Teachers
in Swaziland discovered a police spy at their union conference and threw him
out.
It was
one in a number of cases where police and security forces in Swaziland (recently
renamed Eswatini by the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III)
have been discovered spying on legitimate meetings.
It happened at the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) conference at Esibayeni Lodge in Matsapha on Sunday (2 September 2018).
A week before the conference police shot and wounded a schoolteacher when they fired into a group of teachers during a protest over pay.
It happened at the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) conference at Esibayeni Lodge in Matsapha on Sunday (2 September 2018).
A week before the conference police shot and wounded a schoolteacher when they fired into a group of teachers during a protest over pay.
This is
only one in a long list of cases of police and security forces spying in
Swaziland. In July 2018 it was reported that police were video recording and
keeping data of protest marches by political parties and labour federations.
They then used the information to deprive people of college scholarships, jobs
in the army, police, and correctional services or promotions in government
departments, the online
newspaper Swaziland News reported.
The newspaper said the Police
Intelligence Unit had been captured filming a protest march organised by the
Trade Congress Union of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) in June 2018.
In September 2017 police
in Swaziland disguised themselves as news reporters at a march
of public servants in Mbabane. The Sunday
Observer in Swaziland at the time called it ‘spying’ and said it had
happened before at other public demonstrations, ‘They [police] are always plain
clothed and carry traditional journalistic tools including cameras and
notebooks,’ the newspaper reported.
The march was legal. A police
spokesman said they were not spying because the march took place in a public
place.
In August
2017 it was reported that police infiltrated
a Pensioners’ Association meeting to make notes on proceedings.
In June 2017 some senior politicians in Swaziland reported fears their phones were being tapped. One also thought his car might be bugged.
In June 2017 some senior politicians in Swaziland reported fears their phones were being tapped. One also thought his car might be bugged.
In July 2013 it was reported that
police
in Swaziland were spying on the kingdom’s members of parliament.
One officer disguised in plain clothes was thrown out of a workshop for MPs and
one MP reported his phone had been bugged. Ntondozi MP Peter Ngwenya told
the House of Assembly at the time that MPs lived in fear because there was
constant police presence, in particular from officers in the Intelligence
Unit.
The Times
of Swaziland newspaper reported
at the time that at the same sitting of the House Lobamba MP Majahodvwa Khumalo
said his cellphone had been bugged ever since he started being ‘vocal against
some people’.
In May 2013 the Media Institute
of Southern Africa reported
that police spies had infiltrated journalism newsrooms in
Swaziland, which had led to a heightened climate of fear.
It is legal in certain
circumstances to tap phones in Swaziland. The Suppression of Terrorism Act
gives police the right to listen in on people’s conversations if they have the
permission of the Attorney General.
When the Act came into law in
2008 Attorney
General Majahenkhaba Dlamini said that anyone who criticised the
government could be considered a terrorist sympathiser.
In 2012 it came to light that the
Swaziland Army had attempted to
buy cameras and phone monitoring equipment worth US$1.25 million. The
Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (USDF) – the formal name of the Swaziland Army
– was sued in the Swaziland High Court
because it ordered the equipment, but did not pay for it.
In 2011 a journalist
working in Swaziland for the AFP international news agency
reported on her blog that her phone calls were being listened in to.
In August 2011 Wikileaks
published a cable from the US Embassy in Swaziland that revealed
the Swazi Government had tried to get MTN, the only mobile phone provider in
the kingdom, to use its network for ‘surveillance on political
dissidents’.
Tebogo Mogapi, the MTN chief
executive officer (CEO) in Swaziland, refused to comply and later did not have
his work permit renewed and so had to leave the kingdom.
See also
Top Swazi
Politicians’ ‘Phones Bugged’
State
Police Spy On Swazi MPs
Police
Spies Infiltrate Media
AFP
Journalist’s Phone Bugged
Security
Forces ‘Spy On Candidates’
Swaziland
‘Becoming Military State’
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/swaziland-becoming-military-state.html
King Uses Military For Own Feud
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/king-uses-military-for-own-feud.html
King Uses Military For Own Feud
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