NO NAME CHANGE YET FOR SWAZILAND

Swaziland has not yet changed its name to eSwatini, despite a public announcement from the absolute ruler King Mswati III. 

There needs to be a legal instrument directing the name change.

This was said by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze after the King’s speech.

Already, opposition is growing inside the tiny impoverished kingdom to the King’s message.

The Observer on Saturday, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by the King, reported (21 April 2018), Gamedze saying, ‘We stand guided by the Attorney General on the matter. With that instrument of a name change, we will then forward same correspondence to the United Nations, African Union and SADC [Southern African Development Community], which are the main international bodies. They will then inform their subsequent structures of the name change. So we expect the process of the name change to start soon with the legal instrument (gazette), so that we can inform the rest of the world thereafter.’

It is not clear how much discussion will take before the ‘legal instrument’ is issued. King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King appoints the Prime Minister and government ministers.

It is possible the King would simply make a proclamation, without further discussion. There is a precedent for this. In 1973 Mswati’s father King Sobhuza II proclaimed that from that date power in the kingdom rested with the King. He dissolved the democratically-elected parliament and banned political parties. That proclamation has not been cancelled and remains in force. 

The King’s announcement of the name change was made during his speech on Thursday at a celebration to mark his 50^th birthday and the half-century anniversary of Independence from Great Britain.  It came as a surprise and was made without public consultation.

Criticism of the move will be quiet within Swaziland. Those advocating for democracy face arrest and imprisonment under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. 

The AFP news agency reported that, ‘Critics of the King, who took the throne in 1986 aged 18, said the move was an example of his authoritarian and wasteful reign in a country that suffers dire poverty.’

It quoted Alvit Dlamini, head of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress, saying, ‘We see here King Mswati’s autocratic style. He can’t change the name of the country on his own. He was supposed to consult the nation.’

AFP reported, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland warned that the process was not immediate. ‘When the king has made a pronouncement, due process must take its course,’ acting general secretary Mduduzi Gina said AFP. ‘The legislature must initiate a process to amend the constitution. The change cannot be a knee-jerk reaction.’

See also

KING UNILATERALLY RENAMES SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/king-unilaterally-renames-swaziland.html

NOTHING TO CELEBRATE FOR MOST SWAZIS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/nothing-to-celebrate-for-most-swazis.html

KING’S SECOND PRIVATE JET SET TO ARRIVE

King Mswati III the autocratic monarch of impoverished Swaziland is to take delivery of a second private jet in time for his 50^th birthday in April, it has been officially confirmed.

Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, made the announcement in the House of Assembly.

The purchase of the US$13.2 million Airbus A340-300 has been controversial because seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.1 million subjects live in dire poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day. About 300,000 people in Swaziland are at risk of severe hunger as a result of drought and the government has appealed for international aid to stop people from starving.

Now, a special hangar for the plane will be built at King Mswati III International Airport at a cost of E200 million (US$16.6 million), the Observer on Saturday (10 March 2018) newspaper in Swaziland quoted Gamedze saying.

 

In 2016 when the purchase of the plane was first revealed members of the Swazi parliament voted to block payment of an E96 million deposit. They quickly changed their minds and agreed to pay E200 million (US$13.2 million at the then exchange rate) to China Airlines in Taiwan for the Airbus, built in 2001. 

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported at the time (5 April 2016), that the E96 million allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for the jet had been cancelled by the Ministry of Finance.

The Observer reported the Ministry of Finance had ‘listened and cancelled the allocation and the money taken to the Consolidated Funds’. This would allow it to be spent on other things.

Two days later on Thursday (7 April 2016), the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported that ‘following a three-hour long caucus by both Members of Parliament (MPs) and senators in the Parliament canteen, the latter agreed that the E96m, which had been frozen by MPs, be released to pay a deposit to China Airlines, based in the Republic of China on Taiwan.’

The Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini, who was not elected to office but appointed directly by King Mswati, later presented a statement. The Times reported, ‘[T]he PM said following a Parliament resolution that government find a solution to ensure that Their Majesties are secured a mode of travel, they had sent a ministerial subcommittee headed by Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, to look at the various options available.’

The Airbus is presently in Taiwan undergoing refurbishment. Gamedze said it should be in Swaziland in time for the 50/50 celebrations marking the 50^th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence from Great Britain and the King’50^th birthday in April 2018.

King Mswati already has a private jet, a modified McDonnel Douglas DC-9-87, also known as an MD-87. It cost US$9.5 million in 2012 and at least another US$4.1 million was spent on refurbishments before the King took delivery.

The new jet is continually described in media in Swaziland as a ‘state jet’ but in April 2017 Gamedze told a parliamentary workshop it would be for the use of the King. The Swazi Observer reported at the time that he said it was possible that the jet might be hired out to other users. The newspaper reported him saying, ‘It is true that we need money as a country. But we cannot give this plane to just anyone .We know that many people can afford to hire it, but the plane will only be given to someone who occupies a status that is similar to that of the King.’

See also

MPs BLOCK SWAZI KING’S NEW JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/04/mps-block-swazi-kings-new-jet.html

CALL TO BAN ‘NATION’ MAGAZINE

Swaziland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze is angry that copies of the Nation magazine, which carries articles advocating for democracy in the kingdom, were found at King Mswati III Airport and on board a plane flying to South Africa.

The magazine, which is legally available throughout Swaziland, was spotted by Swazi Senator Bonsile Mngometulu.

According to a report in the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, she, ‘questioned the vigilance of the KMIII International Airport authorities’.

The newspaper reported, ‘She said the March issue of the magazine carried defamatory articles about the country yet the authorities of the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) allowed it to be placed there. She did not specify on the contents of the article but said it was capable of damaging the image of the country and further turn away potential investors.’

Among the articles published in the March 2015 edition of the Nation was one about the role King Mswati played in the closure of an iron ore mining company at Ngwenya. 

Mngometulu said police should have prevented the magazine being distributed at the airport. She was speaking at a briefing between the senate portfolio committee and the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation on Wednesday (15 April 2015). 

Presently, Bheki Makhubu, the editor of the Nation, and human rights lawyer and writer Thulani Maseko are serving two years in jail after writing and publishing articles critical of the judiciary in the magazine.

The Observer reported that Chief Gamedze, ‘said that the authorities should have detected that there was something wrong and prevented the distribution of the magazine in the aircraft. 

‘He agreed it was a situation that needed to be prevented but said such was the responsibility of another ministry.’

 See also

JAILED WRITER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/jailed-writer-in-solitary-confinement.html

SWAZI JOURNALIST’S PRISON LETTER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/jailed-swazi-journalists-prison-letter.html

 

SUPPORT FOR JAILED SWAZI JOURNALISTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/support-for-jailed-swazi-journalists.html

SWAZI GOVT SNUBS 'STARVED REFUGEES'

The Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze has said Somali asylum seekers living in the kingdom who complained that they were being starved and forced to work in fields without pay were lucky they had not been deported.

The Somalis were also reported to be eating grass and tree leaves as they said they were not given anything to eat at the Malindza Refugee Camp.

The Somalis became so desperate that in January 2015, they attempted to walk the 3,800 km from Swaziland back to their war-torn country of Somalia. They were unable to cross the Swaziland / Mozambique border because they did not have travel documents.

Now, seven refugees have set up camp outside Ludzidzini, one of King Mswati III’s 13 royal palaces. The Times of Swaziland newspaper reported they might be seeking Swazi citizenship. 

In January 2015, the Swazi Observer newspaper reported the Somalis had asked the Swazi Ministry of Home Affairs to assist them to return to their homes in Somalia, ‘stating that they could not take any more of the hardship they faced at the camp’. 

Mowlid Omer Warsame, one of the refugees, was reported saying the living conditions in Swaziland were so unbearable ‘they found it better to go and die in the warfront in their home country than in a foreign land’.

On Monday (24 March 2015), Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze told the Swaziland Senate that refugees should respect the laws of Swaziland.

The Swazi Observer reported him saying if government was so harsh on the Somali nationals they would have been deported by now

SWAZI MINISTER’S CAMPAIGN TO MISLEAD

Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, the Swaziland Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has embarked on a campaign of misinformation about the state of the kingdom’s economy and its human rights record.

In an article published on the websites of both Foreign Policy Journal and the Harvard International Review, the Chief says the time for greater prosperity in Swaziland is nigh. He says the kingdom represents an, ‘increasingly attractive opportunity for foreign direct investment’.

In the article which has also been distributed on the African News Desk and Ein News websites, the Chief says that internationally there is, ‘a misrepresentation of the present position, and the opportunities available, within Swaziland’.

He writes, ‘Any notion that we are internally divided in our ambitions could not be further from the truth and suggests that certain western institutions may be referring to outdated, or even misguided, fact-books. Misinformation will serve only to hinder, as opposed to encourage, free enterprise in our country.’

The Chief, who was not elected to his office in Swaziland, where political parties are banned from taking part in elections, adds, ‘It is therefore important to recognize that present-day Swaziland is undergoing a sensitive and challenging process of economic revival.  And we are doing so while bringing about a new culture of governance and accountability.’

King Mswati III rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. 

The Chief’s comments that greater prosperity is nigh came just before Tex Ray, the largest of the Taiwanese textile operations in Swaziland, announced it was retrenching 1,450 of its 1,700 workforce because it has no orders. Other Taiwanese-based textile firms are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks.

The background to this campaign of misinformation is that the United States announced in June 2014 that from 1 January 2015 Swaziland would no longer be able to export goods into the US tariff-free under the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA). 

The decision was taken because after years of broken promises: the Swaziland Government had failed to implement the full passage of amendments to the Industrial Relations Act; full passage of amendments to the Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA); full passage of amendments to the Public Order Act; full passage of amendments to sections 40 and 97 of the Industrial Relations Act relating to civil and criminal liability to union leaders during protest actions; and establishing a code of conduct for the police during public protests.

In a statement, a White House spokesperson said, ‘The decision to withdraw Swaziland’s AGOA eligibility comes after years of engaging with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland on concerns about its implementation of the AGOA eligibility criteria related to worker rights.’ 

The statement said after an ‘extensive review’ the US, ‘concluded that Swaziland had not demonstrated progress on the protection of internationally recognized worker rights. In particular, Swaziland has failed to make continual progress in protecting freedom of association and the right to organize. Of particular concern is Swaziland’s use of security forces and arbitrary arrests to stifle peaceful demonstrations, and the lack of legal recognition for labor and employer federations.

In his article Chief Mgwagwa says, ‘… we do feel that it is time for certain western institutions to carry out a fresh analysis of reality on the ground in our country.’

The true reality on the ground in Swaziland has been and continues to be well documented. Respected organisations as diverse as afriMAP, Amnesty International, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the US State Department, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Labour Start, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Freedom House, have reported human rights violations across all sectors of society, including the banning of prayer meetings, arbitrary arrests and abductions of pro-democracy campaigners and the banning of trade union activities.

In July 2014 the US State Department and organisations across the world criticised the jailing for two years of magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer and writer Thulani Maseko after they wrote articles critical of the Swazi judiciary.

There is evidence that the Chief’s charm offensive might not be working. One correspondent to the Foreign Policy Journal website wrote, ‘Can you describe what your government will do to protect the freedom of association for the people of Swaziland? The United States has said it has engaged continuously with your government for years on this very topic, but you have not changed your stance.’

A different correspondent on the Harvard International Review website wrote, ‘The Chief and Minister is completely divorced from reality. Swaziland is not an “increasingly attractive place for foreign investment” In the last year it has lost thousands of jobs and income in textiles and minerals. No honest investor would touch the place without a very good reason. Officials want payments to get a business set up and the courts will not protect you if the Royal family want to interfere.

‘The US-Africa summit showed that Swaziland’s record on human and workers’ rights continued to be a disgrace and that as long as the government remained opposed to supporting them AGOA would not be re-instated. When the trade unionists returned from Washington the Prime Minister recommended that they be “strangled” for telling the truth about conditions in Swaziland and not buying into the government’s propaganda.

‘He talks about a culture of governance and accountability – this government is accountable to the King, not the people. It has openly ignored votes in parliament and is manipulating the courts. Elections are a joke where political parties remain banned.’

The correspondent concludes, ‘Gumedze’s job is to portray his nation in the most favourable light but this article goes beyond political spin into downright denial of reality. The more worrying question is does he believe it himself?’

The Foreign Policy Journal itself cautioned its readers on Gumedze, saying, ‘The views expressed are his own.’

See also

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD KILLS AGOA

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/05/swazi-human-rights-record-kills-agoa.html

 

RIOT POLICE FORCE HALT TO PRAYER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/riot-police-force-halt-to-prayer.html

COMMUNITY POLICE BANISH GAY MEN

Police banished two men from their community in Swaziland because they were gay.

The men, one aged 18 and the other 21, moved from the Lubombo region to Mvutshini to stay with the aunt of one of them.

Neighbours became suspicious about the relationship between the two men and when confronted they readily agreed they were gay.

The aunt then reported them to the community police.

The Swazi News, an independent newspaper, reported, ‘A meeting was convened where the boys were called to explain their lifestyle. They confirmed that they were gay and that is when they were ordered to immediately leave the area.’

The following day the two men left the area.

The aunt told the newspaper, ‘I was afraid of being labelled all sorts of names in the area and be accused of harbouring gay people in my house. My other problem was that local men would have ended up quarrelling with their wives and resorted to being gay because of the boys living under my roof.’

Sicelo Vilane, a member of the community police, told the newspaper the community was increasingly getting worried about growing ‘bad tendencies’ in the area and, ‘they, together with responsible residents, were on a mission of getting rid of all bad elements’.

Homosexuality is illegal in Swaziland. In November 2011, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said Swaziland would not give human rights to gay people, because they did not exist in the kingdom.  

 

Gamedze was responding to criticism of Swaziland by a United Nations working group on human rights that said the kingdom should enact equality laws for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people.

Gamedze also told the United Nations that while consensual same-sex relations were illegal in Swaziland, the Government did not pursue prosecutions.

Discrimination against gay and lesbian people in Swaziland is rife and extends to workplaces, the churches and on to the streets. 

HOOP (House of Our Pride), a support group for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Inter-sex (GLBTI) people, reported to the United Nation in 2011, ‘It is a common scene for GLBTI to be verbally insulted by by-passers in public places. [There is] defamatory name calling and people yelling out to see a GLBTI person’s reproductive part are some of the issues facing GLBTI in Swaziland.’

‘Faith houses have been known to discriminate against GLBTI, advocating for the alienation of GLBTI in the family and society, while maintaining that these GLBTI are possessed by demons.’ HOOP also said GLBTI people were often discriminated against at work and there had been well known cases of this.

In one of the first reports of its kind detailing sexual orientation discrimination in Swaziland, HOOP revealed, ‘GLBTI are hugely discriminated against in the community, as they are not recognized at community meetings and their points are often not minuted at these meetings nor are they allowed to take part in community services.’

Police often ridiculed GLBTI people if they reported they have been victims of violent crime, HOOP said.

See also

GAY PREJUDICE RIFE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/gay-prejudice-rife-in-swaziland.html

 

NO RIGHTS FOR GAYS: JUSTICE MINISTER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/no-rights-for-gays-justice-minister.html

 

SWAZI MINISTER LIES TO UN ON GAYS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/swazi-minister-lies-to-un-on-gays.html