing to take place.

All this is in great contrast to North America where Without the King is showing in public cinemas across the continent. It is also receiving interesting reviews in newspapers and on the Internet.

I picked up this review on the Internet from someone called Kam Williams at News Blaze.

I think Williams got a little carried away, especially with regards to the statistics (do you know what 45 BILLION US Dollars looks like Kam?) and the bit about the ‘airhead’ Princess Sikhanyiso is a bit strong, but (unlike in Swaziland) everyone is entitled to their opinion.

‘King Mswati III is a benevolent despot ruling the tiny African nation of Swaziland with a velvet-gloved iron fist. This last absolute monarch on the continent governs just about the only sub-Saharan country somehow untouched by civil war or ethnic cleansing over the last 30 years. In contrast to such war-torn lands as Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Sudan, Swaziland has enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence.

‘This, despite the fact that its citizens have a 42% AIDS rate and the world's lowest life expectancy at 31. Plus, most of the population has to survive on about 63 cents a day, and are thus very dependent on donations from international charities just to survive.

‘Meanwhile, the royal family lives in the lap of luxury, starting with the king. He has 14 wives, and picks another new one to add to his harem from the 75,000 topless young virgins participating in the annual Reed Dance, a weeklong celebration of chastity.

‘He also owns 7 palaces, a fleet of luxury cars, the media and sugar industries, and most of the developed real estate. Plus, he has $45 billion stashed away in a Swiss bank for safekeeping. Political parties are banned in Swaziland, so the miserable plight of the people isn’t about to change any time soon in the absence of a revolution.

‘Besides Mswati, the film focuses on the decadent behavior of his spoiled-rotten eldest child, an airhead attending college in California. Well aware of the exploitation of her father’s subjects, this future queen sarcastically appraises the situation shortly before the curtain comes down, vaguely promising to make some changes while rolling her eyes.

‘We’re supposed to buy the idea that the Swazis will be saved by Africa’s answer to Paris Hilton? Yeah, right. Proof-positive that despotism and decadence comes in all colors.’

I notice that Williams didn’t even think it worth mentioning the name of the King’s daughter (it’s Princess Sikhanyiso). The princess gets a more sympathetic mention by another reviewer, Cynthia Fuchs, writing on the popmatters website.

‘Princess Sikhanyiso, also known as Pashu, is the eldest of her father King Mswati III’s 22 children. A dutiful daughter and self-described “rhyme slayer,” the amateur rapper leads a film crew through the King’s palace in Mbabane, capital of Swaziland, pointing out the gigantic swordfish that adorns “one of the rooms for most important visitors.” She smiles politely, anticipating her upcoming 18th birthday and comparing the tour to MTV Cribs. [A television programme in which ‘famous’ people show off their homes.]

‘Pashu straddles a particular and complicated divide in Without the King… Introduced defending her father’s reign (“I think being a king is the hardest thing ever; you have to take the most criticism in the country”), she is also on her way to Hollywood, starting her freshman year at Biola University, a Christian school.

‘As Pashu’s mother Queen LaMbikiza remembers being married at 16, Mswati’s first wife, the daughter imagines that her education in a foreign land will prepare her for being royal in the future. “We are the ones that have to change the country,” she says of her generation,” and toward that end, she seeks “knowledge.”

‘Her father, in turn, expresses his pleasure in a way that indicates his conditioned detachment and performance for the camera (Pashu refers to him repeatedly as “the King”): “I have a kid that is going to university,” he smiles, “Of course I am very proud, the kid has been very good.”

‘As Pashu enjoys the “freedom” of campus life without security details and with an ATM card (“I’ve never used one,” she says, pressing buttons on the machine as the camera focuses on the sign above: Need Cash?).

‘Her story in the abstract is soon reframed by experience. Stepping into the street outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, she’s impressed by the traffic, the lights, the architecture: “I wish that Africa was like this as well,” she says, her sentences fracturing. “It just shows how much we still need to… It seems impossible… It wouldn’t even be good to reach this level...” She sighs and finishes with an assessment that is diplomatic and self-preserving: “You guys are doing good for yourselves.”’

But, of the recent crop of reviews, Bruce Bennett, writing in the New York Sun, is the most overtly political.

‘The king’s insistence on upholding venerable tribal customs at the expense of modernization is revealed to be a social perversion allowing tyranny, ignorance, and cruelty. “The mind fractures at the thought of it,” one U.N. health advocate says. Footage of Swazi citizens preparing meals of offal scavenged from landfills and slaking their thirst from fetid, muddy ponds takes its toll in Without the King, and as the film examines the grotesque disparity in wealth between ruler and ruled, the heart starts to crack, too.

‘But U.N. observers and film viewers, like the members of the royal family themselves, can afford the luxury of sentiment. King Mswati’s subjects, however, cannot, and among the bracing nonfiction disclosures that Without the King makes is precisely where terrorists and freedom fighters come from and just how narrow the semantic line is between the two. “I don't want to die for the struggle,” says one emaciated would-be assassin. “I want to kill for the struggle.” Nearing the end of the approximately three decades that he'll remain alive, the man has literally nothing to lose either way.’
See also
SWAZILAND ‘REVOLUTION’ DOCO ON DVD

Swaziland Govt minister is far from truth when she praises media freedom in kingdom

Princess Sikhanyiso, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology in Swaziland (eSwatini), was just plain misleading when she told a meeting of editors in the kingdom, ‘A free media is not an optional extra. Therefore it is our duty to protect media freedom.’

There is very little media freedom in Swaziland, where one of the only two daily newspapers is owned by King Mswati who rules the kingdom as an absolute monarch.

All broadcast news is controlled by the government, whose members are handpicked by the King.

Princess Sikhanyiso is a daughter of the King and was not elected by the people. In Swaziland, all political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King appoints all government ministers. He also appoints top public servants and senior judges.

Princess Sikhanyiso made her comment on Wednesday (20 November 2019) at a meeting of the Swaziland Editors Forum.

Her comment is demonstrably false. In its most recent annual report on human rights in Swaziland covering 2018, the United States State Department stated, ‘The constitution and law provide for freedom of expression, including for the press, but the government restricted this right, particularly with respect to press freedom and matters concerning the monarchy. Although no law bans criticism of the monarchy, the prime minister used threats and intimidation to restrict such criticism.

‘The law empowers the government to ban publications if it deems them “prejudicial or potentially prejudicial to the interests of defense, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health.” Many journalists practiced self-censorship. Journalists expressed fear of reporting on matters involving the monarchy.’

The report added, ‘Broadcast media remained firmly under state control. Most persons obtained their news from radio broadcasts. Access to speak on national radio is generally restricted to government officials, although a leader of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland received an opportunity in September to share trade union frustrations and demands.’

A report compiled by Swazi Media Commentary in May 2019 detailing attacks on journalists in Swaziland during the previous 12 months revealed they had been beaten by state forces and teachers as they tried to cover public events. Two were detained at the Qatar Embassy in Mbabane, the Swazi capital, when they went to question a diplomat. A government minister called for a journalist to be arrested for taking photographs of ministerial cars parked in a public place. A former newspaper editor was questioned by police about allegations he had interviewed members of banned political organisations back in 2011.

In April 2019 it was reported that a journalist on the Swazi Observer needed hospital treatment after he was beaten by family members of a prominent bishop when he was investigating allegations of the bishop’s sexual relationship with a schoolgirl. He needed hospital treatment. Five people were later charged by police.

In July 2018, Health Minister Ndlela-Simelane called on police to arrest a Swazi Observer journalist who was photographing government ministers’ cars outside the Deputy Prime Minister’s office. She demanded that the photographs be deleted which the journalist did. The newspaper had previously published a report about government ministers’ BMW cars being in a bad state of repair. It was checking a government claim that the vehicles had been repaired and were back on the road.

In August 2018, police and prison warders beat up a Times of Swaziland journalist and demanded he delete photographs he took of them attacking and shooting at striking textile workers at Nhlangano. The reporter was treated in hospital. More than 200 paramilitary police and correctional facility warders with riot shields, helmets and batons had been at Nhlangano. It had been the third police attack on workers in a week.

Human rights groups condemned the attack. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabawe chapter called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to investigate Swaziland after a series of ‘state-sponsored violations against journalists’.

It called the police attack, ‘an increasingly worrying development involving state security agents’. It pointed out that in February 2018 a photojournalist with the Swazi Observer had also been attacked after he took pictures of a convoy of overcrowded vehicles transporting prison wardens.

MISA called the attacks, ‘a direct attack on the rights to free expression and press freedom as explicitly protected in Section 24 of eSwatini’s Constitution. Yet State security forces continue to attack journalists with impunity.’

It called on SADC to look into ‘these continued state-sponsored violations against journalists. It is high time the regional body condemned the continued use of state security agents to violate fundamental rights such as the right to free expression and the right to access information.’

MISA Swaziland chapter said it was concerned the attacks on journalists were taking place ahead of national elections which were held in September 2018. It stated, ‘The law enforcement agents ought to know that journalists play a public service of disseminating information that emaSwati [Swazi people] need desperately to make informed decisions and choices.’ 

It added, ‘Whosoever attacks journalists in line of duty, stands accused of violating emaSwati’s constitutional right to information.’

Separately, the Panos Institute Southern Africa said the state attacks on journalists were unconstitutional. In a statementit said, ‘Journalism is not a crime, but is a freedom that must be cherished and protected by all who are concerned about the region’s development. Any attack on press freedom is a blow on the implementation of poverty eradication interventions, as the media is a strategic ally in the roll-out of national development programmes.’

In September 2018, a photojournalist with the Swazi Observer was assaulted and had his camera taken while covering  protest march by schoolteachers.  He was hit with open hands and fists and he sustained injuries on the face and body. His camera was taken but later recovered. It happened near the United States Embassy in Mbabane while teachers marched to deliver a petition seeking support in their campaign for higher salaries.

In October 2018, the Qatar embassy in Swaziland detained two journalists from the Times of Swaziland for more than an hour in the kingdom’s capital, Mbabane. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported a senior diplomat tried to make them sign a statement barring them from publishing a report about his alleged involvement in an assault.

The journalists refused to sign, saying the story was in the public interest. They were released and later went to local police to lay a charge of kidnapping. 

Times of Swaziland editor Martin Dlamini told CPJ, ‘We are shocked that our journalists could be subjected to such treatment by an ambassador. This is not just a serious attack on the local media but displays disrespect toward the country.’

In November 2018, Musa Ndlangamandla, a former editor-in-chief of the Swazi Observer and a writer for South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, was questioned by police for talking to banned political parties for articles he had written in 2011. 

He wrote on his Facebook page, ‘They told me they are building a case against me for interacting (they actually called it advertising) PUDEMO, Umbane and other entities they described as proscribed.’ 

Richard Rooney

See also

Censorship total at Swazi state media

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/censorship-total-at-swazi-state-media.html

Journalists say they are under threat

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/journalists-say-they-are-under-threat.html

Editor wants media freedom inquiry

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/04/editor-wants-media-freedom-inquiry.html

SWAZI PRINCESS ‘20th HOTTEST’

Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of Swaziland’s King Mswati III, has been listed as one of the world’s ‘hottest’ young royals.

Forbes magazine made the list using the ‘winning combination of looks, money and popularity on the web,’ according to a report in the Times of Swaziland yesterday (30 May 2008).

What the Times didn’t tell us was how much weight was given to each of the three categories. I am far too gallant to comment on the Princesses’ looks, but I know her father is not short of a few dollars.

Readers of this blogsite may remember that Princess Sikhanyiso features heavily in the documentary Without The King, which examines how the royal family in Swaziland is out of touch with ordinary people in the kingdom and how hungry and oppressed Swazis are beginning to fight back.

One reviewer of the documentary described Sikhanyiso as ‘spoiled-rotten’, ‘an airhead’ and ‘Africa’s answer to Paris Hilton’. The review appeared on the web, and I don’t suppose it helped the princesses’ Forbes rating much.

The Times quotes Percy Simelane, the Swazi Government spokesperson, saying of the Forbes report, ‘Such recognition and respect in extension does benefit the Swazi nation’. But the newspaper doesn’t say what ‘benefit’ being ‘the hottest’ brings the 600,000 Swazis who are presently relying on food aid from international donors to fend off starvation.

By the way, the princess came 20 out of 20 in the top list, according to the Times.

I congratulate the Times for being observant and finding the report from Forbes on the Internet. However, why didn’t the newspaper or any other media in Swaziland report on the Forbes survey about King Mswati III?

Forbes reported in August 2007 that Swaziland King Mswati III was the richest monarch in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Forbes estimated his net worth to be 200 million US dollars (one billion four hundred thousand Swazi emalangeni).

He was also the youngest monarch (he was then aged 39) to appear on the Forbes ‘rich list’ of the 15 richest monarchs in the whole world.

Although people across the world have been able to learn about this wealth, the king’s subjects, 70 percent of whom live on one US Dollar a day or less, have not been told anything.

I think we all know the reason why the Swazi media kept the report from King Mswati’s subjects.

See also
A STORY THE SWAZI MEDIA MISSED
WITHOUT THE [SWAZI] KING ON TOUR

KING GIVES TOP JOB TO HIS DAUGHTER

King Mswati III of Swaziland has appointed his eldest daughter Princess Sikhanyiso, aged 23, to Liqoqo, the most powerful advisory committee in his kingdom.

Liqoqo, also known as the Swaziland National Council, has the key role in Swaziland, where the King rules as an absolute monarch.

The King’s advisers on Liqoqo are all traditionalists and are in charge of interpreting ‘Swazi Law and Custom’. The laws and customs are administered by chiefs who rule over their subjects in the name of the King. The laws and customs operate outside of the constitution.

In all matters, the King defers to Liqoqo. King Mswati avoids taking advice from the House of Assembly, which has 55 of its 65 members elected by the people. It is generally accepted in Swaziland that Liqoqo can veto any decision made by the Swazi Parliament.

During the political crisis of October 2012 when the House of Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in the government and according to the Constitution the monarch was obliged to sack it, King Mswati went to Liqoqo which told him he could ignore the Constitution. He did so safe in the knowledge that the traditionalists whom he had appointed would do nothing to support the members of parliament, some of whom had been elected by the people.

Princess Sikhanyiso has never worked in her life, although nominally she is a police officer. She was appointed to the force in 2010. She also sits on the board of MTN-Swaziland, the only mobile phone company in Swaziland. King Mswati is reported to have a substantial personal investment in MTN.

Princess Sikhanyiso graduated from Sydney University, Australia, in 2012 with a Masters in Digital Communication. She has also studied acting and modelling in the US.

If she is known at all, it is for her attempt to build a career as a ‘rap’ singer under the names of ‘Pashu’, or ‘Passionfruit.’

She is the eldest of King Mswati’s children which are believed to number at least 26.

ROYAL CAR COST 61 YEARS’ WAGES

It would take 70 percent of people in Swaziland more than 61 years to earn the price of the new custom-built car Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of King Mswati III, took delivery of this month (December 2014).

Sikhanyiso took possession of a customised Kia Soul SUV at a cost of E450,000 (US$45,000). Newspapers in South Africa reported the car would usually cost E350,000 but the Princess demanded extras, including passenger video screens as part of an entertainment centre with a premium sound system.

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and 70 percent of his subjects have incomes of less than $US2 a day. Thousands of people in the Swazi textile industry are about to lose their jobs because the United States has withdrawn favourable trade benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) because of Swaziland’s poor record on workers’ and political rights. 

In November 2014 a United Nations report said Swaziland was the seventh hungriest country in the world. A total of 35.8 of Swaziland’s 1.3 million population are undernourished, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The Independent Group of newspapers in South Africa reported Princess Sikhanyiso took possession of the car in a ceremony covered by both the kingdom’s daily newspapers.

The Independent reported, ‘At a ceremonial presentation of the car at a Kia dealership in Mbabane, the Minister of Transportation, who was appointed by Mswati, presided over the lifting of a red veil draped over the princess’s vehicle. 

‘The princess, attended by security personnel wearing traditional warrior attire, expressed her delight at the car.’

King Mswati and his Royal Family have been criticised for years outside of Swaziland for their lavish spending. The King himself has a fleet of Mercedes and BMW cars. In 2009 it was revealed he bought up to 20 Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman Guards at a cost estimated to be US$250,000 each. 

The cars can resist an attack with small arms projectiles, a grenade or other explosive. One cars’ website described the Pullman Guard as ‘The car of choice for up-and-coming dictators.’

In April 2013, The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), a banned political party in Swaziland, reported 32 BMW cars had been delivered to King Mswati ahead of his 45^th birthday celebrations.

The previous year the King was embroiled in a row when he took delivery of a private jet plane, worth an estimated US$46 million.

The King claimed that the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet was a gift from an admirer, but declined to say who it was. This led to speculation that the jet had been purchased out of public funds. 

See also

DISBELIEF OVER SWAZI KING’S NEW JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/disbelief-over-swazi-kings-new-jet.html

 

SWAZI KING'S GRENADE-PROOF CARS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/04/swazi-kings-grenade-proof-cars.html
 

COST OF SWAZILAND KING’S NEW CARS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/04/cost-of-swaziland-kings-new-cars.html

SWAZI PRINCESS’ FACEBOOK BLUNDER

Stiffkitten blog

7 May 2012

SOURCE  

Let them eat cake, Princess Sikhanyiso

 “Most people have the Internet on their phones – I think almost everyone in Swaziland is on Facebook.”

Princess Sikhanyiso, the eldest daughter of Swaziland’s absolute monarch, King Mswati III, is speaking about the telecommunications industry in Swaziland at her graduation at Sydney University, where she also told the Australian tabloid, The Daily Telegraph, that she wishes to put her newly attained Master’s Degree in Digital Communication to good use when she returns to Swaziland next week.

She might as well have said “let them eat cake,” though – the infamous remark erroneously attributed to France’s Queen Marie Antoinette when she was supposedly told that her people had no bread during a famine.

Because only a little over 50,000 people in Swaziland have a Facebook account out of a population of 1,3 million, according to Internet World Stats, and 95,000 have an Internet connection. And, more seriously, two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day, many on food aid from the United Nations. They are hardly going to use what little money they have on mobile phones.

Princess Sikhanyiso’s father, King Mswati III, is no less prone to realism. In a speech he held when opening parliament in February, he urged all Swazis to work harder to help save an economy that he and his handpicked government has virtually bankrupted. “This is a time for every Swazi to stand up and be counted amongst those who contributed to the economic revival of our country,” he said at the time.

But before asking his subjects to tighten their belts, he and his family had taken a 23 per cent increase in their budgeted income for 2012. And this from a king who has an estimated personal fortune of over US$200 million, personally controls a trust fund of over US$10 billion, has built a palace for each of his 13 wives and recently treated himself to a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 luxury jet for his birthday.

Swaziland Newsletter No. 887 – 24 July 2025

 Swaziland Newsletter No. 887 – 25 July 2025

News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge. The newsletter and past editions are also available online on the Swazi Media Commentary blogsite.

 

Civil society groups threaten court action over US deportations of criminals to eSwatini

By Peter Fabricius, Daily Maverick (South Africa), 21July 2025

SOURCE 

Civil society groups in Eswatini and South Africa have threatened legal action against the Swazi government for accepting five hardened third-country criminals from the US.

And Eswatini’s Prime Minister Russell Dlamini has said his country is open to receiving more deportees if requested to do so by the US and if Eswatini has the capacity.

The Swaziland Litigation Centre, the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre based in Johannesburg have issued a statement in which they threatened legal action if the Eswatini government did not back off from the deportee deal with the US.

The US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said last week that the deportees, from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, had criminal records which included convictions for murder, homicide and child rape.

They were “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back”, she added.

The Eswatini government confirmed that the men had arrived and had been detained. It claimed they presented no threat to Swazi people.

But the three civil society organisations said the arrival of the men raised many questions — especially in a country where correctional centres were overcrowded, the government was grappling with a range of crises, including a shortage of essential medicines, “and where there have been consistent calls for a democratic, open and transparent government”.

To read more of this report, click here

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-07-21-civil-society-groups-threaten-court-action-over-us-deportations-of-criminals-to-eswatini/

 

‘This sets a dangerous precedent’ – ACTSA statement on US deportation of convicted criminals to eSwatini

Action for Southern Africa, 21 July 2025

SOURCE

In light of the US deportation of five convicted criminals to Eswatini last week, ACTSA echoes the strong concerns and demands raised by Eswatini civil society and regional civil society.

A grouping of Eswatini women’s organisations including ACTSA partners Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) has said:

“This situation not only puts a strain on local resources but also heightens fears of increased violence, including gender-based violence, crime, and other forms of insecurity that disproportionately affect women and girls. We believe that everyone, including deportees, deserves basic human rights and the chance to rebuild their lives, but this must not come at the cost of community safety or the rights of our women and children. The manner in which these deportations are seemingly carried out increases risks rather than addressing them.”

ACTSA supports Eswatini Women’s Movement’s demands:

We urge the Government of Eswatini to terminate the deportation agreement that allows convicted criminals to be dumped in Eswatini

We urgently demand the US to recall the deported criminals which were sent without proper consultation with the citizens.

We urgently request the government of Eswatini to act and speak on behalf of its citizens and demand that proper measures be put in place to safeguard the rights and welfare of the local population before any deportations take place.

The government must also address any pressures that lead to the uptake of such prejudicial policy arrangements with other countries.

We call for coordinated international dialogue, transparent information sharing, and genuine investment in community support systems so that Eswatini does not become a dumping ground for unresolved problems from elsewhere.

Read Eswatini Women’s Movement’s full statement here.

Eswatini’s civil society grouping the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) has said “It is profoundly troubling that Eswatini has accepted deportees who were rejected by their countries of origin. This not only places an undue burden on Eswatini’s limited security and correctional infrastructure but also suggests a deeply problematic acceptance to decisions made by a foreign government without national consensus or public interest at heart. The MSF strongly questions the rationale, legality and morality of accepting such individuals into a country with no historical, familial, or legal ties to them.”

MSF has also raised the lack of consultation of any civil society organisation in Swaziland, the concerning question of the human rights, status and future status of the deportees, the potential violation of international human rights obligations, and the fear of a precedent of Swaziland as a dumping ground for the unwanted individuals of more powerful states.

ACTSA supports MSF’s calls to the Government of Eswatini to:

Immediately provide a public explanation on the circumstances surrounding this deportation flight.

Disclose any agreements made with the United States regarding third-country deportations.

Involve Parliament, the judiciary and civil society in any future decisions of such magnitude.

Reaffirm Eswatini’s commitment to international norms and reject any role as a dumping ground for foreign powers.

Read MSF’s full statement here.

To read more of this report, click here

https://actsa.org/statement-on-us-deportation-of-convicted-criminals-to-eswatini/

 

See also

US deportation of migrants to Swaziland further undermines the legitimacy of its embattled monarch (Peoples Dispatch)

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/07/21/us-deportation-of-migrants-to-swaziland-further-undermines-the-legitimacy-of-its-embattled-monarch/

Migrants deported by the US to Eswatini being held in solitary confinement (Genocide Watch)

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/migrants-deported-by-the-us-to-eswatini-being-held-in-solitary-confinement

‘Not Trump’s dumping ground’: Outrage over arrival of foreign US deportees in tiny African nation (CNN)

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/17/africa/africa-eswatini-trump-us-deportees-intl

Eswatini opposition attacks US deal as ‘human trafficking disguised as deportation’ (The Guardian, UK)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/eswatini-petition-us-deportees

Outrage on deportees: Eswatini has right to decide – Percy (Times of eSwatini)

https://www.times.co.sz/news/readmore.php?bhsadjgfoh=Outrage%20on%20deportees:%20Eswatini%20has%20right%20to%20decide%20-%20Percy&yiphi=135&bvhdgsj=News

 

37 newborn deaths in 2 months

By Sithembile Hlatshwayo, eSwatini Observer (print edition), 23 July 2025

MBABANE: As the country grapples with the deepening health crisis in public facilities, shocking statistics on neonatal deaths have been revealed, with 37 newborn babies having died at Mbabane Government Hospital.

The children died between April 29, and June 17.

There were 15 newborn babies aged from zero to one-month-old and 17 stillbirths.

A recent report titled ‘Mbabane Government Hospital Death Statistics’ from April 29, to June 17, obtained by this publication, stated that the deaths occurred over a period of 18 days.

According to the report, in the same facility, there were 27 other deaths related to diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic conditions, while there were 21 deaths due to trauma, accidents, and assaults. Furthermore, the report mentions one parasuicide death.

In a recent debate in Parliament, Ngudzeni Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Ndlovu also criticised Minister of Health Mduduzi

Matsebula regarding the situation of medicine and medical drug supplies in the country, revealing the report on the neonatal deaths.

When asked to substantiate his statement in Parliament, Ndlovu responded that currently “kahealth kukaSathane,” loosely translated as “it is hell.”

He said the prime minister’s lack of urgency in addressing these issues spoke volumes.

Contacted about the report, Mbabane Government Hospital Unit Committee Chairperson Musa Shongwe said they were aware of the figures.

He stated that the main factor contributing to the deaths was the shortage of staff at the hospital.

The chairperson explained that at times triaging was not effective, adding that some women admitted to check on the progress of their baby had to wait if the labour was not advanced, sometimes being reviewed only after five hours.

He said sometimes there were only one or two nurses on duty, and while another pregnant mother was experiencing complications, no one was available to attend to her.

Shongwe said the deaths were mainly attributed to staff shortages rather than drug shortages. In other cases, he said some pregnant mothers experienced blood pressure (BP) problems that caused fatal outcomes for their babies.

However, he mentioned that some mothers were admitted to the hospital with stillborn babies.

“What is problematic in the healthcare facility is that whether you bring someone already deceased, it is recorded as a hospital death, which distorts the death statistics completely,” said the chairperson.

 

Women bear water crisis burden

By Mlondzi Nkambule, Times of eSwatini, 24 July 2025

SOURCE 

MBABANE: Women and girls in Eswatini continue to shoulder the burden of walking long distances to fetch water as climate change threatens rivers, dams and livelihoods.

This grim picture was painted by Principal Secretary Lindiwe Mbingo, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Minister for Natural Resources and Energy, Prince Lonkhokhela, during the launch of the formulation of the Eswatini Water Investment Plan (EWIP) at the Hilton Garden Inn yesterday. The event aimed at spearheading the formulation of the plan which is proposed to be ready by October 2025. The plan will further be presented at the upcoming G20 Summit, which will be hosted in South Africa.

Mbingo said delayed rains, recurring droughts and flash floods have placed immense pressure on water sources, forcing families, particularly women and girls, to travel further to secure water for domestic use. “Eswatini is faced with water scarcity and climate vulnerability. Our rivers are shrinking, our dams are stressed and our communities, especially women and girls, still have to walk each day to fetch water from faraway places,” she said. The EWIP seeks to address the dual challenges of climate-induced water shortages and under-investment in water infrastructure. Government hopes to mobilise more than US$75 million in climate finance by 2030 to roll out projects aimed at improving water access and climate resilience. “Without strategic water planning and investments, we will be helpless against the increasing impacts of climate change, which threaten both our water resources and our economy,” Mbingo added.

The plan aligns with Eswatini’s National Development Plan 2023-2028 and the Water Act of 2003, which amplifies the need to integrate water security into national economic growth strategies. According to studies cited by the ministry, water shortages cost Eswatini up to five per cent of GDP annually through lost harvests and stalled industries.

Mbingo said government is inviting private sector players, development partners and local communities to collaborate in building sustainable water management systems.

“Our investment plan is Eswatini’s shield against scarcity and our passport to prosperity. We must act now,” she said. The launch was attended by senior government officials, water sector experts and representatives of international development organisations.

 

‘King didn’t know me but Princess Sikhanyiso and others within royalty assisted me to become Prime Minister,’ says Russell Dlamini in a leaked communication

By Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 22 July 2025

SOURCE 

MBABANE: Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini says Princess Sikhanyiso played a major role in ensuring that, he becomes the Prime Minister.

This is contained in a leaked communication where the PM was speaking to another high profile person, he was actually speaking about Natural Resources and Energy Minister Prince Lonkhokhela when the name of Princess Sikhanyiso became the subject of the discussion.

“I was thinking that Lonkhokhela is not on my side in Cabinet but I’ve since discovered that, he supports me. Kodvwa-ke bekangeke sekacale angangi-supporthi angacabana naSikhanyiso,” said the Prime Minister.

Russell Dlamini then went on to say the Princess played a huge role in ensuring that, he becomes the Prime Minister. 

But the Prime Minister said, it was his first time to be closer to the King after being appointed adding that, he had never met him in person.

The King mistakenly refereed to Dlamini as ‘Mmemo’ instead of ‘Mmiso’ when appointing him during Sibaya at Ludzidzini Palace in November 2023.

Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli declined to comment about the Prime Minister’s leaked information.

Worth-noting, emaSwati were summoned to Sibaya and urged to debate among themselves(kubhunga) and then advise the King on who should be the Prime Minister.

But soon thereafter, “Emalangeni and BantfwaBeNkhosi held a meeting to discuss who among themselves can take up the top position as Head of Government”.

The royal family is dominated by different factions but it appears that, the Princess Sikhanyiso faction is too powerful as even Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini was backed by King’s first-born daughter before a fallout.

Princess Sikhanyiso was the Board member at MTN Eswatini while Ambrose Dlamini was the Chief Executive Officer.

Eswatini is not a democracy but an absolute Monarchy, the Prime Minister is appointed by the King among members of his royal family.

Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini

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