KING FINES GUARDS FOR LEAKING PHOTOS

Members of the security personnel of Swaziland’s absolute King have been fined 29 cattle after pictures of his multi-million dollar private jet appeared on social media.

Photographs of the wake of the vigil of King Mswati III’s wife Inkhosikati Senteni Masango who committed suicide in April 2018 were also published online.

The City Press in South Africa reported (10 June 2018) the security guards have also been ordered to deposit their cellphones in a container when arriving at work so that they do not take pictures. Another punishment was a new order that they may not sit down at all during their shifts, which can last for longer than eight hours.

The royal family is guarded by officers from His Majesty’s Correctional Services, Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force and the eSwatini Royal Police.

King Mswati III the absolute ruler of impoverished Swaziland / Eswatini took delivery of his second private jet, an A340-300 Airbus, in April 2018 amid secrecy about the true cost of its purchase.

It has been described by CNN as ‘one of the world’s largest personal aircraft’.

It has been widely reported within Swaziland and elsewhere that the 17-year-old plane cost US$13.2 million to purchase from China Airlines in Taiwan. The A340 Airbus is a long-range wide-bodied passenger plane. Usually, it seats 375 passengers and has a range of 12,400 to 16,700 km (7,700 to 10,400 miles). Following the purchase, the Airbus was completely refurbished. With the upgrades it could now be worth as much as US$30 million, but it has not been revealed how much the upgrades cost or where the work was carried out.

A special hangar for the plane is to be built at King Mswati III International Airport at a cost of E200 million (US$16.6 million), to house the Airbus and the King’s other plane, a smaller modified McDonnel Douglas DC-9-87, also known as an MD-87. That plane cost US$9.5 million in 2012.

King Mswati has a global reputation for living a lavish lifestyle with fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars and a Rolls Royce. The King has 13 palaces and he, his family, and their entourage take expensive international trips.  Meanwhile, seven in ten of the King’s 1.1 million subjects live in abject poverty on incomes of less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

At his 50^th birthday party on 19 April 2018 King Mswati wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing 6 kg studded with diamonds.

On 4 June 2018 at a ceremony that lasted six hours he received birthday gifts from his subjects. They included cheques worth at least E15 million (US$1.2 million) along with dining room and lounge furniture made of gold.

Although the King posed for photographs with his diamond-studded suit and furniture of gold, he is more sensitive about the interior of his plane being photographed. He has also banned the media from showing him in his cars including a Maybach limousine that according to CNN cost US$500,000.

One of the photographs reportedly of the interior of King Mswati’s private A340 Airbus that appeared on the Internet

See also

KING EATS OFF GOLD, CHILDREN STAVING

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-eats-off-gold-children-starving.html

CENSORSHIP AND THE SWAZI MEDIA

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/07/censorship-and-swazi-media.html

‘TIMES’ CLIMBDOWN OVER KING’S CRITIC

The Times of Swaziland newspaper has been made to retract a story and apologise after it said one of King Mswati III’s fiercest business critics was ‘robbing’ Swaziland of billions.

The target was Shanmuga Rethenam, popularly known as Shan, who has been pursing King Mswati through courts in Canada and the British Virgin Islands over an alleged unpaid debt of US$3.5 million relating to repairs and improvements to the King’s private jet.

Shan was also a business partner with the King in an iron ore mine venture at Ngwenya that collapsed among bitter recriminations.

The article appeared in the Times of Swaziland on 28 September 2015 and made a number of statements about Shan’s business dealings that it presented as fact.

A letter from Shan’s solicitor Rosin Wright Rosengarten to the Times of Swaziland said the article had ‘directly copied various sections of an article published by the City Press [a South African newspaper]’.

The City Press had also made an apology to Shan. In its apology, City Press said allegations against Shan, ‘have been made by parties who are currently in litigation with Mr Shanmuga Rethenam and remain unproven’.

In its retraction the Times of Swaziland, published in the print edition of the newspaper on 9 May 2016 and carried on the newspaper’s website every day since, said ‘We would like to clarify that these are allegations contained in court documents whose veracity is yet to be tested in a court of law.

‘We therefore retract this statement and further unreservedly apologise to Mr Rethenam for any embarrassment that might have been caused by the article which we have now withdrawn from the online version of the newspaper.’

On Tuesday (17 May 2016) newspapers in Swaziland reported that the Swazi Director of Prosecutions Nkosinathi Maseko had charged Shan with 14 counts relating to business activities.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III who is sub-Sharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, said charges against Shan included, ‘fraud, money laundering, cheating public revenue and theft’.

The newspaper’s report which ran for nearly 2,200 words appeared in full on its website. Usually, the newspaper only publishes one or two paragraphs of a selection of its stories online and then directs readers to a paysite for the rest.

See also

HOW SWAZI KING DESTROYED IRON MINE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/how-swazi-king-destroyed-iron-mine.html

 

NEW MOVE IN KING’S JET COURT DISPUTE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/12/new-move-in-kings-jet-court-dispute.html

PAPER BANNED TO SPARE KING’S BLUSHES

A South African Sunday newspaper was banned from Swaziland because it published an article that might embarrass King Mswati III.

Swazi Police confiscated from newspaper distributors all copies of the Sunday Sun tabloid within Swaziland when it was realised it carried a report about the 18-year-old beauty contest contestant who the King had chosen to be his 14^th wife.

The ban on the paper that is usually widely available in the kingdom happened on 22 September 2013, but was not widely reported at the time. It has come to light in a report on human rights in Swaziland recently published by the US State Department.

The State Department report did not reveal that the article in question gave details of the private life of Sindiswa Dlamini. The Sunday Sun report said the woman it nicknamed ‘Naughty Sindi’ previously had affairs with two of King Mswati’s sons, Prince Majaha and Prince Bandzile, who are both in their early twenties.

One unnamed source told the newspaper, ‘Sindi has dated both these boys. She’s a party girl used to having fun.’

Another informant told Sunday Sun, ‘Sindi is no virgin. She drinks and smokes a lot and has tattoos on parts of her body I cannot mention.’

One source told the newspaper, ‘She is only doing it [marrying the king] because she comes from a poor background.’

The media in Swaziland never report about the king without his permission. King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. 

This was not the first time the media in Swaziland have refused to keep its readers informed about the Swazi Royal Family. In August 2010, the world’s media were excited by the case of Swaziland Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba and King Mswati’s 12th wife, 22-year-old Inkhosikati Nothando LaDube. This was after pictures appeared of Mamba hiding in a bed before his arrest at Royal Villas, a hotel at Ezulwini just outside Mbabane, where he was said to have had regular adulterous meetings with LaDube.

The City Press in South Africa reported at the time that when police pounced, ‘in a desperate effort not to be found out Mamba cut into the base of the bed and slid in – but police ordered him out and Mamba, dressed in a brown suit, was soon taken ­into custody’. He was later forced to resign from the government and the Senate.

At the time the City Press was also restricted from selling in Swaziland. It was reported at the time in African media that Swaziland security forces were instructed to buy all copies of the newspaper that were on sale in the kingdom.

The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported at the time that a man was arrested in Manzini as he tried to get a photocopy of a report in City Press, but did not tell its readers what the report contained.

The newspaper did report that a plain clothed police officer had apparently overheard him requesting that a story contained in the City Press be photocopied. The man was alleged to be a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), the youth wing of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). Both organisations are banned in Swaziland and both have been branded ‘terrorist entities’ by the state.

He was taken to a police station and interrogated by officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). His house was also raided so police could get the original City Press newspaper.

MANY JOURNALISTS ARRESTED

City Press, South Africa

SOURCE

12 April 2011

Swaziland protests: SA journo released

Media24 Africa editor André le Roux was released from police custody this afternoon after being arrested following a police crackdown on dissidents ahead of today’s protests in Swaziland.

Le Roux told City Press he was taken in by police and instructed not to take any pictures of the events in Swaziland.

“About 30 to 40 police officers came out in full riot gear with water cannons and batons in Manzini’s main street to contain the crowd of protesters that gathered at the bus depot,” Le Roux said.

He said the police re-acted after some of the people in the crowd threw stones at them.

“That led to police firing stun grenades and tear gas at the crowd to disperse them. The police then arrested me and took my camera which they later returned. The commissioner instructed me not to take any pictures,” Le Roux said.

“He then told me to leave Swaziland.”

Wendy Hleta, Swaziland police spokesperson, earlier on denied having detained Le Roux.

“Some people were brought in for questioning and there is no one by that name that has been arrested,” Hleta said.

“We had to take people in to finalise their accreditation as it was normal practice for people entering a foreign country to undergo that process,” she said.

Reggy Moalusi, Daily Sun’s assistant editor, was also arrested together with Kaya FM and Radio 702 journalists covering the run-up to the planned mass protests. They were later released.

“We were stalked and questioned but later released,” Moalusi said.

Sikelela Dlamini, one of the protest action co-ordinators, said he evaded arrest when the police raided the offices of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (Snat), arresting his fellow comrades.

Dlamini said he was in hiding and would wait until relative calm returned before re-appearing.

“Police stormed into our offices and arrested Mary Pais Da Silva, Swaziland democracy campaign (SDC) convener, and two others,” Dlamini said.

“They turned everything upside down and some of our comrades were heavily beaten.

“I am worried (about) their condition as they were heavily assaulted – it’s actually unspeakable,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini said he heard gun shots and later realised that police were shooting tear gas at some protesters who gathered close to the taxi rank.

He said that they would continue protests until a democratic dispensation is installed in Swaziland.

Hleta could not be reached later this afternoon to comment on Dlamini’s claims.

- City Press

‘SWAZILAND'S KING MSWATI IN HIDING’

King Mswati III of Swaziland is in hiding ahead of the uprising planned in his kingdom, the City Press, South Africa, reports today (10 April 2011).

It quotes a Swaziland Solidarity Network source saying he is ‘literally sweating in panic’.

Protests planned for Tuesday (12 April 2011) have been banned and police checkpoints have been set up on major roads to the twin cities of Mbabane and Manzini and at points of entry to the kingdom.

SOURCE

Swaziland acts on desperate crises

A major security crackdown on any attempt to spark an Egypt-style uprising and desperate measures to arrest rapid economic decline are being put in place in Swaziland.

The government has now effectively handed over control of the country’s public finances to the ­International Monetary Fund (IMF) and it has banned marches and all forms of protest planned for ­Tuesday against the state of emergency in place since April 12 1973.

Prime Minister [Barnabas] Sibusiso Dlamini has declared the protest illegal, saying that prescribed procedures have not been followed by its organisers. He warned that “all security forces will be ­released to maintain peace”.

An escalation in the tightening of security is ­evident. Police checkpoints have been set up on major roads to the twin cities of Mbabane and Manzini and at points of entry to the country.

Political activists and trade unions have vowed that the “now or never” protest action will go ahead.

In South Africa they are backed by labour federation Cosatu, the ANC Youth League and the Young Communist League of the SACP, who intend to stage a sympathy protest on Tuesday at the Oshoek ­border post.

“The Swazi government finds itself today in most unfamiliar territory. The Swazi people have the king’s testicles in their hands.

“It is entirely up to them to decide what to do with him. He is currently in hiding somewhere, literally sweating in panic,” said the Swaziland Solidarity ­Network, which is based in Johannesburg.

On Friday Swaziland announced it had asked the IMF to introduce a staff-monitored programme to help fiscal adjustment and safeguard pro-poor spending in the country.

IMF staff will effectively vet government spending for the next six months in an effort to ward off a major fiscal crisis.

“Swaziland is facing a serious fiscal crisis, with an overall budget deficit estimated at about 13% of GDP for the 2010/11 fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. The crisis came from structural imbalances in government expenditure and revenue,” the IMF said in a statement.

Swaziland’s liquidity crisis could quickly turn into a solvency crisis if not addressed upfront, as the fiscal adjustment would take time to lead to a more balanced fiscal position, which implied a growing debt-to-GDP ratio over the coming years, the IMF said.

Swaziland has the second-largest wage bill in sub-Saharan Africa, at about 18% of GDP. The IMF says weaknesses in the budget process have led to off-budget expenditures subsequently ­regularised by supplementary budgets.

The strike and intended mass action on Tuesday are also against government attempts to cut salaries by between 4% and 10% and freeze state jobs in a country that has the second most bloated civil service in sub-Saharan Africa.

SWAZI PM 'TO CENSOR FOREIGN PRESS'

Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, who humiliated himself and the kingdom earlier this month by accepting a ‘humanitarian’ medal from a conman, is set to embarrass himself again on the international stage.

This time Dlamini thinks he is so powerful that he can censor a South African newspaper. He is annoyed because City Press from Johannesburg published an article in its edition on Sunday (17 October 2010) criticising the Swazi Government and its running of the economy.

The City Press reported that Dlamini and the Minister of Finance Majozi Sithole had travelled to Washington ‘cap in hand’ to request financial assistance from the World Bank. Dlamini was also annoyed that the newspaper published a comment from Mario Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), an organisation banned in Swaziland.

Questioned in the Swaziland parliament yesterday, Dlamini said, ‘We will deal with this. We have prepared a statement and we will see to it that the newspaper will publish our response.’

I assume that when he says the newspaper ‘will publish our response’ he means the statement will appear as a paid advertisement; because that’s the only way he can ensure its publication (always assuming that the City Press decides to accept it).

There is no other way Dlamini can force the City Press to publish his statement. He must remember that it is only in Swaziland where he has control over the majority of the news media. He is editor-in-chief of the state-run radio, SBIS, and state-run TV, Swazi TV. The Swazi Observer and its companion the Weekend Observer are both in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, so are under Dlamini’s cosh.

But outside of the kingdom it’s a different matter. He has no power over the South African media and I look forward to the City Press telling him to take a running jump.

But the fact that Dlamini actually believes that he can control the foreign press demonstrates how out of touch with reality he is.

I look forward to hearing him explain to MPs why it was the City Press wouldn’t publish his statement.

CALL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SPREADS

Opposition to the human rights catastrophe in Swaziland is growing in neighbouring South Africa.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants the Secretary-General of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum, Dr. Esau Chiviya, to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the spate of recent human rights abuses occurring in Swaziland.

Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is in the grip of a reign of terror unleashed by the state against pro-democracy activists.

In May 2010 Sipho Jele, an activist for the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), died while in custody. Pro-democracy activists fear he was murdered. An inquest into Jele’s death was opened and has now been adjourned indefinitely.

Jele had been arrested for wearing a T-shirt with a PUDEMO logo. Calls from civil society in Swaziland for an independent investigation into his death, have been met with silence by the Swazi government.

This month, the Swazi police arrested a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), Sibusiso Mhlanga, for possessing a copy of a City Press article, that detailed a sex scandal involving the Swazi Royal Family.

All news of the scandal has been suppressed in the Swazi media, but South African newspapers, which also circulate in Swaziland, have carried reports. DA called this, ‘an ominous action amidst allegations against the Swazi authorities of police brutality of activists whilst in detention’.

The DA said in a statement, ‘Both these instances are indicative of a society that lives under an oppressive regime, that of King Mswati III, who denies his citizens what are, in essence, their most basic of human rights.’

The DA wants South African President Jacob Zuma to discuss these ‘very serious human rights violations’ at the SADC Heads of State meeting in Windhoek. ‘The DA believes that it is time for the South African government to demonstrate its leadership in the region and re-affirm our commitment to human rights.’