SWAZI RULERS LIE ON ‘DIALOGUE’

The lies from the Swaziland government just keep on coming.

With the prospect of serious social unrest in the kingdom this past week, the government announced the need for dialogue between labour organisations campaigning for change.

Do you remember this? Only on Tuesday (7 September 2010), the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, quoted the Minister of Labour and Social Security Patrick ‘Magobetane’ Mamba saying government was taking the concerns of the labour organisations seriously.

‘The government remains willing to continue with the ongoing dialogue on the issues,’ he told the newspaper.

Then the next day, Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister, said he wanted to torture dissidents and foreigners who campaigned against the government.

Not much ‘dialogue’ there then.

And, who can forget that in July 2010 King Mswati himself told his subjects there was no way that he would allow dialogue between his government and dissidents.

So remember: whenever government ministers say they want dialogue they are not telling the truth.