State spies are infiltrating meetings held by Swaziland’s ‘shadow cabinet’.
Swazi dissident Mfomfo Nkhambule reports that when his Inhlava Forum political party meets state agents come to the meetings and ‘take notes to give to their masters’.
In March 2009 Inhlava set up a ‘shadow cabinet’ to monitor the Swazi Government and to create alternative polices so that once democracy comes to Swaziland it would be ready to serve.
Nkhambule says on his blog today (19 June 2009) that members of the shadow cabinet are being harassed. The shadow minister of housing has been taken in by authorities for ‘a grilling’ after a letter he wrote in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, in which he advised King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, to meet with Nkhambule.
According to Nkhambule, ‘He told me he got a call from the illegal Prime Minister (appointed by the King in complete violation of the country’s constitution) to report to the Palace on a Saturday without fail.
‘Present in the grilling session were the illegal Prime Minister, Dr Sibusiso B Dlamini, the Chairman of Liqoqo (King’s advisory council) and two other gentlemen whom he could not identify. He was given stern warning not to associate himself with the party or similar statements again.
‘He was threatened with eviction from his village. I saw tears rolling down his face as he narrated his ordeal before the terrible four. Why would these four gentlemen pounce on a Swazi national who is trying so hard to help his fellow Swazis help themselves? What else are they capable of doing?’
To read the full blogpost, click here.
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