During the height of the
Apartheid era, Swaziland lobbied the US and UK Governments not to support
economic sanctions on South Africa, a confidential
communication from 1978 has revealed.
The then Swazi Prime Minister Maphevu Harry Dlamini said the sanctions would be ‘disastrous’ for the Swaziland economy.
The then Swazi Prime Minister Maphevu Harry Dlamini said the sanctions would be ‘disastrous’ for the Swaziland economy.
At about the same time Swaziland under King Sobhuza II
supported the white-ruled Apartheid government in South Africa because he was
afraid that change there would encourage people to press for political reform
in his own kingdom, a separate
secret CIA document from 1978 revealed.
The information contradicts
the present-day belief that King Sobhuza II and his Swazi Governments were
stanch supporters of the struggle for freedom in South Africa during the
Apartheid era.
Dlamini was said to have
‘pleaded strongly’ with the US and UK not to support sanctions. This was revealed in a
confidential electronic telegram sent from the United States State Department
on 7 November 1978. It was distributed to the UK, Zambia, Mozambique and
France.
The electronic
telegram said, ‘During 30-minute meeting in his office November 2,
Prime Minister pleaded strongly with UK and US reps to urge our governments to
prevent adoption of UN sanctions against South Africa, especially on oil, on
ground that sanctions would be not only suicidal for Swaziland but also
extremely detrimental to blacks.’
The writer of the cable,
who was not named, but was likely to be the US Ambassador to Swaziland said the
US and UK representatives at the meeting agreed to seek clarification of
positions from their governments ‘soonest’.
The confidential message
added, ‘In unprecedented move, Prime Minister Maphevu summoned British High
Commissioner and me jointly to his office November 2 for urgent approach on
issue of UN sanctions against South Africa.
‘Prime Minister said that
from series of telexes and telecons from Swazi UN representative Malinga, he
understood that United Nations was on brink of voting on sanctions issue and
that Western powers, possibly reflecting disenchantment with South Africa’s
posture on Namibian election question, were leaving impression in New York that
they might not repeat not veto a
sanctions resolution.
‘Although worried about
effect that any kind of sanctions would have on Swaziland’s economy, Prime
Minister was principally concerned about oil sanctions.
‘Prime Minister said he did
not have to remind UK and US reps in Mbabane, who saw situation first-hand, how
dependent Swaziland economy is on South African economy.
‘Oil sanctions would be
“disastrous” for Swaziland.
‘He added that one could be
sure that not only Swaziland’s population, but also blacks in South Africa
itself, would be the first to feel the pinch if sanctions were imposed; he gave
the example of black entrepreneurs in South Africa, who he said would certainly
be treated far less favorably by South African authorities when rationing
began.
‘Several times in his
forceful half-hour presentation the Prime Minister talked as spokesman for
blacks in all of Southern Africa and not merely for Swazis.
‘He said sanctions would be
“indirect killing of black people in Southern Africa”.
‘For Swaziland to vote for
sanctions would be “suicidal.”
‘Prime Minister asked
rhetorically which black leaders in South Africa itself would support
sanctions. He hoped that Western policy-makers were not taking advice from
“blacks who left South Africa ten to twenty years ago and who are now living
comfortably in Europe and America.”
‘He downplayed any
hard-line advice that might be given by front-line leaders, who continue their
own economic dealings with South Africa (as Swaziland does) because there is no
alternative to such cooperation; he cited Zambian railroad move as one recent
example.’
Maphevu Harry Dlamini was Prime Minister of Swaziland from 31 March 1976 until his death on
25 October 1979.
The telegram was classified
confidential when it was written in 1978, and has since been declassified. It
is now publicly available through the Wikileaks’ Public Library of US Diplomacy.
A separate secret CIA document (also
since declassified) from 1978 called Africa Review,
dated 1 December 1978 said South Africa had ‘equipped the Swazi Army with light
infantry weapons’.
The report said the ‘traditionalist’ Swaziland
government, ‘believes it is threatened in the same way white South Africans
are, namely by a host of outside forces seeking the destruction of a social and
political order that has served to protect the interests of the ruling elite.
‘Since independence [10 years earlier in 1968] the
Swazi Government has sought to suppress any signs of change that could lead to
pressure for reforming the country’s political and social institutions.
Consequently, close relations with South Africa are probably viewed as
protection against Communist and radical change.’
See also
Secret
CIA Report Reveals Swaziland King Sobhuza’s Support For Apartheid South Africa
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/secret-cia-report-reveals-swaziland.html
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