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
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
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
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
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
“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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