Prince Mangaliso Logcogco,
one of King Mswati III’s most trusted lieutenants, who was at the centre of a
child-sex scandal, has died aged 67.
Prince Logcogco,
described in Swaziland as a ‘senior prince’, was chair of the shady King’s
Advisory Council, also known as Liqoqo, that operates on behalf of King Mswati,
who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. He was also chair
of Tibiyo TakaNgwane, the conglomerate that is in effect owned by the King.
Prince Logcogco had
a long history as an anti-democrat. In 2012, he supported King Mswati when he overturned
the Swazi Constitution and refused to sack his Prime Minister and
Government after the House of Assembly had legitimately passed a vote of no
confidence. According to the constitution, the King was obliged to dismiss the
government, but he refused to do so.
In 2011, Prince Logcogco called for a state
of emergency to be declared to tackle the on-going economic crisis in the
kingdom. This would have been an act against the Swazi constitution and among other
things would have allowed the state to impose wage cuts on public servants
without consultation with trade unions.
To justify taking
power, he
claimed, incorrectly, that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had
advised the government to declare the state of emergency.
In 2010, Prince Logcogco
made international headlines when it was revealed he had fathered a child with
a girl
when she was aged 13 or 14. Calls from child protection agencies and other
NGOs for him to be investigated fell on deaf ears.
At the time the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) asked the Swazi
Police to investigate the prince over allegations that he committed statutory rape.
The SDC said the
girl was legally a minor (under the age of 16) ‘who was in no position to
legally consent to sex with a man old enough to be her grandfather’.
He also faced
allegations that he sexually abused the four-year girl he had fathered.
In 2010, the Swaziland
Solidarity Network reported, ‘Logcogco is a polygamist whose number of
wives is unknown. He also has numerous children out of wedlock, many of whom he
has no personal relationship with. Like his cousin, King Mswati, he still holds
on to backward views of expressing his manhood through his virility. The
existence of such attitudes amongst people who are role models to the country’s
youth is disturbing and goes a long way towards explaining why the country
currently has the highest [HIV] infection rate in the whole world.’
On Monday (2 June
2014), Tibiyo TakaNgwane Managing Director Themba Dlamini told the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect
owned by the King, Swaziland had ‘lost a gallant prince who had left remarkable
deeds behind’.
See also
'INVESTIGATE
PRINCE FOR CHILD SEX'
CHILD SEX PRINCE
NOT SCARED OF HIV
EVEN KING MSWATI
ATTACKS LOGCOGCO
KING'S MAN AND
STATE OF EMERGENCY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/kings-man-and-state-of-emergency.html
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