Swaziland’s King Mswati under pressure from China to end support for Taiwan

By Peter Kenworthy

 

Western countries have not exerted much pressure on Swaziland’s absolute monarchy to rectify its lack of democracy and human rights. Neither has another democracy, the People’s Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. A country with whom Swaziland (renamed Eswatini by King Mswati III in 2018) – as the only country In Africa – has diplomatic ties with, writes Peter Kenworthy for Afrika Kontakt.

The UN has not recognized Taiwan since it switched its diplomatic recognition to China in 1971. 

In a statement on Swaziland-Taiwan relations from July 2019, government spokesperson Percy Simelane spoke of the “unbroken diplomatic relations” between the two countries, since Swaziland’s independence in 1968.

- This relationship is based on mutual respect, friendship and loyalty … Our commitment to strong diplomatic ties with Taiwan remains unshaken and enduring, he added.

Swaziland has thus far decided to stay loyal to its relationship with Taiwan, says Swazi political activist and former president of the Swaziland Youth Congress, Bheki Dlamini.

Dlamini, who has a degree in public administration from the University of Bergen, adds that China has been turning a blind eye to Swaziland’s support of Taiwan, and Taiwan’s aid and donations to Swaziland. But that the few other states that had diplomatic relations with Taiwan – such as Burkina Faso and the Gambia – have severed their ties with the island state.

- Swaziland has not been persuaded otherwise, but remains committed to Taiwan. Until recently, China has not publicly denounced the Taiwan-Swaziland relationship. In a turn of events China is now denying visas to people from Swaziland, he says.

Win-win or Catch 22?

In a statement, the Chinese ambassador to South Africa says:

 - Since 10 January, some Eswatini people realized that all the Embassies and Consulate-Generals of the people’s Republic of China (PRC), except the Embassy of China to Pretoria, have been closed for Eswatini citizens to apply for visas to mainland China, which will cripple their business and the country’s economy development.

- Such an embarrassing situation is the result of Eswatini defying the One-China Principle and maintaining so-called “diplomatic ties” with the Taiwan authorities … It is the right time for the Eswatini government and people to make a right choice for win-win cooperation, the letter adds. 

Bheki Dlamini believes that Swaziland is thus in something of a Catch 22-situation, regarding Chinese pressure.

- The free lunch from Taiwan is good for the royal family, which has the luxury of behaving like Taiwan’s spoilt child. But Taiwan needs Swaziland more than China needs Swaziland. If Swaziland dumps Taiwan for China, the monarchy will lose the financial and political benefits it reaps from Taiwan. However, going with China might be no guarantee that China will supersede Taiwan in development aid and donation to Swaziland, Dlamini says.

- But this will certainly benefit ordinary Swazis who want to explore business, educational and other opportunities offered by China. Can the monarchy truly withstand pressure from China and for how long? The monarchy is used to Swaziland getting away from any form of international scrutiny because of size, be it on human rights or democracy. However, I doubt it will escape the Chinese pressure, he adds.

See also

China closes embassies to Swazi people to force kingdom to drop support for Taiwan

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/02/china-closes-embassies-to-swazi-people.html

 

Swaziland calls on UN to admit Taiwan

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/04/swaziland-calls-on-un-to-admit-taiwan.html

World Food Program falls short in fundraising as hunger grips Swaziland and King spends lavishly on himself

The World Food Program has fallen more than US$9 million short in its fundraising to help ease the hunger crisis gripping Swaziland / eSwatini.

That amounts to only 47 percent of the US$17.4 million it hoped to raise, the WFP ‘resource situation’ report for June 2019 states.

In a separate briefing for May 2019 WFP says ‘an estimated 22 percent of the population [of 1.1 million] has been food insecure in the past ten years’. 

It adds, ‘Chronic malnutrition is a main concern in Eswatini: stunting affects 26 percent of children under the age of five.’

WFP provides social safety nets for 55,000 young orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) of pre-primary school age across the kingdom at neighbourhood care points through access to food and basic social services. 

WFP reports, ‘Seventy percent of the rural population live below the national poverty line and 25 percent are extremely poor. Eswatini has a very high HIV prevalence, affecting 26 percent of the population between the ages of 15-49. Life expectancy is 49 years, and 45 percent of children are orphaned or vulnerable.’

In May 2017 the WFP estimated 350,000 people of Swaziland’s population – more than one in three – needed food assistance.

WFP gives no reason for its shortfall in funding but there have been reports in recent years that international donors are concerned about the lavish lifestyle of King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch, and his family.

Swaziland is designated a ‘middle income’ country by the World Bank based on the Kingdom’s national income. The problem in Swaziland is that this income is not evenly distributed among the population. The King takes 25 percent of all mining royalties and controls the profits of the conglomerate Tibiyo TakaNgwane. Officially he keeps these monies ‘in trust’ for the Swazi nation, but in reality much of it goes to fund his own lifestyle. 

He has two private airplanes, at least 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range cars. At his 50^th birthday in 2018 he wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds that weighed 6 kg. Days earlier he had taken delivery of his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but with VIP upgrades was estimated to have cost US$30 million.

In 2017 King Mswati was named the third wealthiest King in Africa by the international website Business Insider. It reported he had a net worth of US$200 million (about E2.8 billion in local Swazi currency).

In May 2018 Lucky Ndlovu, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Director of Children Services, revealed that neighbourhood care points that feed the hungry across Swaziland were short of food because donations were drying up.

The Sunday Observer reported Ndlovu saying, ‘There is a lack of support from those who used to supply the food. Most of the support was from international donors who are now focussing on other countries which are not classified as middle income countries.’

He added, donors believed Swaziland had enough money but it was not being directed towards the poor.

‘Government must come up with programmes that are pro-poor because the international community is now not willing to support us,’ he said.

In 2018 Afrika Kontakt (Africa Contact), a Danish NGO, reported European Union taxpayers’ money was being used to finance the lavish lifestyle of Swaziland’s royal family through money donated to develop the kingdom’s sugar industry. The report called The European Union in Swaziland: In support of an Authoritarian King? said since the King controlled much of this industry, EU money ‘benefits the Royal Family greatly’ and undermines democratic forces in Swaziland.

The Afrika Kontakt report stated, ‘By continuing to support these sectors, without raising demands from the Swazi Government to prioritize its citizens’ well-being over the lavish lifestyle of its monarch, it is essentially EU taxpayers’ money that finances the lavish spending of the monarchy.’

A separate report written by Klaus Stig Kristensen and published by Afrika Kontakt in 2017 stated that in Swaziland almost 6 percent of the national budget was spent on the Royal Family while only 3.3 percent was spent on agriculture, ‘the engine that is supposed to pull the rural population out of poverty’.

In July 2016 Lisa Peterson, United States Ambassador to Swaziland, warned Swaziland might not receive further food aid from her country because of the Swazi King’s ‘lavish spending’ on holidays. She was responding after it was revealed that at least three of King Mswati III’s wives had been on holiday in Orlando, Florida – with an entourage of more than 100.

The cost of this holiday was equivalent to the drought relief that the US was then providing to the drought-stricken kingdom –  E14 million (US$1 million).

News24 in South Africa reported Peterson saying the US had limited funds for drought relief. She said, ‘When we hear of the lavish spending by the Swazi royal family – especially while a third of their citizens need food aid – it becomes difficult to encourage our government to make more emergency aid available. You can’t expect international donors to give more money to the citizens of Swaziland than their own leaders give them.’

See also

King takes US$10m from iron mine

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/king-takes-us10m-from-iron-mine.html

Swazi King and queens of bling

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-King-and-queens-of-bling.html
 

King wears watch worth US$1.6-million

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/King-wears-watch-worth-us16-million.html

King wears suit beaded with diamonds

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/swazi-King-wears-suit-of-diamonds.html 

Swazi royals spend, spend, spend

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-royals-spend-spend-spend.html

EU MONEY PAYS FOR LAVISH SWAZI KING

European Union taxpayers’ money is being used to finance the lavish lifestyle of Swaziland’s Royal Family, an investigation has revealed.

This happens while seven in ten of the 1.1 million population live in abject poverty.

Money given to develop Swaziland’s sugar industry ends up in the pocket of King Mswati III who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. In April 2018 at a party to mark both his 50^th birthday and the anniversary of Swaziland’s Independence from Great Britain, King Mswati wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing 6 kg studded with diamonds. Days earlier he had taken delivery of his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but with VIP upgrades was estimated to have cost US$30 million.

The report from Danish NGO Afrika Kontakt (Africa Contact) called The European Union in Swaziland: In support of an Authoritarian King? says EU money ‘benefits the Royal Family greatly’ and undermines democratic forces in Swaziland.

The EU spent 120 million Euros (US$144 million; E1.76 billion) to improve the competitiveness of Swaziland’s sugar industry in the ten years up to 2017. Sugar accounts for almost 60 percent of the agricultural output and 16 percent of employment in the kingdom.

The sugar industry in Swaziland is dominated by Tibiyo TakaNgwane, a royal investment company that the King holds ‘in trust for the Swazi nation’. Tibiyo owns 50 percent of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) and 40 percent of Ubombo Sugar Ltd (a subsidiary of the South African-based Illovo company), the industry’s major players. Tibiyo also has stakes in sugar estates and haulage companies and has a 30 percent share in FINCORP, which provides loans to small-scale sugar farmers with interest rates above 20 percent.

Afrika Kontakt said the Swaziland sugar industry mirrored Swazi society by being largely owned by the Royal Family through various companies and investment funds, and by the royal chiefs playing an important role.

It added the purpose of EU funding was to increase the competitiveness of the sugar industry. ‘However, a large percentage of the funds have benefitted the two major sugar millers RSSC and Ubombo Sugar Ltd, and their major shareholder the royal investment company Tibiyo TakaNgwane.’

It said that EU funding had helped subsistence farmers, but had also enriched chiefs through the payment of royalties and Royalty-affiliated haulage companies.

Afrika Kontakt said Tibiyo’s ownership in RSSC secured it a dividend payment of E98 million (US$8 million) in 2015-16. Ownership of Illovo paid out E15 million as dividend in 2012-13. Illovo is no longer listed so it is impossible to find information about more recent payments.

Afrika Kontakt reported Tibiyo is controlled by King Mswati III and Freedom House has reported it is an open secret in Swaziland that the Royal Family uses the fund to pay for personal expenses. The Managing Director of Tibiyo A T Dlamini is a former Prime Minister and the board consists of several members of the Royal Family.

Tibiyo’s annual accounts are sketchy. For example in 2015, E49 million – almost half the total expenses – were budgeted under ‘sundry expenses’ without further clarification. Afrika Kontakt reported this was ‘a sign that funds which are supposed to aid the public are being used by fund managers and/ or the Royal Family in an underhand manner’.

Afrika Kontakt said, ‘The sugar industry in Swaziland is structured so that external assistance [from the EU] to the industry ends up benefitting the last absolute monarch in Africa.’

It added this support for the Royal Family undermined the democratic forces in the kingdom. Swaziland is not a democracy. Political parties are banned from contesting elections and groups advocating for democracy are banned as ‘terrorists’ under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. Media are severely censored and freedom of assembly is curtailed. Elections are held every five years in Swaziland but people only get to select 55 of 65 members of the House of Assembly. The King chooses the other 10. No members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the people; the King chooses 20 and the other 10 are elected by members of the House of Assembly.

After the last election in 2013, King Mswati appointed nine princes and princesses to the House of Assembly and the Senate.

The Afrika Kontakt report stated, ‘By continuing to support these sectors, without raising demands from the Swazi Government to prioritize its citizens’ well-being over the lavish lifestyle of its monarch, it is essentially EU taxpayers’ money that finances the lavish spending of the monarchy.’

After the most recent national election in 2013, the African Union (AU) mission called for fundamental changes in the kingdom to ensure people had freedom of speech and of assembly. The AU said the Swaziland Constitution guaranteed ‘fundamental rights and freedoms including the rights to freedom of association’, but in practice ‘rights with regard to political assembly and association are not fully enjoyed’. The AU said this was because political parties were not allowed to contest elections.

The AU urged Swaziland to review the constitution, especially in the areas of ‘freedoms of conscience, expression, peaceful assembly, association and movement as well as international principles for free and fair elections and participation in electoral process’.

In its report on the 2013 elections, the Commonwealth observers recommended that measures be put in place to ensure separation of powers between the government, parliament and the courts so that Swaziland was in line with its international commitments.

They also called on the Swaziland Constitution to be ‘revisited’.

The report stated, ‘This should ideally be carried out through a fully inclusive, consultative process with all Swazi political organisations and civil society (needed, with the help of constitutional experts), to harmonise those provisions which are in conflict. The aim is to ensure that Swaziland’s commitment to political pluralism is unequivocal.’

It also recommended that a law be passed to allow for political parties to take part in elections, ‘so as to give full effect to the letter and spirit of Section 25 of the Constitution, and in accordance with Swaziland’s commitment to its regional and international commitments’.

In 2015, following a visit to Swaziland, a Commonwealth mission renewed its call for the constitution to be reviewed so the kingdom could move toward democracy.

There is concern in Europe that not enough is being done to press for democracy in Swaziland. In May 2015, the European Parliament voted for the release of all political prisoners in Swaziland and called for the kingdom to be monitored for its human rights record.

A statement issued by the European Parliament said, ‘Parliament considers the imprisonment of political activists and the banning of trade unions to be in clear contravention of commitments made by Swaziland under the Cotonou Agreement to respect democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and also under the sustainable development chapter of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement, for which Parliament’s support will depend on respect for the commitments made.’

The resolution was passed by 579 votes to six, with 58 abstentions. 

See also

SPOTLIGHT ON SWAZI INTERNATIONAL AID

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/spotlight-on-swazi-international-aid.html

 

EU UNDERMINES FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/eu-undermines-fight-for-democracy.html

HUMAN SUFFERING AND SWAZI SUGAR

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/human-suffering-and-swazi-sugar.html

KING EXPLOITS SUGAR WORKERS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/king-exploits-sugar-workers.html

FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS: EURO MPs

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/free-political-prisoners-euro-mps.html

EURO MPs: SCRAP TRADE DEALS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/euro-mps-scrap-swazi-trade-deals.htm

SPOTLIGHT ON SWAZI INTERNATIONAL AID

More information than ever before about the lavish spending of King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of impoverished Swaziland, has been made public (outside the kingdom) in recent weeks, raising questions about where the money comes from.

Now, Swazi Media Commentary turns a spotlight on the amount of international development aid the kingdom receives and how this helps divert funds away from much needed work to help the poor and disadvantaged and towards the Swazi Royal Family.

In April 2018 at a party to mark both his 50^th birthday and the anniversary of Swaziland’s Independence from Great Britain, King Mswati wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing 6 kg studded with diamonds. Days earlier he had taken delivery of his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but with VIP upgrades was estimated to have cost US$30 million.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the population estimated at 1.1 million people live in abject poverty on incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

In 2017, the global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as the most unequal country in the world in a report called Starting With People, a human economy approach to inclusive growth in Africa detailing the differences in countries between the top most earners and those at the bottom. The Oxfam report stated the government, which is handpicked by King Mswati, ‘failed to put measures in place to tackle inequality, with poor scores for social spending and progressive taxation, and a poor record on labour rights’.

In a report in May 2017, the World Food Program estimated 350,000 people of Swaziland’s population were in need of food assistance. WFP helped 65,473 of them. It said it was regularly feeding 52,000 orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) aged under eight years at neighbourhood care points. About 45 percent of all children in Swaziland are thought to be OVCs. It reported chronic malnutrition affected 26 percent of all children in Swaziland aged under five.

While his subjects go hungry King Mswati and his family live lavish lifestyles. He has 13 palaces and fleets of expensive cars. He and his 13 wives and children wear watches worth tens of thousands of dollars each. His wives regularly take international shopping trips costing millions of dollars. Meanwhile, Swaziland takes money from overseas to fund its development projects, many of them directed at the poorest people in the kingdom.

Between 2011 and 2015 Swaziland took US$507 million (E6.24 billion) in external assistance from other countries. Of this, US$140 million came from the United States (28 percent of the total) and US$123 million from the European Union (24 percent of the total). Other main donors were Taiwan (US$74 million) and the United Nations (US$59 million).

Combined, the total external assistance accounted for 17.6 percent of Swaziland’s domestic revenue. The EU’s assistance covers a range of areas, including education, health, water and sanitation among others. The US only assists in areas of health. The health sector receives the largest amount of aid, followed by agriculture and infrastructure.

A report written by Klaus Stig Kristensen and published by Afrika Kontakt (Africa Contact) in 2017 stated, ‘The EU and US finance these sectors, freeing up funds for the government of Swaziland to spend on an unnecessary defence/security sector that consumes an increasing amount of the national budget.

‘They thereby alleviate funds for the government of Swaziland to be spent on vanity capital projects [such as the King Mswati III International Airport] and unnecessary defence that consumes an increasing amount of the national budget.

‘If sustainable socio-economic development is to take place in Swaziland, it is essential that the government of Swaziland takes the lion’s share of the responsibility and prioritizes its budget accordingly.’

The report stated that in Swaziland almost 6 percent of the national budget is spent on the Royal Family and 12.4 percent on the security sector, while only 3.3 percent is spent on agriculture, ‘the engine that is supposed to pull the rural population out of poverty’. It added, ‘This is a strange budget prioritization considering that the majority of Swazis live below the poverty line. 

In the March 2018, the budget for the Royal Family spending (the civil list) was increased by E1 million to E394 million. At the same time value added tax (VAT) was increased by 1 percent. Local media did not comment on the King’s increase but did report the budget as an attack on the poor.

King Mswati’s personal spending also diverts money away from much-needed development.

The sources of the King’s income are kept secret from the Swazi people. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated that the King himself had a personal net fortune worth US$200 million. Forbes also said King Mswati was the beneficiary of two funds created by his father Sobhuza II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute discretion over use of the income. The trust has been estimated to be worth US$10 billion.  

The King also holds 25 percent of all mining royalties in Swaziland ‘in trust’ for the Swazi nation.

In August 2014 the Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa reported King Mswati personally received millions of dollars from international companies such as phone giant MTN; sugar conglomerates Illovo and Remgro; Sun International hotels and beverages firm SAB Millerto.

It reported that MTN, which had a monopoly of the cell phone business in Swaziland at the time, paid dividends directly to the King. He holds 10 percent of the shares in MTN in Swaziland and is referred to by the company as an ‘esteemed shareholder’. It said MTN had paid E114 million (US$11.4 million at the then exchange rate) to the King over the previous five years.

The newspaper also reported that the King was receiving income from Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, a conglomerate he controls ‘in trust for the Swazi nation’, which paid dividends in 2013 of E218.1 million. The newspaper reported ‘several sources’ who said it was ‘an open secret’ that although money generated by Tibiyo was meant to be used for the benefit of the nation, Tibiyo in fact channelled money directly to the Royal Family.

In 2016, Tibiyo paid dividends of E188.5 million and had assets valued at E1.8 billion. Tibiyo TakaNgwane investments include Dalcrue Agricultural Holdings, Inyoni Yami Swaziland Insurance, Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation, Ubombo Sugar Limited, Bhunu Mall, Nedbank Swaziland, Simunye Plaza, The Swazi Observer, Tibiyo Properties, Maloma Colliery, Parmalat Swaziland, Swaziland Beverages and Swazi Spa Holdings. 

Earlier in May 2018, Lucky Ndlovu, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Director of Children Services, revealed that Neighbourhood Care Points (NCP) that feed the hungry across Swaziland were short of food because donations were drying up.

The Sunday Observer reported Ndlovu saying, ‘There is a lack of support from those who used to supply the food. Most of the support was from international donors who are now focussing on other countries which are not classified as middle income countries.’

He added, donors believed Swaziland had enough money but it was not being directed towards the poor.

‘Government must come up with programmes that are pro-poor because the international community is now not willing to support us,’ he said.

See also

KING TAKES US$10m FROM IRON MINE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/king-takes-us10m-from-iron-mine.html

SWAZI KING AND QUEENS OF BLING

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-King-and-queens-of-bling.html

 

KING WEARS WATCH WORTH US$1.6-million

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/King-wears-watch-worth-us16-million.html

 

KING WEARS SUIT BEADED WITH DIAMONDS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/swazi-King-wears-suit-of-diamonds.html 

SWAZI ROYALS SPEND, SPEND, SPEND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-royals-spend-spend-spend.html

TOO LONG WAIT SEEKING SWAZI JUSTICE

‘Most visits are trouble-free’

Kenworthy News Media, 2 February 2018

SOURCE

Trying to complain and demand an investigation into having been beaten up and threatened by security police in Swaziland via the UK Foreign Office takes its time. In my case seven and a half years and counting, writes Kenworthy News Media.

Me and my colleagues were detained by police without charge, beaten, threatened, denied any legal representation, food, drink, or visits to the toilet during a five hour ordeal at Manzini Regional Police Headquarters, in Africa’s last absolute monarchy Swaziland.

The UK Foreign Office assured me recently that my case, ongoing since September 2010, “is still open with us”, and that the they will be contacting the Swazi authorities and “following a regular review of your case between those in Swaziland and our teams in London, including specialist legal advisors.”

“You may be aware waiting for a response can be extremely slow,” the email concluded. Indeed I am.

Poor human rights record
When you read the foreign travel advice for Swaziland on gov.uk, you are told that “most visits are trouble-free” but that “you should avoid rallies, demonstrations and gatherings as these can be dispersed forcefully by the police.”

Even though I knew of the poor human rights record of Swaziland’s government and police forces, I was therefore not worried about going on a project monitoring visit for my employer, Danish solidarity organisation Afrika Kontakt.

I was there with two colleagues during the democratic movement’s first Global Week of Action, an annual event organized by the democratic movement of Swaziland to coincide with Swaziland’s Independence Day on September 7.

‘This is Swaziland’
But when around fifteen plain clothes police officers burst through the door of our partners office, knocking me to the ground, throttling and beating my two Danish colleagues and two Swazi partners, it was obvious that we were not going to have what the FCO refers to as a “trouble-free visit.”

The police continued to terrorize and intimidate us at the police station. I was elbowed in the stomach a couple of times, one officer told us that we would “never return to your country. You will die here. This is Swaziland, not Denmark.” Officers threated our Swazi partners with torture by simulated drowning. All requests for water, food, a lawyer or being allowed to use the bathroom were refused.

At one point the four of us stood in the yard of the police station, one of the Swazi partners being beaten up behind us. Fifty or so police officers were standing menacingly in front of us forming a crescent. They had truncheons, firearms and full riot gear, so we thought we were going to get a severe beating. Luckily our Swazi partners managed to talk them out of doing so.

During our interrogation, by eight officers, we were again threatened and wrongly accused of financially supporting PUDEMO, a political movement fighting for a constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. But also a movement that is banned under Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act, an act that Amnesty International refers to as being “inherently repressive.”

Pressure paid off
Luckily, I had managed to send a short mail to our office back in Denmark that the police were coming for us, moments before they barged into the office. Our office had, unbeknownst to us, replied that if we didn’t answer their mail within five minutes they would contact the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swazi Consulate, which they did.

Behind the scenes, the Ministry had been piling the pressure on the Swazi authorities for our release. It paid off, as the police who had until now been terrorizing us all of a sudden starting behaving nicely towards us. Eventually they drove us to the airport so that we could catch our plane to South Africa. We were told never to return to Swaziland.

There were probably two immediate reasons for the unprovoked attack by the police in retrospect. Firstly, that the police wrongly believed that we were to take part in the protest marches in connection with the Global Week of Action together with the many other mainly South African foreigners, most or all of whom were also detained and/or deported.

Secondly, we had spent around fifteen minutes at a seminar at the Tum’s George Hotel listening to a lecture about the history of the democratic movement in Swaziland. When around a hundred police officers arrived, and some of the South African’s who were attending the seminar started leaving through the back door, we decided to join them.

Apparently, the police subsequently arrested the forty-five people who remained and had been very angry that we had left.

‘No response’
When I contacted by Foreign Office, to complain about our treatment at the hands of the Swazi police, I was told a week later that the FCO “take all allegations of mistreatment against British nationals very seriously.” The FCO would “raise the allegations” with the Swazi authorities and “ask for an investigation to be conducted and the perpetrator(s) brought to justice.”

Two months later, I was informed that the FCO had not received an answer to its request and that the High Commission would “raise the allegations directly with Swazi government officials in January,” when visiting Swaziland.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013, I received emails from the FCO, saying that they had had “no response” to their inquiries, but that they would be “repeating our request for an investigation to your allegations.” In 2016, I was told that “we have to-date no new information on the investigation.”

Being white is newsworthy
I talked to the Times of Swaziland on the phone from the airport before we left Swaziland. They published a couple of articles about the incident. I also called Amnesty International once back in Denmark. They mentioned our ordeal in their 2011 International Report, as did the US Department of State in their 2010 country report of Human Right Practices.

We also contacted the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Minister for Development Cooperation, Søren Pind, replied that he was “worried about the human rights situation in Swaziland. Denmark has officially raised the matter with Swaziland emphasizing that we are seriously worried about these events. At the same time we have stressed that we obviously expect the authorities to investigate this matter thoroughly.”

The incident also made many of the Danish national papers, the two national TV channels and several international newspapers.

Learning experience
I have been to Swaziland several times since 2010 on project visits without serious incident, as have my colleagues. Being a white visitor with a burgundy passport, I can afford to see the incident as a learning experience – the kind of experience that people in Swaziland and in other countries around the world experience every day, only much, much worse and often with a lot less media coverage.

Like Sipho Jele, who was beaten to death by police for wearing a t-shirt with a PUDEMO-logo. Or Bheki Dlamini, Maxwell Dlamini and the many other Swazi activists who have been tortured and end up spending months and years in prison, detained without facing a judge, eventually to be either released, kept on bail or sentenced on trumped up charges.

The Global Week of Action has continued as an annual event even though the police routinely assault those who dare take part in the event. Last year thousands of Swazis marched through the capital Mbabane to deliver a petition which calls for democracy and socioeconomic justice to the government.

See also

SWAZI POLICE BRUTALITY: EYEWITNESS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/swazi-police-brutality-eyewitness.html

POLICE INTIMIDATION: NEW EVIDENCE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/police-intimidation-new-evidence.html

 

SWAZI POLICE HARASS JOURNALIST

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/swazi-police-harass-journalist.html

 

POLICE BRUTALITY: NEW TESTIMONY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/police-brutality-new-testimony.html

EU ‘UNDERMINES FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY’

EU sugar-coats absolute monarchy’s bitter pill

Kenworthy News Media, 27 November 2017

SOURCE

European Union-support for Swaziland’s monarchy-controlled sugar industry undermines the fight for democracy, even though it nominally benefits smallholders, says a new report from a Danish solidarity organization, writes Kenworthy News Media.

A new report from Afrika Kontakt commends the EU for supporting Swaziland’s sugar industry, which benefits thousands of smallholder growers of sugar cane. The problem is, however, that the smallholder growers are also left vulnerable by sugar price fluctuations and transport costs, as well as by the corruption and undermining of the fight for democracy, that EU-support for Swaziland’s sugar industry, healthcare and education systems allows.

The report is based on extensive research in Swaziland, including field studies and interviews with most actors in Swaziland’s sugar industry.

Support ends up in king’s pocket

Despite Swaziland being a small country with a population of just under 1.3 million; it is nevertheless Africa’s fourth largest sugar producer. The sugar industry employs 16 percent of the adult population in a country where unemployment is close to 30 percent, and is thus the country’s most important industry.

Swaziland is not a democracy by any definition of the word, even though elections are held every five years, the report insists, but in fact an absolute monarchy. The country spends more money on security than health, and six percent of its budget goes towards maintenance of the king’s household. It is also the most unequal country in the world, with the highest HIV-prevalence and the lowest life expectancy in the world.

“There are strong political powers that have little or no interest in changing the undemocratic nature of Swaziland. Support to the sugar industry, in the way that it is currently conducted, will therefore unavoidably and primarily end up supporting the royal family and thus undermine the democratic forces in the country,” the report says.

Demand democratic reform

As one of Swaziland’s main trading partners, who spends millions of Euros every year on development aid to Swaziland, the EU is actually in a position to demand democratic change in Swaziland, however, one of the authors of the report, Klaus Stig Kristensen from Afrika Kontakt says.

“Swaziland is a de facto dictatorship and it is difficult to ensure that international support doesn’t end up lining the pockets of King Mswati and his family. Tough measures are needed to avoid this, including demands for democratic reform and monitoring of these demands.  And if these demands not met there should be consequences, such as suspending development aid to Swaziland,” says Kristensen.

His report recommends that the EU support the democratic movement fighting for change, including illegal political parties, unions and right-based groups.

The EU should also demand that Swaziland, as a country without external enemies, spends less on security and more on the welfare of its impoverished population, and condemn Swaziland’s lack of compliance with its international rights-based obligations.

Afrika Kontakt has run development projects with Swazi civil society organisations for a decade.   

READ THE REPORT HERE

See also

SWAZI SUGAR WORKERS EXPLOITED

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/swazi-sugar-workers-exploited.html

MORE WORKERS JOIN SUGARCANE UNION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/more-workers-join-sugarcane-union.html

HUMAN SUFFERING AND SWAZI SUGAR

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/human-suffering-and-swazi-sugar.html

KING EXPLOITS SUGAR WORKERS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/king-exploits-sugar-workers.html

 

SUGAR STRIKERS WIN PAY INCREASE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/sugar-strikers-win-pay-increase.html

POLICE CLASH WITH SUGAR STRIKERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/police-clash-with-sugar-strikers.html