Chief Mgwagwa
Gamedze, the Swaziland Minister for Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, has embarked on a campaign of misinformation about the state of
the kingdom’s economy and its human rights record.
In an article
published on the websites of both Foreign Policy Journal and the
Harvard International Review, the Chief says the time for greater
prosperity in Swaziland is nigh. He says the kingdom represents an, ‘increasingly
attractive opportunity for foreign direct investment’.
In the article
which has also been distributed on the African News
Desk and Ein News websites, the Chief says that
internationally there is, ‘a misrepresentation of the present position, and the
opportunities available, within Swaziland’.
He writes, ‘Any
notion that we are internally divided in our ambitions could not be further
from the truth and suggests that certain western institutions may be referring
to outdated, or even misguided, fact-books. Misinformation will serve only to
hinder, as opposed to encourage, free enterprise in our country.’
The Chief, who was
not elected to his office in Swaziland, where political parties are banned from
taking part in elections, adds, ‘It is therefore important to recognize that
present-day Swaziland is undergoing a sensitive and challenging process of
economic revival. And we are doing so while bringing about a new culture
of governance and accountability.’
King Mswati III
rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The Chief’s
comments that greater prosperity is nigh came just before Tex Ray, the largest
of the Taiwanese textile operations in Swaziland, announced it was retrenching 1,450 of its 1,700 workforce because it has
no orders. Other Taiwanese-based textile firms are expected to follow suit in
the next few weeks.
The background to
this campaign of misinformation is that the United States announced in June 2014 that from 1 January 2015
Swaziland would no longer be able to export goods into the US tariff-free under
the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA).
The decision was
taken because after years of broken promises: the Swaziland Government had failed to
implement the full passage of amendments to the Industrial Relations Act;
full passage of amendments to the Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA); full
passage of amendments to the Public Order Act; full passage of amendments to
sections 40 and 97 of the Industrial Relations Act relating to civil and
criminal liability to union leaders during protest actions; and establishing a
code of conduct for the police during public protests.
In a statement, a
White House spokesperson said, ‘The
decision to withdraw Swaziland’s AGOA eligibility comes after years of engaging
with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland on concerns about its
implementation of the AGOA eligibility criteria related to worker rights.’
The statement said
after an ‘extensive review’ the US, ‘concluded that Swaziland had not
demonstrated progress on the protection of internationally recognized worker
rights. In particular, Swaziland has failed to make continual progress in
protecting freedom of association and the right to organize. Of particular
concern is Swaziland’s use of security forces and arbitrary arrests to stifle
peaceful demonstrations, and the lack of legal recognition for labor and
employer federations.
In his article
Chief Mgwagwa says, ‘… we do feel that it is time for certain western
institutions to carry out a fresh analysis of reality on the ground in our
country.’
The true reality on
the ground in Swaziland has been and continues to be well documented. Respected
organisations as diverse as afriMAP, Amnesty
International, the Open
Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA),
the US
State Department, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),
Labour
Start, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ),
Freedom
House, have reported human rights
violations across all sectors of society, including the banning of prayer
meetings, arbitrary arrests and abductions of pro-democracy campaigners and the
banning of trade union activities.
In July 2014
the US State Department and organisations across the world criticised
the jailing for two years of magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights
lawyer and writer Thulani Maseko after they wrote articles critical of the
Swazi judiciary.
Foreign Policy Journal websiteCan you describe what your government will do to
protect the freedom of association for the people of Swaziland? The United
States has said it has engaged continuously with your government for years on
this very topic, but you have not changed your stance.’
A different correspondent on the Harvard
International Review website wrote, ‘The Chief and Minister is
completely divorced from reality. Swaziland is not an “increasingly attractive
place for foreign investment” In the last year it has lost thousands of jobs
and income in textiles and minerals. No honest investor would touch the place
without a very good reason. Officials want payments to get a business set up
and the courts will not protect you if the Royal family want to interfere.
‘The US-Africa summit showed that Swaziland’s record on
human and workers’ rights continued to be a disgrace and that as long as the
government remained opposed to supporting them AGOA would not be re-instated.
When the trade unionists returned from Washington the Prime Minister
recommended that they be “strangled” for telling the truth about conditions in
Swaziland and not buying into the government’s propaganda.
‘He talks about a culture of governance and accountability –
this government is accountable to the King, not the people. It has openly
ignored votes in parliament and is manipulating the courts. Elections are a
joke where political parties remain banned.’
The correspondent concludes, ‘Gumedze’s job is to portray
his nation in the most favourable light but this article goes beyond political
spin into downright denial of reality. The more worrying question is does he
believe it himself?’
The Foreign Policy
Journal itself cautioned its readers on Gumedze, saying, ‘The
views expressed are his own.’
See also
SWAZI HUMAN
RIGHTS RECORD KILLS AGOA
RIOT POLICE
FORCE HALT TO PRAYER
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/riot-police-force-halt-to-prayer.html
No comments:
Post a Comment