KING ATTACKED ON SWAZI WEBSITE

Swaziland’s King Mswati III has come under heavy attack on the Times Sunday website today (17 August 2008).

The newspaper, which last year (2007) was threatened with closure by the King because it published an article that said the King was partly responsible for Swaziland’s economic ills, has been publishing comments from its readers on its website that are overtly critical of King Mswati III.

One reader says King Mswati III ‘alone has done more damage to the country’s political situation and economy. Single-handedly, he has managed to portray Swaziland in a bad light to the whole world.’

The comment on the Times of Swaziland website refers to a report in the Times Sunday today (17 August 2008) from Sandton, South Africa, about a protest march to draw attention to the lack of democracy in Swaziland. The report appeared in both the newspaper’s print edition and also on its website.

The report quotes one participant saying, “I think there comes a time in every person’s life where we must either surrender in cowardice or fight and I think that time has come for me. I have always been afraid to state my views about the situation in Swaziland but when I heard that government was planning a 40-40 bash [to celebrate the King's 40th birthday and also the 40th anniversary of Swaziland's independence from Britain] I said enough is enough. Today I came here to show the world that Swaziland is indeed undemocratic.”

The reader’s comment published by the Times Sunday says, ‘Democracy or no democracy, things are not going well at home. So lets not try to define democracy and then justify the ills that are perpetrated by the government of His Majesty. It would be naive of us Swazis to be covered by blind loyalty to the King and his government. Truth is he alone has done more damage to the country's political situation and economy. Single-handedly, he has managed to portray Swaziland in bad light to the whole world. We might not be in a situation like that of Zimbabwe, but we cannot ignore the glaring similarities in the events that preceded the situation in that country and the situation that we are in right now. We are not far away from a total collapse of the already crumbling economy. The King has to wake up and smell the winds of change and the sweet aura that comes with that. History will judge him either as a failure or the victor that stopped the moral rote, corruption and collapse of the economy. It is up to him to decide how history will judge him. The government and the king in Swaziland should realize that a new breed of Swazis has been born and we will not be fed lies and stupid patronage to the monarchy. We deserve better leadership from our leaders, not the emptiness they are giving us. We will stand up and fight for what is just. Swaziland will be free.”’

In a separate report on the protest the Times Sunday quotes one of the march organisers, Violet Sebone, vice president of the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU).

‘“Swaziland has the oldest state of emergency in the region, with all public institutions and decision making the monopoly and sole preserve of the royal family. There are no democratic elections, there is systemic and institutionalised corruption laced with state terror against political and worker activists. All these are founded on the basis of the 1973 King’s decree that concentrated all powers in his (king) hands. Years of convenient silence have promoted a culture of impunity and disregard for the fundamentals of democracy in the whole region.”’

This report also attracted stern criticism of King Mswati III. A reader wrote on the website,

‘There is no peace in Swaziland, but there is quietness. The people are just quiet and that cannot be viewed as peace. They are quiet because they are afraid to voice out their grievances’. The King is oppressing the poor nation by upholding up [a] 35-year-old state of emergency. In Swaziland we need to be freed, politically [and] economically.’