TWO CRITICAL AFTER POLICE ATTACK

Two people are critically ill in hospital after police in Swaziland / Eswatini attacked demonstrators.

Police blocked an injured person from being taken for treatment, local media reported.

The Observer on Saturday reported two people were ‘reported critical after some severe bashing from the no nonsense police security’.

It happened on Friday (29 June 2018) in the kingdom’s capital Mbabane during a protest march to deliver a petition organised by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) against government policies.

The Observer reported, ‘Majembeni Thobela, a security guard hired by the Swaziland Security Services, was one of the marchers who received the worst beatings and was reportedly left unconscious.’

It added, ‘Thobela was severely beaten by the police using batons, kicks and fists in a confrontation which was started by disagreements on which route to take when going to deliver their petition to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Offices.

‘Police reacted to the confrontation by spraying water on the marchers using their water cannon.

‘Thobela was left covered with blood on his face from head injuries.’

The Observer reported, ‘Police watched a helpless Thobela as he talked until he collapsed in front of their line.

‘First aid was later applied to him by other marchers immediately after the confrontation had calmed.’

The Swazi News reported, ‘the protestors had to push and shove the police who were blocking them from taking the injured man into the ambulance’.

The Observer reported, ‘The police did not even bother to rush their victim to hospital despite that he was oozing blood and lay on the floor.’

It added, ‘As the pushing and shoving for passage to the DPM’s office ensued, a police casspir water tanker started to spray the protestors and followed with stun grenades when they saw that the marchers retaliated with stones.’

The marchers ran for safety, ‘with police heavy on their pursuit beating everyone on sight with batons’.

The Observer reported, ‘Other marchers were cornered and severely assaulted by the police.’

Gcebile Ngcamphalala is reported to have suffered a fracture when she was whipped by officers whilst trying to jump over a fence.

Reuters and AFP news agenices reported police using rubber bullets and stun grenades against the protestors. 

Swaziland Police spokesperson Assistant Superintend Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident which left Thobela oozing with blood, but denied the injury was caused by police.

The Observer reported Vilakati saying Thobela’s injury was as a result of the flying stones from the marchers.

‘We don’t carry stones, but batons. This was an unfortunate incident caused by marchers failing to adhere to the agreed route. We are at times forced to use minimum force to enforce compliance with the rules,’ she said.

See also

POLICE FIRE STUN GRENADES AT PROTEST

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/police-fire-stun-grenades-at-protest.html

 

POLICE SHOOT WOMAN STRIKER IN HEAD

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/11/police-shoot-woman-striker-in-head.html

POLICE FIRE STUN GRENADES AT PROTEST

Four protesters were injured on Friday (29 June 2018) in Swaziland when police opened fire with rubber bullets and stun grenades during a workers’ protest against government policies, international news agencies reported. 

AFP reported, ‘Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at about 500 protesters, as well as using water cannon and wielding batons, as demonstrators threw stones at officers.’ Reuters put the number of protestors at 2,000.

It happened in Mbabane, the kingdom’s capital.

Reuters reported they marched against poor service delivery, alleged misuse of state pension funds and a proposed law to charge citizens who marry foreigners.

AFP reported, ‘The demonstration organised by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland was over accusations that millions of dollars have been removed from the national pension fund by the government of King Mswati III, one of the world’s few absolute monarchs.

‘Parliament instituted the probe into the alleged scandal, but it was later halted.’

AFP reported trade union leader Bheki Mamba told protestors, ‘We were marching peacefully until this unfortunate incident by police.

‘The injured comrades have been rushed to hospital. We assured the police that we are not confrontational.’

Freedom of speech and assembly are severely curtailed in Swaziland. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and King Mswati chooses the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers. Advocates for multiparty democracy have been arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. 

Meetings on all topics are routinely banned in Swaziland and the kingdom’s police and security forces have been criticised by international observers.

In September 2017, police stopped a pro-democracy meeting taking place, saying they  had not given organisers permission to meet. It happened during a Global Week of Action for democracy in the kingdom. About 100 people reportedly intended to meet at the Mater Dolorosa School (MDS) in Mbabane. 

In 2013, after police broke up a meeting to discuss the pending election, the meeting’s joint organisers, the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) said Swaziland no longer had a national police service, but instead had ‘a private militia with no other purpose but to serve the unjust, dictatorial, unSwazi and ungodly, semi-feudal royal Tinkhundla system of misrule’.

In April 2015, a planned rally to mark the anniversary of the royal decree that turned Swaziland from a democracy to a kingdom ruled by an autocratic monarch was abandoned amid fears that police would attack participants. In February and March, large numbers of police disbanded meetings of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), injuring at least one union leader.

In 2014, police illegally abducted prodemocracy leaders and drove them up to 30 kilometres away, and dumped them to prevent them taking part in a meeting calling for freedom in the kingdom. Police staged roadblocks on all major roads leading to Swaziland’s main commercial city, Manzini, where protests were to be held. They also physically blocked halls to prevent meetings taking place.  Earlier in the day police had announced on state radio that meetings would not be allowed to take place.

In 2012, four days of public protest were planned by trade unions and other prodemocracy organisations. They were brutally suppressed by police and state forces and had to be abandoned.

In 2013, just before the national election in Swaziland, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) reported that Swaziland was becoming a police and military state. It said things had become so bad that police were unable to accept that peaceful political and social dissent was a vital element of a healthy democratic process, and should not be viewed as a crime.

These complaints were made by OSISA at an African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) meeting in The Gambia in April 2013.

OSISA said, ‘There are also reliable reports of a general militarization of the country through the deployment of the Swazi army, police and correctional services to clamp down on any peaceful protest action by labour or civil society organisations ahead of the country’s undemocratic elections [in 2013].’

Swaziland is due to hold its next election in September 2018.

See also

POLICE SHOOT WOMAN STRIKER IN HEAD

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/11/police-shoot-woman-striker-in-head.html

‘OBSERVER’ MISREPORTS POLICE ON LGBTI

The Swazi Observer newspaper misled its readers when its reported that the Swaziland police had ok’d an LGBTI event in the kingdom.

The misreporting led to confusion and the police making a forceful statement in clarification.

Police blamed the Rock of Hope which is organising the event for the error. 

Rock of Hope in a statement said, ‘We did not say or intend to imply that the police have endorsed Rock of Hope or the upcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) Pride event.’ It added, ‘They are not associated with our organisation and neither did they sanction our intended event.’

The problem started when the Observer’s Saturday edition (23 June 2018) published  a story with the headline ‘Police ok gay march’. However nowhere in the story did the newspaper give evidence to support the headline. It did not quote the police nor Rock of Hope saying police had given support.

This led to confusion and the Hhohho Regional Police Commissioner Charles Tsabedze wrote a strong letter to Rock of Hope. He called Rock of Hope dishonest and said it ‘gave the impression that we gave authority that the event should go ahead’.

Tsabedze said police had agreed to provide security and traffic control. He added, ‘We wish to categorically point out that we are not associated with your organisation and neither did we sanction your intended event.’

He did not mention the misreporting of the police’s position by the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

LGBTI Pride organiser Melusi Simelane told the Daily Beast the police had been ‘incredibly welcoming, supportive, and professional’.

The Beast reported, ‘He added, “up until a media report saying they had ‘OK’d’ the event. Then somewhere within the police leadership there was alarm, and we were called into a meeting to be told that the police can’t be seen to support anything at all, that all they would do was provide security as for any other event. Really, they’ve been great.’

The Beast reported police told Simelane they were receiving ‘a lot of threats’ from people wanting to attack Pride marchers. 

The Pride which takes place on Saturday 30 June 2018 is the first LGBTI event of its kind in Swaziland. The Observer has over the past week published three articles demonising LGBTI people likening them to child sex monsters and people who have sex with animals.

See also

‘OBSERVER’ STEPS UP LGBTI HATE CAMPAIGN

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/observer-steps-up-lgbti-hate-campaign.html

 

FIRST LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-lgbti-pride-in-swaziland.html

POLICE SPOKESPERSON CONDEMNS LGBTI

The chief police spokesperson in Swaziland / Eswatini Superintendent Khulani Mamba has said that LGBTI people will not be tolerated in the kingdom and should not be given a platform.

He said, ‘We say no to homosexuality, this country will not tolerate the LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex] community,’ the Times of Swaziland reported on Wednesday (26 June 2018).

His comments came after the Swaziland Police gave permission for the first-ever LGBTI Pride event to take place in the kingdom on Saturday (30 June 2018).

Mamba made his comments from the pulpit in Ezulwini during annual prayer services on Sunday, the Times reported. It described Mamba as a ‘prophet’. It added he spoke in a personal capacity and not as a police superintendent.

Meanwhile, the Swazi Observer is standing by its report that contained hate speech, despite criticism. Over the past week it and its companion newspaper the Sunday Observer have published three prominent articles that called LGBTI people ‘a curse’ and ‘evil’ and likening them to child sex molesters and people who had sex with animals. 

The articles broke Article 13 of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists code of conduct which states, ‘Hate speech: ‘Journalists shall avoid by all means the publication of speech that might promote hatred, spite and conflict amongst the Swazi or any other nation.’

After the first article appeared on Thursday (21 June 2018) the Swaziland Human Rights Network UK condemned it saying, ‘the spirit and text of the article is homophobic and divisive and goes against the basics of journalistic ethics of accuracy and fair reporting. The article makes a false equivalence between the gay and lesbian community and paedophilia, bestiality and rape’.

In a statement published on its website it said, ‘The falsehoods raised in this article are not only homophobic but also indicative of a particularly desperate and divisive anti-gay and lesbian agenda by the Swazi Observer.’

Later, Goodwill Mathonsi the group’s coordinator wrote an email of complaint to the Observer editor Thulani Thwala saying it had broken four articles in the code of ethics, including hate speech.

Hate speech is a type of speech or writing which can do any of the following: deliberately offend, degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on their race, ethnicity, profession, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. It can be aimed at an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them.

In his response, Thwala did not address the matter of hate speech. He wrote, ‘Rule number one of journalism to balance views was achieved. Since we live in a free country it is every person’s right to frown upon anything.’

He wrote, ‘I am certain you are aware that we cannot force people to see things the way we do no matter the circumstances. I cannot guarantee special treatment for any groupings.’

Swazi Media Commentary also sent an email of complaint to the editor of the Swazi Observer but received no reply.

The Observer does give special attention to one group: the monarchy. It is in effect owned by King Mswati III who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. In a report on press freedom in the kingdom the Media Institute of Southern Africa called the Observer a  ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’.

In January 2011 Alec Lushaba who today is editor of the Observer on Saturday wrote in the Weekend Observer about the newspaper’s values. He said, ‘We commit ourselves into respecting and observing the institution of the Monarchy by ensuring that all publications with regard to Their Majesties are factually, culturally and traditionally correct. The sensitivity of the institutions demands that all facts be checked or verified with the traditional structures and/or have been in direct consultation with Their Majesties.’

See also

‘OBSERVER’ STEPS UP LGBTI HATE CAMPAIGN

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/observer-steps-up-lgbti-hate-campaign.html

 

FIRST LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-lgbti-pride-in-swaziland.html

NGO SNUBS LGBTI, WHAT WILL FUNDER SAY?

One of the best known human rights groups in Swaziland / Eswatini has snubbed the LGBTI Pride festival saying it is against Biblical teaching, putting it at odds with a major funder.

The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) issued a statement saying it would not support Swaziland’s first Pride because the event, ‘is completely against our creator Lord Jesus’ plans for His people in being together as man and woman’.

The statement attributed to  Community and Advocacy Officer Silindele Nkosi was published in the Swazi Observer on Tuesday (26 June 2018).

SWAGAA is a non-governmental organization in Swaziland best known for the work it does on gender-based violence. Among its stated values are ‘non-discrimination’ and ‘respect for all human rights and gender equality’. It does not say it only works with Christians.

SWAGAA’s anti-LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) stance puts it at odds with one of its major funders, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It states, ‘PEPFAR stands firmly and unequivocally with and for key populations. These groups include gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, sex workers, transgender persons, and prisoners.’

It adds, ‘PEPFAR’s programs support the creation of non-stigmatizing environments that protect human rights.’

PEPFAR pays for a number of projects in Swaziland and funds the position of education officer at SWAGAA.

The Pride event which takes place on Saturday 30 June 2018 is billed as a day of free expression to celebrate diversity.

The Observer reported Nkosi said SWAGAA would not support LGBTI Pride ‘because the ideas from which it stemmed from were against the beliefs that the organisation hold’.

Nkosi said SWAGAA would continue to offer services to LGBTI people.

See also

FIRST LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-lgbti-pride-in-swaziland.html

CHAOS AS GOVT FAILS TO PAY SCHOOL FEES

The Government in Swaziland / Eswatini has failed to pay primary school fees for grade one pupils leading to chaos across the kingdom.
 

The European Union (EU) pays the government the fees but they have not been passed on to the schools, the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland reported (23 June 2018). The second term of the school year is just coming to an end.

The Swaziland Constitution requires that all primary school children receive free education.

The Observer reported headteachers and principals across Swaziland said they were in huge debts and unable to pay suppliers. It said the problem was with the government which faced financial challenges. It reported one school principal saying education in the kingdom would continue to deteriorate if the situation did not improve. Teacher morale is low. Because of a lack of government funding children are going without free meals at school and this is often the only meal they get.

Schools across Swaziland have been in chaos since at least the start the year. High schools as well as primaries have been affected. Children were turned away from high schools because there were no spaces for them in classes. This was because the kingdom has in recent years introduced free primary school education. Now children have graduated there are not enough places in secondary schools. Parents were reported by local media to be walking from school to school in unsuccessful attempts to get their children placed.

In January 2018 the Ministry of Education refused to pay school fees to about half the 650 primary schools in Swaziland because pupils did not have personal identification numbers (PINs). The Ministry said to avoid audit queries it had to pay fees against a PIN not a name of a pupil.

Parents are also outraged that some primary schools are charging top-up fees when the Swazi Constitution and Government policy says primary education should be free. 

Swaziland, is ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King appoints the Prime Minister and top ministers. Seven in ten of the estimated 1.1 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 per day. 

The kingdom’s economy has been mismanaged for decades. Swaziland cannot afford to pay for its free primary education policy. Government pays E580 per child, but this is heavily subsidised by the European Union (EU). Up to December 2016, the EU had spent a total amount of E110 million (about US$8 million). In 2015, it reportedly sponsored 34,012 learners in 591 schools. The EU plans to continue paying for the school fees until the end of 2018. The EU started funding all first grade pupils in the whole country in 2011. 

The problem does not end at primary level. An investigation by the Swazi Observer (27 January 2018) revealed that some high schools charged nearly E9,000 per child per year in top-up fees. It also found (1 February 2018) that some schools were not allowing children, including OVCs (orphaned and vulnerable children) to attend classes until deposits on fees were paid.

The Ministry of Education then announced that no school in Swaziland had been given permission to charge top-up fees because none had made the necessary formal request to do so. Permission can take up to a year.

The Swaziland national budget has been mismanaged for years. Swaziland is broke and the government is living from hand to mouth. Earlier this month Finance Minister Martin Dlamini told the House of Assembly as of 31 March 2018 government owed E3.28 billion. Dlamini said budget projections indicated ‘exponential growth in the arrears’. 

Despite the funding crisis, the Swazi Government still found US$30 million to buy the King a second private plane. It has also earmarked E1.5bn (US$125m) this year to build a conference centre and five-star hotel to host the African Union summit in 2020 that will last only eight days and it has budgeted E5.5 million to build Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini a retirement house. There are also plans for a new parliament building that will cost E2.3 billion.

The excessive lifestyle of King Mswati has also been under the spotlight. He now has two private planes, 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars.

He wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday party. He received E15 million (US$1.2 million) in cheques, a gold dining room suite and a gold lounge suite among his birthday gifts.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program has said it cannot raise the US$1.1 million it needs to feed starving children in the kingdom in the coming six months.

See also

END OF FREE SWAZI PRIMARY SCHOOLING

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/end-of-free-swazi-primary-schooling.html

KING EATS OFF GOLD, CHILDREN STARVING

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-eats-off-gold-children-starving.html

‘OBSERVER’ STEPS UP LGBTI HATE CAMPAIGN

The Swazi Observer group of newspapers is running a hate campaign against LGBTI people.

Over three days it has published articles prominently calling LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people ‘a curse’ and ‘evil’ and likening them to child sex molesters and people who have sex with animals. 

The reports which appeared on Thursday (21 June 2018), Friday and Sunday contained hate speech and broke Article 13 of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists code of conduct which states, ‘Hate speech: ‘Journalists shall avoid by all means the publication of speech that might promote hatred, spite and conflict amongst the Swazi or any other nation.’

Hate speech is a type of speech or writing which can do any of the following: deliberately offend, degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on their race, ethnicity, profession, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. It can be aimed at an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them.

The Swazi Observer is in effect owned by King Mswati III who rules Swaziland / Eswatini as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The newspaper gave space to a witchdoctor and a bishop of a Swazi Zionist church to vilify LGBTI people and to attack a Pride event that is to take place on 30 June 2018.

 

The hate-filled coverage of LGBTI people in Swaziland newspapers is not confined to the Observer. The Times of Swaziland group, the only other mainstream newspaper in the kingdom, has published similar articles in the past. 

What the newspapers have in common is that they allow fundamentalist Christians to set the agenda on what it means to be an LGBTI person. They mainly concentrate on vilifying gay men. 

What the newspapers ignore is that modern scientific evidence shows sexual identity is natural and not some kind of learned behaviour and that LGBTI people do not pose a threat to society.

J Michael Bailey of the University of the Northwestern University, United States, and colleagues reviewed the available scientific research on the subject for the academic journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest in 2016 and concluded that there was considerably more evidence that sexual orientation is caused by the genetics of a person than by a person’s life experiences. In simple terms, people are born homosexual. 

They concluded the most often talked about social causes of homosexuality, that people are recruited by adult homosexuals or homosexuality is caused by poor parenting, is generally not the case. They also conclude there is no good evidence that homosexuality increases where societies are tolerant.

They also conclude that same-sex activity appears to have existed throughout human history and in most cultures, including throughout Africa. Claims that same-sex activity is absent in a particular culture are “often demonstrably false, even when the culture does not have the words to describe such activity”. They conclude that same-sex activity in Africa was observed from the earliest recorded times, which means it was in Africa before the European colonialists arrived and is not imported from the West.

They also conclude that same-sex interactions are common throughout hundreds of animal species so it is not something specific to humans.

Newspapers in Swaziland need to be careful about taking at face value opinions from people whose intention is to discredit LGBTI people. Sections of the church have been at the forefront of this. Editors might usefully question the motives of such writers. They should always question them and insist that the opinions they print are based on established information and not on hearsay, rumour or prejudice.

They would also be advised to consider that there are many LGBTI people in Swaziland and therefore among their readers (or potential readers) and they have the right to have their lives and views represented in the news media just like anyone else. 

Richard Rooney

See also

KING’S NEWSPAPER HATES LGBTI PEOPLE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/kings-newspaper-hates-lgbt-people.html

 

FIRST LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/first-lgbti-pride-in-swaziland.html

POLICE TO PAY FOR OWN PASSING OUT DAY

Police officers in Swaziland / Eswatini have been ordered to pay towards the cost of their own Police Day and passing out ceremony in July.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed they would be expected to pay E20 each. As much as E60,000 (US$4,400) would be collected, the Swazi News reported on Saturday (23 June 2018).

Mamba told the newspaper the money was needed to supplement the money government gave to the event. 

The Swazi News said this had not happened in the past.

Swaziland is broke and the government is living from hand to mouth. Earlier this month Finance Minister Martin Dlamini told the House of Assembly as of 31 March 2018 government owed E3.28 billion. Dlamini said budget projections indicated ‘exponential growth in the arrears’. 

There have been reports in Swaziland that police do not have resources to carry out routine duties. Police were unable to respond when a five-year-old was abducted and raped because they were on election duty, the Swazi Observer reported on 24 May 2018.

Police officers were also left stranded at voting registration centres because there were no vehicles available to take them home.

Despite the funding crisis, the Swazi Government still found US$30 million to buy the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III a second private plane. It has also earmarked E1.5bn (US$125m) this year to build a conference centre and five-star hotel to host the African Union summit in 2020 that will last only eight days and it is budgeting E5.5 million to build Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini a retirement house. There are also plans for a new parliament building that will cost E2.3 billion.

See also

MEDIA TARGET SWAZI POLICE SHORTAGES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/media-target-swazi-police-shortages.html

SWAZILAND ADMITS IT IS BROKE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/swaziland-admits-it-is-broke.html

FIRST LGBTI PRIDE IN SWAZILAND

Deeply conservative Swaziland / Eswatini is to see its first-ever LGBTI pride event on Saturday (30 June 2018). The state police in the kingdom controlled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has granted permission for it to take place.

Homosexual acts are illegal in the tiny kingdom of 1.1 million people where most of the population live under a feudal system isolated in rural areas.

Traditionalists, led by the King who has 15 wives, are antagonistic to LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex) people and say their lifestyles are ‘unSwazi’.

The pride event was officially launched on Friday (22 June 2018). US Ambassador to Swaziland Lisa Peterson told the launch the event was a call to respect the human rights of all people.

The event is organised by Rock of Hope an advocacy group for LGBTI people. Its Advocacy and Communication Officer Melusi Simelane said the event was a day of freedom of expression.

The event is at the Prince of Wales Stadium, Mbabane, starting at 9 a.m.

There is a long history of discrimination against LGBTI people in Swaziland. Pitty Dludlu told the annual Joshua Mzizi Memorial Lecture held in Ezulwini in December 2017 they faced a number of issues that included access to health care without stigma and prejudice. She said police and health care workers were the worse abusers of LGBTI people. 

In a review of human rights in Swaziland in 2017 the US State Department noted, ‘Societal discrimination against LGBTI persons was prevalent, and LGBTI persons generally concealed their sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBTI persons who were open regarding their sexual orientation and relationships faced censure and exclusion from the chiefdom-based patronage system, which could result in eviction from one’s home. 

‘Chiefs, pastors, and government officials criticized same-sex sexual conduct as neither morally Swazi nor Christian. LGBTI advocacy organizations had trouble registering with the government.’

It added, ‘On July 23 [2017], a third-year University of Swaziland student committed suicide, reportedly because he found himself isolated after his family rejected him due to his sexual orientation.’

In May 2016 Rock of Hope reported to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Swaziland that laws, social stigma and prejudice prevented LGBTI organisations from operating freely.

The report, presented jointly with three South African-based organisations, stated, in Swaziland sexual health rights of LGBTI were not protected and there was inequality in the access to health care.

The report added, ‘LGBTIs are discriminated and condemned openly by society. This is manifest in negative statements uttered by influential people in society e.g., religious, traditional and political leaders. Traditionalists and conservative Christians view LGBTIs as against Swazi tradition and religion. There have been several incidents where traditionalists and religious leaders have issued negative statements about lesbians.   

‘Human rights abuses and violations against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex population continue to go undocumented, unreported, unprosecuted and not addressed.’

It added, ‘There is no legislation recognizing LGBTIs or protecting the right to a non-heterosexual orientation and gender identity and as a result LGBTI cannot be open about their orientation or gender identity for fear of rejection and discrimination.’

HOOP (House of Our Pride), a support group for LGBTI people, reported to the United Nation in 2011, ‘It is a common scene for LGBTI to be verbally insulted by by-passers in public places. [There is] defamatory name calling and people yelling out to see a LGBTI person’s reproductive part are some of the issues facing LGBTI in Swaziland.’

See also

KING’S NEWSPAPER HATES LGBTI PEOPLE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/kings-newspaper-hates-lgbt-people.html

 

PARENTS WANT ‘LESBIAN’ TEACHER OUT

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/03/parents-want-lesbian-teacher-out.html

 

LESBIAN AND GAY MURDERS IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/lesbian-and-gay-murders-in-swaziland.html

SWAZI MINISTER LIES TO UN ON GAYS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/swazi-minister-lies-to-un-on-gays.html

‘POLICE SET SUSPECT’S GENITALS ON FIRE’

Community police officers in Swaziland / Eswatini tortured a ‘mentally challenged’ man by setting his genitals on fire and beating him with iron rods to make him confess to committing ritual murders, a newspaper reported.

It happened at Ngogola, a remote area of Siphofaneni, the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland reported (23 June 2018). It said the man was left for dead at the gate of his homestead.

It reported, ‘The mentally challenged suspect was subjected to their unorthodox torture routines to force him to confess, where the suspect was made to sit on a thorny aloe tree, beaten with all sorts of iron rods and [they] set fire to his genitals to force him to confess to be behind the ritual killings in the area.’

It added, ‘The tortured suspect is reported to have been beaten to a pulp by the community police before he was made to confess to be behind the killings.’ The regular police have reportedly taken the suspect into care.

The media in Swaziland have been publishing lurid reports from across the kingdom of children being abducted to be ritually murdered so their body parts can be used in making muti potions that are said to bring luck. It is reported that there has been an increase in ritual killings ahead of a national election due in September 2018. Little hard evidence has been reported that the killings have actually taken place. 

See also

RITUAL KILLINGS LINKED TO ELECTION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/ritual-killings-linked-to-election.html 

SWAZILAND IN FEAR OF WITCHES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/swaziland-in-fear-of-witches.html

POLICE BEAT MAN CLOSE TO DEATH

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/police-beat-man-close-to-death.html

TEACHERS CANE EVERY PUPIL AT SCHOOL

Teachers reportedly caned every pupil in a school in Swaziland / Eswatini for poor performance.

The Times of Swaziland published the accusation on Friday (27 June 2018). It said each pupil at Mbuluzi High School was given three strokes.

It said, ‘When the school was visited, some pupils were heard screaming while others peeped through the windows in one of the classrooms where the activity took place. Some pupils were seen rubbing their buttocks while others wept bitterly as they left the classroom.’

It added, ‘Other learners were seen limping as they returned to their various classrooms. Speaking to their classmates in sign language, the pupils indicated that they were given three strokes each. These were the pupils who awaited the same punishment outside the classroom.’

The Times said pupils reported they were punished for poor performance. ‘They alleged that the whole school was punished by the teachers who were working collectively,’ it said.

Corporal punishment in schools in Swaziland was banned in 2015 but it is still used widely. 

As recently as September 2017 it was reported that an 11-year-old boy from Ekuphakameni Community Primary School in the outskirts of Hlatikhulu lost an eye when a cane his schoolteacher was using to illegally beat other pupils broke and splintered. 

In August 2017 it was reported that boys at Salesian High, a Catholic school, were forced to take down their trousers and underwear to be beaten on the naked buttocks.

In May 2017 pupils at Lubombo Central Primary School in Siteki were thrashed because they did not bring enough empty milk cartons to class. 

In March 2017 children at Masundvwini Primary School boycotted classes because they lived in fear of the illegal corporal punishment they are made to suffer. Local media reported that children were hit with a stick, which in at least one case was said to have left a child ‘bleeding from the head’. 

In August 2016 an eight-year-old schoolboy at Siyendle Primary School, near Gege, was thrashed so hard in class he vomited. His teacher reportedly forced classmates to hold the boy down while he whipped him with a stick. It happened after a group of schoolboys had been inflating condoms when they were discovered by the teacher.

In June 2016 the school principal at the Herefords High School was reported to police after allegedly giving a 20-year-old female student nine strokes of the cane on the buttocks. The Swazi Observer reported at the time, ‘She was given nine strokes on the buttocks by the principal while the deputy helped her by holding the pupil’s hands as she was made to lie down, said the source.’

In September 2015 the Times reported a 17-year-old school pupil died after allegedly being beaten at school. The pupil reportedly had a seizure.

In March 2015 a primary school teacher at the Florence Christian Academy was charged with causing grievous bodily harm after allegedly giving 200 strokes of the cane to a 12-year-old pupil on her buttocks and all over her body.

In February 2015 the headteacher of Mayiwane High School Anderson Mkhonta reportedly admitted giving 15 strokes to a form 1 pupil for not wearing a neck tie properly.

In April 2015, parents reportedly complained to the Ndlalane Primary School after a teacher beat pupils for not following his instruction and shaving their hair. 

See also

CANE BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/10/beating-banned-in-swazi-school.html

CHILDREN FEAR BEATINGS, MISS SCHOOL

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/children-fear-beatings-miss-school.html

KING’S NEWSPAPER HATES LGBTI PEOPLE

A report in the Swazi Observer comparing LGBTI people in Swaziland / Eswatini to child molesters and people who have sex with animals was hate speech. It lied to the newspaper’s readers and broke the Observer’s own code of ethical reporting standards.

The report on Thursday (21 June 2018) concerned a proposed LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) Pride event due to take place on 30 June 2018. It is being organised by Rock of Hope and is the first of its kind. It has received international support.

 

The newspaper, in effect owned by King Mswati III sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported the Pride had been met with ‘anger and despair’ by people within Swaziland and talked of a letter from ‘concerned parents’ against the event. It did not tell readers that the letter was an online petition from an organisation previously exposed as hate-mongers. No person from Swaziland was quoted in the report.

The report gave details of the letter that demonised LGBTI people and said they were a danger to children.

The report was hate speech and broke Article 13 of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists code of conduct which states, ‘Hate speech: ‘Journalists shall avoid by all means the publication of speech that might promote hatred, spite and conflict amongst the Swazi or any other nation.’

Hate speech is a type of speech or writing which can do any of the following: deliberately offend, degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on their race, ethnicity, profession, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. It can be aimed at an individual; or racial, ethnic, religious or other group. Such speech generally seeks to condemn or dehumanize the individual or group; or express anger, hatred, violence or contempt toward them.

The group writing the petition calls itself Parents of Eswatini (Parents of Swaziland). It published it on the CitizenGo website. The petition appears to originate in Germany.

In April 2018 Swazi Media Commentary exposed the website as a hate group. CitizenGo started in Spain in 2013 as a project of an organisation called HazteOir. It now claims to have millions of supporters in more than 50 countries, according to the Open Democracy website.

It reported, ‘HatzeOir was founded in 2001. [In 2017], a team of investigators in Spain traced links between the group and “El Yunque”, a mysterious secret society that allegedly has cells across Mexico and the US mobilised to “defend the Catholic religion and fight the forces of Satan though violence or murder”, according to Mexican investigative journalist Alvaro Delgado. Previously, in 2014 a judge dismissed a claim by HazteOir disputing links between the groups.

‘CitizenGo describes itself as “pro-family” and a defender of life, family, freedom, and dignity. Madrid lawyer Ignacio Arsuaga, reportedly the great-grandson of the late dictator General Francisco Franco, sits at the helm of both it and HatzeOir,’ the website reported.

The Political Research Associates website reported, ‘CitizenGo has a variety of longstanding ties to right-wing organizations and right-wing efforts around the globe.’

It added, it operated primarily through an online petition platform ‘to push an anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion agenda’.

Richard Rooney

See also

LESBIAN AND GAY MURDERS IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/lesbian-and-gay-murders-in-swaziland.html

HATE SPEECH AND GAYS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2007/07/hate-speech-and-gays.html