SWAZILAND KING ‘JEERED’ IN S AFRICA

Was King Mswati III of Swaziland cheered by the crowd at Jacob Zuma’s inauguration, or did they jeer at him?

I suspect many readers of this blog couldn’t care tuppence either way, but I am intrigued that while the Swazi news media were beside themselves with joy at the king’s supposedly rapturous reception in Pretoria, South Africa, one independent international news agency had an entirely different take on things.

The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by the king, and the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily in the kingdom, today (11 May 2009) both report on cheering crowds. The Observer reported the king ‘received a resounding welcome’ and went on that when the king’s arrival was announced the ‘voice of the master of ceremonies was swallowed by the deafening shouts of salutations to the king.’

The Times meanwhile reported the ‘King received a resounding ovation’ and the ‘South African public was happy from the moment it was announced that the Swazi monarchy had arrived.’

The international news agency AFP had a different take on the event. It barely mentioned King Mswati in its report of the inauguration of Zuma as South Africa’s president on Saturday but said, ‘In the public viewing site, the crowd booed and jeered at former president Thabo Mbeki, Zuma's arch-rival,’ and went on, ‘Swaziland's King Mswati III was also jeered. His invitation was criticised by the country's biggest labour union, COSATU, which is opposed to his absolute rule over his tiny country.’

And that’s all it had to say about the king.

I don’t know if he was cheered or jeered because I wasn’t there. Perhaps some people cheered and some people jeered, but I wouldn’t rely on the Swazi media for a correct picture of the event.

As I wrote on Saturday, the Weekend Observer is now obviously a propaganda sheet for the king. The same is true of the daily Swazi Observer and if today’s Times is anything to go by it is keen to catch the Observer up.

The Observer, in a supposed ‘news’ report, said that pickets organised by the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) was a failure and the people who did turn up were not Swazis. The Times went one better and said the king’s resounding welcome ‘was an anti climax as some elements within the progressive movement in South Africa had indicated that they would take members of His Majesty’s delegation to task when they arrived in South Africa.

‘Contrary to those wicked thoughts the South Africans were in a very jovial mood when the king arrived.’

By the way, I noticed the organisers sat the king next to Robert Mugabe, the man who stole the presidency of Zimbabwe. There is a nice symmetry to this: two unelected dictators together.