SWAZI ‘REVOLUTION’ DOCO ATTACKED

A fierce attack on the documentary Without The King has been made in one of Swaziland’s newspapers.

The documentary that contrasts the lavish lifestyle of King Mswati III and his family with ordinary Swazis has been shown across the world, but Is not available openly in Swaziland.

Pirated copies of a DVD of the documentary are circulating in Swaziland and as the Nation magazine (April 2008) pointed out, the DVD ‘tells the shocking story of Swaziland’s royal family excesses against the backdrop of an impoverished nation’.

According to the Nation, copies of the DVD ‘are found around the country given to trusted individuals under the table. So secretive are people about it, one would have thought it a seditious pamphlet.’

Now a writer in the Times Sunday (8 June 2008) has called on people in Swaziland to stand up to those who ‘defame the good name of the king and country’.

Maqhawe Nxumalo makes a personal and racist attack on the documentary’s American director Michael Skolnik before urging people to write to newspapers and to Internet sites to ‘let the entire world know what we think of this Skolnik character and his so-called masterpiece and by God! the next foreigner looking for a soft target will know that Swaziland is no longer an option!’

I am disappointed that the Times Sunday allowed this racist attack to be made. I have no problem with the media discussing Without The King (a lot has already been said on this blogsite) but if people want to attack the documentary they should do it on the basis of facts.

The documentary lasts for about 80 minutes and there are a lot of facts, personal testimony and opinion in it. It raises important questions about life in Swaziland and it is proper that these questions should be discussed.

But it helps no one to make fierce attacks against the director for being American.

Nxumalo writes in his article that the documentary contains ‘falsehoods’, but doesn’t say what these ‘falsehoods’ are. If there are ‘falsehoods’ he should say what they are and why they are false.

It is almost impossible to have a rational debate about the monarchy in Swaziland. Nxumalo himself says at one point in the article that ‘since the news of this documentary started spreading everyone has been waiting to see what the government will say’.

I can only interpret that statement to mean how will the government try to stop the DVD spreading and make sure that no one else gets to see it.

If we want a proper debate about Without The King, let someone (perhaps the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) which says it believes in academic freedom) hold a public showing of the documentary followed by a rational discussion on its contents.

See also
BRAVE SWAZI ‘NATION’ TAKES ON KING
SWAZILAND ‘REVOLUTION’ DOCO ON DVD