SUPPORT FOR SWAZI DISSIDENT GROWS

Support for the Swazi writer who has been threatened with 20 years in jail for criticising Swaziland’s King Mswati III is growing.

Mfomfo Nkhambule, a former Swaziland Cabinet Minister who writes for the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, the Times of Swaziland, was hauled before the state police Intelligence Unit and told that his weekly articles in the newspaper would incite people to revolt against the king.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter has condemned the police action.

In a statement, MISA-Swaziland National Director, Comfort Mabuza, said ‘state threats against the media and citizens were uncalled for and that this was a serious infringement on the fundamental right to freedom of expression’.

Mabuza said the state should know that people have a right to express themselves freely without intimidation. He said such right was guaranteed in the Swazi constitution and reiterated that MISA-Swaziland will always guard against the violation of such rights.

The Times newspaper, in an editorial published on Wednesday (7 January 2009), also condemned this censorship. The newspaper said that it seems that days are numbered for even minimal freedom of speech for Swazi citizens and asked the question, ‘Where is the democracy in a society that cannot think, speak or express itself freely? Is this how unique our system is, where forced silence means we consent to how certain people want to run our lives?’

Nkhambule, who is also chair of the Inhlava Forum political party, has been a vocal critic of the ruling elite, both in his time as a parliamentarian and also in his newspaper column.

In his article on Monday (5 January 2009), which is thought to have provoked the police action, he wrote, ‘Use your brains people; the king has to come to terms with the fact that he leads people who are far different from the ones who were led by King Sobhuza II.

‘The king is all by himself and is sinking rapidly whilst his subjects are watching him but shouting 'there is a big rock 2 metres deep and we are going for assistance 2 km away. Hang on Your Majesty.' They do not realize that the king is 1.78m tall. . .the king talks and listens to himself.’

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