Swaziland
Newsletter No. 765 – 17 February 2023
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.
Pro-democracy
activists targeted in Africa's last monarchy
By
Cyril Zender, FairPlanet, 13 February 2023
The recent killing in
of human rights defender Thulani Maseko in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is
seen as a wake-up call to the authoritarian reality of Africa’s last absolute
monarchy.
“These people started
the violence first, but when the state institutes a crackdown on them for their
actions, they make a lot of noise blaming King Mswati for bringing in mercenaries,” fumed Eswatini’s King Mswati III while addressing his
traditional army regiments on 21 January.
“Nobody should shed
any tears or complain if mercenaries kill them,” added the absolute monarch who
has ruled the tiny kingdom with an iron fist since 1986.
Later that night, the
country’s leading human rights advocate, Thulani Maseko (52), was shot dead in his home through the window. Maseko - a long
time thorn in King Mswati’s side - was a senior member of Lawyers for Human
Rights Swaziland and chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, a convergence
of various stakeholders calling for constitutional reforms in Eswatini.
Maseko’s killing is
widely seen as confirmation of the king’s threats.
“The
cold-blooded unlawful killing of Thulani Maseko offers a chilling reminder that
human rights defenders, especially those at the front of calling for political
reform in Eswatini, are not safe,” said Robert Shivambu, Amnesty
International’s southern Africa spokesman. “If they’re not being persecuted,
harassed or intimidated by the state, they are at risk of losing their lives.”
Shivambu
said Maseko’s death, which has already sent a chilling message to pro-democracy
activists across the kingdom, could signify an escalation in attacks against
those who are openly seeking political reforms.
The
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said Maseko’s killing - which
it described as an assassination – must be a wake-up call to the true nature of
the absolute monarch’s rule.
“That
such grave Human Rights violations and outright political assassination appear
to be incited by the King is the reality that the international community needs
to accept when dealing with Eswatini,” the international NGO said in a
statement.
“Whether
the king’s threats were an ill-fated warning or the expression of something
darker, relishing as the bearer of deathly promises, both are underserving of a
public figure and a monarch,” FIDH president Alice Mogwe added in a statement
shared with FairPlanet.
Lloyd
Kuveya, assistant director at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of
Pretoria, told FairPlanet that Maseko’s killing itself sends the message that
dissenting political views and opinions are not tolerated in Eswatini.
“The
killing of Thulani is a cowardly act. Thulani stood for peaceful dialogue,
nation building and transformation of the autocratic political system to a
truly democratic, constitutional monarchy.
“His
death may end up galvanising pro-democracy forces to greater actions and more
commitment to achieve Thulani’s dreams for his country.”
Arrested
and jailed in 2014 for two-years for criticising the kingdom’s judiciary,
Maseko was also mounting a court challenge against Mswati’s 2018 arbitrary
decision to change the country’s name from Swaziland.
Kuveya
added that if Maseko’s killers are not apprehended and prosecuted, this
extrajudicial execution would show that impunity for grave crimes is entrenched
in Eswatini.
“Thulani’s
killing will have a chilling effect on activists and human rights defenders,”
he said. “Pro-democracy forces must unite, speak with one voice, engage
regional and international community, ask for solidarity from national
opposition forces and take leadership in the fight to achieve democracy in
Swaziland by conscientising ordinary Swazis about what is good for the Kingdom.”
To
read more of this report, click here
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/pro-democracy-activists-targeted-in-africas-last-monarchy/
Bad
roads: sick residents pushed in wheelbarrows
By
Bongiwe Dlamini, eSwatini Observer, 16 February 2023
Some residents of Mtfuntini community have
been forced to use wheelbarrows to help the sick get access to the main road.
Once at the main road, the residents can
then be able to access public transport or ambulances, which have found it
difficult to use the road, due to its poor and inaccessible state.
This then leaves the community with no
option but to find other means to get to the main road.
Bread, which is an everyday commodity, has
to be fetched from the main road as the bakery truck cannot reach the local
convenient store.
This challenge is said to have been caused
by the heavy rains but worsened after parts of the road were dug to install a
water pipe to service the area.
The Matfuntini community is at the heart
of Mathangeni in Matsapha.
According to Lucky Mbingo, who is the
Secretary General for Mtfuntini Community Project, the project was started with
the sole purpose to develop the community’s roads.
Mbingo said in an effort to improve the
gravel road, members of the community had contributed towards the project,
which was supposed to have been implemented before the end of 2022.
However, this deadline could not be met
following an alleged request from a service provider, which also wanted to ride
on the project.
“We informed the representative of our
plan to pave the road and he said the service provider would do that for us
after they had installed their pipes,” stated Mbingo.
However, the secretary general said this was not done after the pipes were
installed in October 2022.
The service provider is known to this
newspaper, however, as it had not responded to a questionnaire by the time of
filing this report, it will be withheld for now.
However, Mbingo alleged that after the pipes were installed, they were only
covered with soil which was not later compacted.
“This has caused parts of the road to be
muddy, making it hard for motorists to drive through. This has been an
inconvenience to the motorists as they had to pay people to help push their
cars out of the mud,” stated Mbingo.
He added that some residents with sick
members also had to push the sick ones in wheelbarrows to the main road, where
they can access an ambulance.
FeedMaster
reduces salaries for casual employees to 5c per-bag, monies amount to R60.00
per-day.
By
Wendy Magagula, Swaziland News, 14 February, 2023
MATSAPHA: Dumsani Mavuso, an employee at
FeedMaster says their employer has reduced their salaries from 10c to 5c
per-bag without consulting them.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on Monday
evening, Mavuso said the money amounts to sixty Rands (R60.00) per-day if they
managed to pack more than one thousand-two hundred(1200) bags.
“Transport is R20.00 per day and that
means we work for R40.00, while for others its R40.00 and this means they are
working for a mere R20.00 per day”, he said.
The Management of the company has been
avoiding to comment on the matter.
It has been disclosed that after this
Swaziland News exposed the plight of the workers in April 2022, the Management
rushed to increase the salaries for one affected department but reduced same
for casual employees to balance their cash flow.
Reached for comments, Wander Mkhonza, the
Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) said in
terms of the Manufacturing Industry Wages Order, it’s clear that FeedMaster was
underpaying the employees.
“Even the 10c per-bag was an underpayment
and this is a serious offense. We urge employees to unite themselves by joining
trade unions so that they can collectively fight this. The employer must be
forced to pay back the money as it is clear that the employees were underpaid,”
said the ATUSWA Secretary General.
No
military arms trade with eSwatini, says Bangladesh
By Welcome Dlamini, Times Sunday, 12 February 2023
MBABANE: The Republic of Bangladesh is looking to increase
its bilateral trade with the Kingdom of Eswatini to US$25 million (about E425
million) in the next three years.
Currently, the trade between
the two countries is at US$3 million (about E51 million) a year. These
figures were revealed by the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh,
Mohammed Shahriar Alam, during an interview on Wednesday, as part of his
two-day official visit to Eswatini. However, Alam, who was hosted for
dinner by locally-based Bangladesh businessman Asraful Alam Chowdhury (Mansur),
made it clear that there would be no trade in arms and any other form of
military equipment between the two countries.
Eswatini is presently facing
political unrest that has seen State security forces engaged in confrontation
with armed groups and, therefore, any visit to the country by a high-ranking
politician of a foreign country raises anticipation on whether this could have
to do with military assistance.
The recent visit by Russia’s
Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov raised such expectations, especially
because as a build up to his arrival, Russian Ambassador to Eswatini Alexander
Surikov said they were ready to assist the kingdom in strengthening its
security and armed force. Lavrov’s visit culminated in Russia and Eswatini
agreeing to increase security cooperation, and Moscow stating that it was ready
to consider Eswatini’s applications on any issues that needed to be resolved to
ensure the security of the State. With Bangladesh though, Minister Alam said
Eswatini did not make any approach for military cooperation in that respect.
The minister said military
cooperation was something they definitely welcomed but for their country’s own
defence.
“What we meant is that we do
not want to be seen as a country who wants to be a military power or a super
power for the region or kind of have any ambition as such. We want to use our
military strength to spread peace and maintain peace and that’s why we are the
largest contributor in UN peace-keeping missions. In that area we want to
increase cooperation,” he said.
Alam said they had been
approached by South Africa and they would be having high level visits among
themselves, while Nigeria had sent their officers to Bangladeshi’s National
Defence College, which he described as an institution of excellence and invited
officers from the Southern Africa region, including Eswatini, to come to for
purposes of brightening and sharpening their knowledge.
“It’s not physical military
training but more of intellectual side of affairs to war and peace. We have
short courses; we have one-year long courses. Most of our senior government
officers are trained there as well, officers of non-military responsibility
also. And this is a fantastic institution and all the participants get to know
not just Bangladeshi, but many other countries and they get to interact with
each other. So, Bangladesh wants to excel and share the softer skill of
defence with the friendly countries such as Eswatini,” the minister said.
Alam reiterated there was no
military quantification involved between Eswatini and Bangladesh as there won’t
be any buying and selling. He said from Bangladeshi’s side, there is only
intellectual and theoretical part of defence related affairs that would be
availed to Eswatini, including the provision and extending of scholarships.
“We are not looking at arms
trade or military transactions as such. But for the businesses, our bilateral
trade is only US$3 million import and export. Last year we exported U$55
billion as a country to the rest of the world. So we have some capacity surely.
We are looking to increase that US$3 million and we would be happy if we can
take it to US$25 million in the next three years,” the Bangladeshi minister
stated. He said as a country they pursued a foreign policy of friendship
to all and at the same time they we practiced a policy of non-interference in
the internal affairs of other countries.
To read more of this
report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/138869-no-military-arms-trade-with-eswatini-says-bangladesh.html
eSwatini: Democracy a Matter of Life and Death
By Andrew Firmin, Inter Press Service, 10
February 2023
LONDON: Thulani Maseko knew speaking out in
Eswatini was a risky business. An activist and well-known human rights lawyer,
he’d previously spent 14 months in jail for criticising the country’s lack of
judicial independence. Now he’s dead, shot in his home by unknown assailants.
Among those
Maseko litigated against was the country’s tyrannical ruler, King Mswati III.
Mswati, in power since 1986, is Africa’s last remaining absolute monarch. In
2018, in one indication of his unchecked power, he changed the country’s name
to Eswatini from Swaziland, unilaterally and without warning. Maseko was
planning to take Mswati to court to challenge the renaming on constitutional
grounds.
Maseko was chair
of the Multi-Party Forum, a network bringing together civil society groups,
political parties, businesses and others to urge a peaceful transition to
multiparty democracy. He was also the lawyer of two members of parliament –
Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube – arrested and detained in 2021 on terrorism
charges for calling for constitutional democracy.
It isn’t yet
clear why Maseko was killed or whether those who did the deed were acting on
their own initiative or following someone else’s orders. But for many in the
country’s democracy movement, it’s more than a little suspicious that just
before the killing Mswati is reported to have said the state would ‘deal with’ people
calling for democratic reforms. Maseko had reportedly received death threats.
Civil society is
calling for Maseko’s killing to be properly investigated. Those carrying out
the investigation should be independent and ensure whoever is behind it is held
to account, however high the trail goes. But there seems little hope of that.
Blood on the
king’s hands
If Maseko’s
killing was a reaction to his human rights work, it’s an extreme form of
reprisal, but it’s not the only recent mysterious death. In May 2021, law
student Thabani
Nkomonye disappeared.
When his body was discovered a few days later, it bore signs of torture. The
police did little to investigate; many believed they were responsible for the
killing.
When news of
Nkomonye’s killing broke, students protested to demand justice – and multiparty
democracy, because only under democracy can state institutions be held
accountable. This was the trigger for months of protests that swept Eswatini in
2021.
As protests went
on some people started to target businesses owned by the monarchy. When
protesters started fires, the state’s response was lethal. Dozens were killed and around a thousand
injured as security forces fired indiscriminately at protesters, in a
shoot-to-kill policy evidently ordered by Mswati. Even if Mswati doesn’t
turn out to have Maseko’s blood on his hands, there are plenty of other
killings he’s likely responsible for.
Amid continued
repression, people have little hope that the killing of Maseko will be the
last, and if anything the fear is that it could mark an escalation. If the
state is behind the attack, it suggests an increased boldness to its
repression: it may be targeting high-profile figures in confident expectation
of impunity.
There are other
indications this may be the case: Penuel and Xolile Malinga of the People’s
United Democratic Movement, the major political party, have twice had their
home fired upon in the last few months. In
December 2022, human rights lawyer Maxwell Nkambule survived an apparent assassination attempt
when his car was fired on.
The state
signalled it had more interest in repression than investigating Maseko’s
killing when two protesters were shot in a march demanding justice. The
danger is of growing lawlessness and further waves of state
lethality in response to any protest violence.
What the
democracy movement is asking for is commonplace elsewhere: the right for people
to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. People want to pick the
prime minister themselves, instead of the king doing it. They want to be able
to vote for political parties, which are banned from elections. They want the
king to be subject to the law, which requires a constitutional rather than absolute
monarchy. And they want an economy that works for everyone: currently Mswati
lives a life of rockstar luxury, funded through his family’s direct control of
key state assets, while most people live in dire poverty.
An agreement to
hold a national dialogue – struck with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa
and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) following the 2021
protests – hasn’t been honoured. Even if it happened, many doubt such dialogue
would be genuine.
South Africa has
a special responsibility to urge democracy, as the country that’s home to
Eswatini’s many civil society and political exiles. It’s time for South Africa
and SADC to stand up to Mswati, demand genuine accountability over the killing
of Maseko and push harder for real dialogue, constitutional reform and a path
towards democracy.
Andrew
Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
Swaziland’s
ruling autocracy must not celebrate its 50th anniversary
Communist
Party of Swaziland statement, 10 February 2023
The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) together with
Swazis in the diaspora, on Friday delivered a petition at the Department of
International Relations in Pretoria, South Africa.
At the picket, the CPS called upon the South African
government to not turn a blind eye as its own citizens are being used by the
Mswati autocracy to assassinate democracy activists in Swaziland.
CPS International Secretary, Pius Vilakati, during the
picket emphasised that the mercenaries hired by the regime are South Africans.
He thus called upon the South African Government to intervene on the matter and
prosecute those murderers who are acting as part of Mswati's killing machinery.
“The assassination of human rights lawyer Thulani
Maseko and Muzi Mmema, among others, forms a long list of assassinated
democracy activists by the tinkhundla regime. We know that for decades they
have used their police and army to murder the people of Swaziland”, said the
CPS International Secretary, Pius Vilakati.
“Therefore, let us set 12 April 2023,” continued
Vilakati, “as our first immediate moment for the regime to fall. Let us throw
all our efforts to ensure that we end Mswati's war of oppression by
intensifying the People's Liberation War!”
Vilakati went on to call for unity amongst the people
of Swaziland for the total overthrow of the ruling autocracy, which is Africa's
last absolute monarchy.
“Comrades, there is no greater tool than unity among
the fighting forces of our country, otherwise we are doomed to more oppression”,
he said.
The CPS has called for all efforts to be undertaken to
ensure that the regime does not reach its 50th anniversary on 12 April 2023.
Political parties have remained banned in Swaziland
since 12 April 1973 when absolute-monarchy rule was imposed with direct counsel
from the former apartheid regime of South Africa.
“Let us wage a relentless struggle inside and outside
Swaziland, mobilise international solidarity, to ensure that by 12 April this
year the regime no longer exists”, continued the CPS International Secretary.
The picket, led by the United Eswatini Diaspora, was
also joined by members of the mass democratic movement of Swaziland and also
supported by the Embassy of Western Sahara, the Black Panther Party from the
United States of America, and the South African Solidarity Movement for Western
Sahara (SASOMWESA).
If Mswati is wise enough he should take Zuma’s advice:
EFF Swaziland president
By Eugene Dube, Swati Newsweek, 14 February, 2023
MATSAPHA: Nombulelo Motsa, the
Economic Freedom Fighters of Swaziland President president believes that former
South African President Jacob Zuma spoke wisely before King Mswati III.
Motsa says King Mswati III
should accept Zuma’s advice.
The ex-SA president advised
Mswati to negotiate with “Rebels” who are demanding greater political and economic
emancipation.
Motsa was asked to share her
opinion on this matter.
She said, “Zuma is trying to
bring a solution that would be fair to the nation. Sometimes you need to
compromise as a leader to make sure the people you lead are happy with you.”
She said, “If Mswati is wise
enough, he should take Zuma's advice.” Swaziland has always been known as a
peaceful country. He must admit that it's time to change from the usual style
of ruling to an era where people can't be forced to do things as you command
them to but have learnt about human rights. So time for slavery is over. I hope
Mswati takes Zuma's advice. The people have long waited for the dialogue and
lost patience along the way thus violence started. Swaziland is a small
country. we are all related in one way or the other.
Motsa said the political
killings are destroying the Swazi nation.
She concluded, “These killings
are making the us enemies of our brother's.”
No school fees: 40 kids out of 120 attempt suicide
By Phiwase Phungwayo, Times of eSwatini, 9 February 2023
MANZINI: At least 120 children in the Matsapha
corridor are out of school, and out of these, 40 attempted to commit suicide
last year due to their parents’ failure to pay for their education.
It was gathered that a majority of their parents had
reportedly lost their jobs due to various reasons. This was revealed by
Eswatini Family Care and Wellness Organisation Director Sibusiso Makhanya.
Family Care and Wellness is a non-governmental organisation that seeks to help
families deal with psychosocial challenges in society. Makhanya disclosed
that some of these children whose parents were out of jobs, were mostly those
who worked in the textile firms in Matsapha. He said some of the parents had
literally abandoned their children because they were also stressed due to
unemployment. Worth noting is that the situation of the 40 children was
revealed against the backdrop of the rise in the number of applications for the
orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) grants.
It was reported last Monday by this publication that
applications for OVC grants had increased to over 100 000, necessitating
government to have a budget of over E195 million. Ever since its inception
in 2003, the OVC Fund has been paying E1 950 per child in high school, which
most head teachers decried to be meagre. As such, most have been requiring
top-up fees, which many parents had been struggling to pay. The fund was
officially introduced by His Majesty King Mswati III in his 2003 speech, when
officially opening Parliament. Information gathered from the different social
workers in the regions was that the number of applications for the grants had
increased rapidly. The officers said in as much as the processes were
still ongoing but the increase in numbers was noted, topping over 100 000.
Currently, the unemployment rate in the country stands
at 33.3 per cent as per the Labour Survey Report of 2021, conducted by the
Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Meanwhile, the director (Makhanya) said
a great number of children and youth in Eswatini had been hit by a number of
adversities that affected them psychosocially. He noted that the adversities
affected their education as well. He attributed these to HIV/AIDS, COVID-19,
poverty, droughts, family violence, emotional and physical abuse. He said these
affected them to a point where many developed psychological disorders.
“In 2022 – 2023, a large number of children and youth
have not gone back to school due to various psychosocial issues, and many are
not taking it well,” Makhanya shared. “While working last year, we
registered 120 children and out of these, 40 attempted to kill themselves. As
the sessions continued, the children shared that some of their parents could
not take them to school because they had lost their jobs. A majority of
the parents were working in the textile firms in Matsapha. Other children were
under the free primary education (FPE) programme because their parents could
not afford to pay for their education in high school.
Makhanya reiterated that with the 40 children having
confessed to have attempted to commit suicide, it was a sign that they needed
to stand up and fight against this adversity.
To read more of this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/138834-no-school-fees-40-kids-out-of-120-attempt-suicide.html
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