Swaziland Newsletter No. 733 – 1 July 2022

 

Swaziland Newsletter No. 733 – 1 July 2022

News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.

June 29 Massacre Commemoration: eSswatini pro-democracy groups successfully imposed a holiday to honour victims.

By Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 29 June 2022

SOURCE

 

MBABANE: Eswatini pro-democracy groups successfully imposed a holiday to honour citizens who were allegedly killed by King Mswati’s police and soldiers during the June 2021 massacre.

The holiday came after a resolution by the Multi-Stakeholder Forum(MSF) as per the Boksburg Declaration.

Reached for comments, human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the Chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) said this represented the clearest vote of no confidence on the oppressive royal Tinkhundla regime and King Mswati III.

“The time has come for them to surrender power to the people. Todays is evidence that the people of Swaziland are decisive about their destiny.Tinkhundla has long lost all levels of legitimacy and credibility. The people have reached a point of no return. Today is indeed a public holiday, whether Tinkhundla accepts or not. The sleeping grass has been awakened,” said the MSF Chairperson.

On another note Alpheous Nxumalo, the eSwatini Government Spokesperson told this publication on Tuesday that Wednesday was a normal working day, however, there was no activity in towns across the country and some shops had to close in fear of alleged looting.

The Government consistently maintained that holiday “Public holidays are gazeted first and announced accordingly by the incumbent government”.

Speaking during a press conference on Tuesday, Sakhile Awuviva Nxumalo, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) Youth League, SWAYOCO warned businesses not to operate and respect the holiday in honour of the victims of the June 2021 massacre.

Reached for comments on Wednesday, the PUDEMO Youth League (SWAYOCO) President said it was encouraging to see Swazis observing the holiday in honour of the victims of the June massacre.

“Even Government offices are closed and businesses are not operating because of the uncertainty. We would like to urge Swazis to continue taking orders from the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) not Mswati’s Government. No Government can kill such a large number of people and expect things to be normal on this day. As long as pro-democracy Members of Parliament (MPs) Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube remain in prison, with other political leaders in exile, things will never be normal in this country. As we mentioned, this day will be a holiday every year from now onwards, even after the democratic Government has taken over,” said the President of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO).

Another cop shot dead in Matsapha

By Sibusiso Zwane, Times of eSwatini, 27 June 2022

SOURCE

 

MANZINI – Another police officer has been shot dead!

This is a second police officer to be shot dead by unknown gunmen in less than 48 hours. The incident took place at Mathangeni, Matsapha in the Manzini Region yesterday at around 7pm. The other incident took place near Manzini Club traffic circle on Saturday at around 3am, where a female police officer Zinhle Mavuso was shot dead, while her colleague, Philani Mntungwa, was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

A source close to the matter said the police officer was based under the Traffic Department in Matsapha Police Station, and is said to have left the police station with a colleague to attend to a supposed road traffic accident around Mathangeni. This was after the purported road traffic accident was reported through a phone call to the Matsapha Police Station.

Traffic

According to the source, when the officers reached Mathangeni, they slowed down because there was traffic and they assumed that it was caused by the reported supposed road traffic accident.

The source said several gunshots were fired at the car by unknown men. At the time of compiling this report, it was not clear whether the gunmen were in a car or were on foot, since even eyewitnesses ran helter-skelter after hearing the gun shots.

In the process, he said one of the police officers was hit by some of the bullets and died on the spot, while his colleague managed to bolt and raised the alarm to their colleagues at Matsapha Police Station.

The source said some of the police officers who were first to arrive at the scene were of the view that the road traffic accident report was a hoax.

He said the assumption was that the call was supposedly made by the shooters as their plan was to ambush the law enforcers.

In that regard, he said the police said they would now have to find a way of scrutinising reports which they received through phone calls. He said the police said this was because it was believed that even the shooting which took place in Manzini on Saturday was arranged in a similar fashion, a fake report which was reported through a phone call.

Shooting

“Shortly after the shooting incident, the crime scene was occupied by uniformed and plain clothes police officers from Matsapha Police Station, and later on, they were joined by their colleagues from Manzini. They included those from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Serious Crimes Unit (Lukhozi) and Organised Crime Unit (Tingculungculu),” the source said.

Meanwhile, efforts of getting comment from the Chief Police Information and Communications

Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati proved futile as her mobile phone rang unanswered yesterday evening. She was called between 8:41pm and 8:52pm.

Thereafter, a questionnaire was sent to her via WhatsApp at 9:20pm, but when this report was compiled later on, she had not responded to it.

However, this publication reliably gathered that government would issue a statement today about the shooting of police officers.

Mathangeni is located about 1.3 kilometres from Matsapha Police Station and approximately four kilometres from Matsapha Airport, which has an Air Wing for the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) where there was an attempted arson attack incident on Saturday night.

 

eSwatini government repeats ‘fight fire with fire’ stance after cops killed

By Lunga Masuku, Siyalu Media, 29 June 2022
SOURCE

 

For the past 12 months, the one-time peaceful Kingdom of eSwatini, formerly Swaziland is on the brink of a second instalment of unrests in the landlocked southern African kingdom.

Just before the end of 2021, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Peace and Security, popularly known as TROIKA, pleaded with Swazi nationals to give the King a chance to attend the annual Incwala sacred ceremony, and there was a promise that His Majesty King Mswati III would convene a national meeting at the Royal Cattle Byre where traditional decisions are taken or where major announcements are made.

The standoff came about after the death of a university of eSwatini law student who died under mysterious circumstances. That saw the then acting prime minister Themba Masuku appointing a coroner who was to listen to people who could have information on what led to the mysterious death of Thabani Nkomonye. The death of the law student saw Swazis from all walks of life taking part in marches under the banner of Justice for Thabani.

These escalated into a national concern, which led to youths from all over the country taking it upon themselves to demand answers from their members of parliament elected under the Tinkhundla system of government, which outlaws the participation of political parties but it allows people to be elected on individual merit. The petition delivery marches made lives of their MPs a nightmare since the youths wanted them to make a collective public statement on why they were not endorsing the calls for democratic reforms. This was after three MPs namely Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza, Mthandeni Dube and Mduduzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane had made calls for an elected prime minister as compared to the current set up where the king has the right to appoint someone from the ruling Dlamini clan.

When there were less than 12 Tinkhundla centres left to receive petitions from their constituents the acting prime minister Masuku did the unthinkable on June 24, 2021 when he banned the delivery of the petitions, citing national security being compromised.
“However, what we are seeing of late are elements who have hijacked these concerns to further their own agenda mainly to shake the foundations that define this country with an intention to achieve regime change.

“These protests have degenerated into disorder and violent scenes in several instances, putting the lives of citizens, public and private properties in danger. We have seen some protestors deliberately provoking the police. This kind of unruly behaviour is unacceptable,” Masuku was reported to have said then.

During the hearing where the coroner called police officers who were on duty on the day of the incident, national commissioner of police William Tsitsibala Dlamini admitted that the conduct of the officers who were on duty on the day in question was very questionable. He used a SiSwati phrase Akuhambanga Kahle translated to mean, ‘things did not go well’.
That was followed by the setting alight of police personal vehicles while they were parked at their government houses, the commissioner was supposed to start sensing that something was brewing. There was also an incident where his officers who were manning the Malagwane truck cooling station were shot at. In an earlier incident, it saw an officer from the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU) being attacked and that was regarded as a minor incident.

In the past few days, things took a worse turn when the country recorded the first incident, where civilians shot to death two uniformed police officers when they were going about their duties. The shooting of the officers has seen the minister in charge of police issues, the Prime Minister, Cleopas Sipho Dlamini saying government would not sit back and watch as terrorists intimidated emaSwati, threatening that it will be war against the perpetrators.

“Government will not hesitate to respond with the necessary force to protect our national security as a sovereign state. Government takes this moment to strongly condemn the senseless killing of state security officers as well as the sporadic arson and terrorist attacks on private and public property perpetuated by unknown criminals hiding behind veiled motives,” the prime minister said strongly on Monday this week.

The prime minister’s speech follows two separate incidents over the past weekend following the gunning down of the two officers on two separate incidents in the Manzini region.
Meanwhile, attempts by members of the house assembly members have tried in vain to compel the prime minister to table a detailed report on what happened during the civil unrest.

 

We won't sit back and watch, eSwatini government warns ‘winter revolution’ rioters

Lenin Ndebele, News24, South Africa, 28 June 2022

SOURCE

 

The Eswatini government says the country is “under threat” of “senseless” attacks after a mob killed two police officers amid protests under the banner of the “winter revolution” spread throughout the country's four regions.

In a media address, Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini called those who were behind the protests insurgents.

“It is clear, therefore, that these attacks are not just on government or any individual company, but on all emaSwati. Those behind these evil acts are terrorists hellbent on condemning our people to a state of fear and never-ending cycle of poverty,” he said.

Last week, before the police killings, a group called the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SISF) attacked Inyatsi Construction – an international firm that operates in nine African countries, including Zambia, Ivory Coast, Uganda, and Botswana – because it is allegedly linked to King Mswati III.

Reports in Eswatini implicated the SISF in the killing of the two police officers.

The media quoted an unnamed “commander” in its coverage.

Swaziland News quoted the SISF saying that the killings were “in response to the arrest of pro-democracy members of parliament, Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, and the ongoing killing of dozens of civilians by Mswati's forces, merely for demanding democratic reforms”.

A handful of protesters hold a pro-democracy demonstration at a terminus for collective minibus taxis in eSwatini’s commercial hub Manzini, as police look on. Activist groups have called for nationwide protests against King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Dlamini said the attacks were meant to derail political dialogue in the country and that those behind the attacks were harbouring a terrorist agenda.

“There can be no justification [for] such attacks, particularly when we already have a clear laid down pathway toward reconciling our differences and building a better Eswatini together,” he said.

He added: “It is clear to all of us now that the people behind these attacks are not for the betterment of [the] emaSwati or a better Eswatini, but [are] selfishly pushing their terrorist agendas.”

The government warned that it would not sit back and watch terrorists intimidate emaSwati and that it would do everything to restore peace and order in the kingdom.

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) said on Saturday that the police fired live ammunition at its members who were protesting during a rally at Mahwalala.

“The police intended to disrupt the peaceful rally in which community members fully participated to craft the way forward for the total dismantling of the tinkhundla system,” the party said.

The tinkhundla is an electoral system that serves as a form of governance, based on traditional, administrative subdivisions.

Emergency crews in Eswatini help people who were injured during pro-democracy protests, in which at least one person died and 80 others were injured. Eswatini security forces used live ammunition to break up a pro-democracy protest by nurses, shooting at least 30 of them, their union says.

Eswatini has 55 tinkhundlas in the country's four districts. There are 14 in the Hhohho District, 11 in the Lubombo District, 16 in the Manzini District, and 14 in the Shiselweni District.

The opposition and pressure groups in the country say King Mswati III uses the tinkhundla as a disguise for democracy.

In April, pro-democracy groups led by South Africa’s EFF gave King Mswati III a year to abdicate or face the full wrath of demonstrations.

 

Solidarity Forces warn Mswati’s pilots against flying a dictator as political tension escalates in eSwatini.

By Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 28 June, 2022

SOURCE

 

MBABANE: King Mswati’s pilots have been advised to prioritize their safety and stop flying a dictator as political tension escalates in this tiny Kingdom.

This is contained in a public statement sent to Swaziland News on Tuesday by the Spokesperson of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SISF) Executive Command.

The Spokesperson whose name cannot be revealed for ethical reasons, said as the SISF,they were pleased with the success of the ongoing operations.

“We are pleased that immediately after the brutalisation of the SNUS President by the army, our ground units responded with haste and dealt with a soldier and the police in Mbabane swiftly. Our efforts to degrade the armed forces’ ability to continue carrying out unwarranted attacks against our people will continue. We also welcome the successful operation to undermine Sicalo’s ability to harass communities at will by attacking his helicopter. We warn Mswati’s pilots and cabin crew - think about your safety. Stop flying this dictator around. Choose your lives, choose your loved ones. Punishing the armed forces at any given opportunity is an on-going programme that must be undertaken by any peace-loving Swazi citizen at any time of the day, just like the recent attacks against the police in Manzini. Whilst a cease-fire had been declared by us the past weekend, after the police decided to harass innocent Swalimo members who were handing over a house to an innocent family at Sithobelweni, we had no choice but to enforce discipline swiftly on the same day. The attack at Matsapha against the police must be understood in this context,” reads the statement in part.

King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

On another note, Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini released a statement on Monday and threatened to deal with what he described as terrorism by people threatening the Sovereignty of eSwatini.

The tension escalated in this tiny Kingdom after Mswati unleashed soldiers and the police to shoot and kill dozens of civilians merely for demanding democratic reforms.

 

Let us also serve LGBTQI community - MP

By Sibongile Sukati, eSwatini Observer, 27 June 2022

SOURCE

“Let us serve the LGBTQI community as much as we serve the other community members in our countries,”.

This was the submission made by Lubombo Region MP Lorraine Nxumalo at the African Parliamentary Forum on Gender and Sexual Minorities meeting which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa and ended on Friday.

LGBTQI is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex.
The MP was addressing fellow parliamentarians from 12 other countries represented including Eswatini.

The MP said she was grateful for the opportunity to share some thoughts about the important issues under discussion.

She said in sharing her thoughts she would of course make reference to the Eswatini experience, but she believed that many of the issues raised were of principle and applicable to many countries.

Nxumalo said in view of their roles in being representatives of the people, passing legislation, providing oversight over government, and approving national budgetary allocations, members of parliament (MPs) had a key role to play in ensuring that discrimination against and marginalisation of any person or group was removed and inclusion was promoted.
“Eswatini society is very conservative and issues of sexual orientation and gender identity continue to face resistance,” she said.

She informed her colleagues that a few weeks ago, civil society organisations made presentations at the public hearings hosted by parliament on two bills related to marriage.
“While the LGBTI representative was able to make submissions, the general response was one of derision, not just from parliament, but also from the media and those that purport to be supportive of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” she said.

The MP said generally, culture and religion tended to be the basis of criticism against SOGI issues as detractors assert that to be gay, lesbian, transgender, was “unSwazi”, contrary to God and that the movement promoting SOGI rights is essentially a “foreign” concept being imposed from the West, reinforced by attachment of donor money.

“Nonetheless, having said that, it must be acknowledged that there has been progress, albeit at less than a snail’s pace,” she said.

Nxumalo submitted that clear changes could be identified when one looked at the fact that Eswatini was coming from a situation where there was complete denial about the existence of the LGBTI community, which contributed to LGBTI persons being “invisible” and therefore resulted in greater stigma and much less openness, let alone collective advocacy.
She said there were now several organisations openly working on SOGI issues, though they still face challenges.

She said although Pride month activities would be conducted for the sixth time this year – getting “permission” to undertake the first Pride activities was a hard won victory, but it clearly demonstrated the movement in acknowledging that there are issues affecting LGBTIs that required attention.

She said the passing of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act in 2018 removed “sodomy” as a crime - regardless of whether sexual intercourse by two men was consensual or not - and expanded the definition of rape by criminalising forceful sexual contact with any sex by any sex.

“LGBTI issues are not new, but the openness and intensification of advocacy is a relatively new area in Eswatini and we can build on and accelerate this progress,” she said.
Nxumalo said interestingly, it was the HIV and AIDS pandemic that brought SOGI issue into public discourse from government’s perspective and increased conversation, research, policy-making and programming on LGBTI issues in Eswatini, as they were categorised under “key populations” due to the vulnerabilities and risks to HIV infection that are faced by this community.

“The national policies on HIV as well as SRHR both make reference to not discriminating in provision of services,” she said.

Nxumalo said however, being confined to the health space has been frustrating for LGBTI rights advocates as they want to advocate for recognition of their equal rights in all spheres of life – socially, economically, and politically.

Selective acceptance experienced by LGBTI community

Some members of the LGBTI community say while they are “accepted” when talking about the health dimension, once they seek to expand engagement beyond this, even civil society organisations retreat from collaborating with them.

Lubombo Region MP Lorraine Nxumalo said; “this selective ‘acceptance’ that seeks to acknowledge certain rights and deny others is inherently contrary to the universality, indivisibility, inalienability and interconnectedness of human rights.”
She said it had not helped the situation that government has been inconsistent in how it treats SOGI issues.

Nxumalo said Eswatini’s Constitution guaranteed equality and prohibited discrimination.
“The country has also ratified various regional and international human rights instruments that guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In its State Party reports, government has asserted that discrimination against LGBTI is unlawful, citing the equality cause in national constitution that prohibits discrimination due to various issues, including gender, stating that this also includes issues of sexual orientation and gender identity,” it was submitted.  

However, according to Nxumalo  government had contradicted these assertions in practice – for example, an LGBTI organisation – Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities - had been denied registration as an NGO, with the Registrar of Companies (that registers NGOs) stating that the objectives of the organisation promote “unnatural” behaviour that is contrary to the values of Eswatini society.

“The organisation took this matter to court and while the court acknowledged that members of the LGBTI community have the same human rights as all other people, it stopped short of affirming the organisation’s right to register,” she said.

Nxumalo said this clearly showed that much remains to be done in ensuring that the LGBTI community is not left at the periphery of development because their voices are absent due to non-recognition by State structures and processes. She said in this context, parliamentarians could ensure the LGBTI community is not left behind as countries consult on, plan and the implement development agenda.
 
“I believe we can answer this question by going back to the role of MPs mentioned earlier, representation as MPs were not in their positions for themselves - they must represent all people therefore their engagement with constituencies cannot be determined by personal bias or prejudice, she said.

She said parliamentarians must be exemplary of the principle of non-discrimination and hence must necessarily be open to hear people’s concerns and aspirations so as to effectively raise and debate their issues in the legislature.

This, Nxumalo said essentially meant that members of LGBTI community and their organisations should not be side-lined when MPs conduct consultations and MPs should participate in meetings or activities when invited by these organisations so as to gain deeper insight into the issues they face
She said as legislators, MPs must ensure that all existing traces of discrimination against the LGBTI community are removed and that no discriminatory legislation passes in the House/ Assembly.

However, even though parliamentarians, influenced by their own socialisation, may have a “knee jerk” reaction in terms of resisting SOGI issues, the reality is that some of the positions taken were based out of ignorance and a lack of appreciating how these issues are linked to the wider development of society and the obligations government to implement policy frameworks such as the SDGs and African Union Agenda 2063 that Eswatini has committed to.

“Further, in many cases, such as Eswatini, there is insufficient institutional capacity to support MPs in their work – for instance, in addition to engagement, MPs should be able to also conduct their own research so as to have factual information when they debate; sadly, many do not have the facilities (including basic ones such as computer equipment and the internet) or parliamentary researchers to assist with relevant information,’; she said.

Nxumalo said understandably, a lot was expected from parliamentarians, but without the knowledge and capacity to discuss these issues beyond the superficial moralistic judgement, they will not be able to effectively play their roles.
“I would therefore recommend that investment be made by development partners as well as LGBTI organisations to build MPs’ capacity in this regard,” she said.

  

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