CHURCH ‘TO RESTORE MORAL FIBRE’

A Swaziland church is to spend millions of emalangeni on a campaign to ‘restore moral fibre’ to the kingdom.

Apostle Justice Dlamini of the Worship Centre Church will take the campaign to all four regions. E2 million (US$170,000) is to be spent.

Apostle Dlamini is a fierce critic of Incwala, an annual traditional ceremony that has King Mswati III at its centre. He has called Incwala ungodly and witchcraft.

The Swaziland Gospel Transformation Campaign was announced on Good Friday (30 March 2018). The Times of Swaziland reported Dlamini saying,  ‘The Worship Centre is determined to help in transforming the lives of the Swazi nation. We have built a structure, now it is time to build the lives of people. We are adamant that in 20 years’ time, we will see the emergence of a society that is responsible, with people who love one another and [do] not kill each other.’

Apostle Dlamini, as plain Pastor Dlamini, has been a controversial figure in Swaziland for many years. He has been criticised for his intolerance of other faiths, particularly Muslims.

In 2007, he announced he had prayed to God for the deaths of two journalists in Swaziland who had written and published an article critical of him.

But, he is mainly remembered for his attacks on Incwala. In 2002, Swazi police raided Channel S, the only privately-owned television station in the kingdom, and confiscated a videotape containing a sermon that had been termed by the Swazi government as ‘threatening the foundations of the kingdom’.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa reported at the time the footage was of a sermon broadcast nationally and regionally (throughout the Southern African Development Community). It reported, ‘During the sermon, Pastor Justice Dlamini, of the Swaziland Association of Christian Ministries (SACM), suggested that some of the cultural practices in the country are “ungodly”. Dlamini was referring to the Incwala, an annual cultural celebration.’

MISA’s Swaziland chapter condemned the raid on the television station, saying that it was unwarranted and impinged on Swazi citizens’ freedom of expression. It reported that Dlamini had suffered harassment by policymakers in the kingdom, ostensibly in the name of protecting culture and the monarchy.

MISA added, ‘In Swaziland, the state is embodied in the person of the sovereign himself, King Mswati III, the 16th king from the House of Dlamini, which has ruled the Swazis since the 1500s. Swazis do not distinguish between the nation and the man, and while the King is not considered divine, he is the central figure of the month-long sacred Incwala (kingship/harvest) ceremonies, held when the first fruits ripen in summer.

‘During the Incwala, tens of thousands of Swazis in traditional attire converge on the Queen Mother's village and petition the national ancestral spirits to endow the King with wisdom, and the nation with good rains and fortune.’

The Swaziland Conference of Churches was summoned before labadzala, the traditional elders of Ludzidzini Royal Residence, in 2009 after Pastor Dlamini preached against Incwala.

Mbongeni Mbingo, writing in the Times Sunday in August 2009, said, ‘Pastor Justice appears to have stoked the fires by telling Christians that Incwala is unholy and that there is witchcraft practiced at the ceremony. It was during a national prayer held at the Somhlolo Stadium where he had been invited by the Conference of Churches, no doubt because not only is he a man of God, but he is a pastor who has stood firm in his teachings and beliefs.

Mbingo added, ‘He has made it clear he does not believe the Incwala is a national prayer, obviously something we are certain would infuriate the traditional leadership of this country.’

Mbingo wrote, ‘But the traditional authorities, especially the Ludzidzini council, has reacted with shock, dismay and anger, first summoning the pastor to appear before it so as to explain what exactly he meant, and then proceeding to summon the Swaziland Conference of Churches. 

‘The idea of course, and the impression, is that Pastor Justice is wrong to criticise the Incwala—and therefore he must be dealt with. Pastor Justice, so far, has refused to bow to the lunacy and did not respond to the summons, and has so far, chosen not to respond to the criticism levelled against him.

‘But the Ludzidzini Council does not want to encourage a debate around the issue of the holy-ness or not of a ceremony we have come to call our national prayer. 

‘This is why Pastor Justice has spoken out against this, because he argues it should not be referred to as a national prayer, because it is not, further describing it as witchcraft. 

‘Obviously, it should be expected that such statements would ruffle many people’s feathers, but really, should it then be that the Ludzidzini Libandla would rather not have a debate around the issue? 

‘It appears to me that the traditional authorities would be happier if this topic was never even entertained, and that anyone who does so then invites the wrath of the authorities—which is nonsense of course.’

See also

SWAZI KING IN SECRETIVE CEREMONY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/swazi-king-in-secretive-ceremony.html

ILLEGAL TO POSSESS INCWALA SONGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/12/illegal-to-possess-incwala-songs.html

SWAZI KING AND BESTIALITY RITUAL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/swazi-king-and-bestiality-ritual.html

SWAZI JACKBOOT BEATEN BY THE BRA

Mail and Guardian, South Africa

15 April 2011

SOURCE

Swaziland's jackboot beaten by the bra

By Niren Tolsi and Ilham Rawoot

The reports from Swaziland that you are reading and the images on these pages come courtesy of Mail & Guardian photographer Lisa Skinner's bra.

This proved to be the safest place for us to hide information -- my notes and her flash cards of digital photographs -- recorded during this week's pro-democracy protests in Swaziland.

They were hidden there whenever we neared one of the many 24-hour roadblocks that dotted Swaziland's main roads as the police and army sought to apprehend trade unionists and activists attempting to mobilise.

Immediately after Skinner had taken photographs of the heavy security presence in Manzini, or furtively shot scenes of security force brutality, her card was hidden away. Likewise, when activists' names, phone numbers or thoughts about the Swazi government were jotted down, they were hidden there.

Swaziland was under lockdown. The ordinary liberties allowing journalists to work and people to associate freely, taken for granted in South Africa, simply did not exist. This was palpable on Monday night as we passed through four police roadblocks between the Golela border post and Malkerns, about 15km outside Manzini.

It was worse early on Tuesday morning, the first day of the planned protest. Sitting outside the Bhunu Mall in Manzini's business district we were speaking to Lucky, who was dressed in red, wore a National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa cap and was carrying a vuvuzela. Suddenly we were aware that four plainclothes policemen had sidled up to us and began speaking to Lucky in siSwati.

Skinner, Lucky and I were escorted to the Manzini police station, where trade unionists, crammed into police trucks, were being off-loaded. They were made to take off their union T-shirts and caps, slapped and called izinja (dogs).

'We don't need bad publicity'
I was interrogated by eight police officers who went through my notebooks and made copies of a contact list of Swazi union officials. They asked me about the people I had interviewed from the banned People's United Democratic Movement, the Swaziland Solidarity Network and trade unions.

I protested, but a burly policeman said: "In Swaziland, we can do as we want with journalists. If we want to read your notes, we can; if we want to look at your camera and confiscate your photographs, we can. This is Swaziland, not South Africa, my friend."

After about two hours we were made to sign a statement about what we were doing in Swaziland -- we said we were covering a music festival -- and released with the words: "You are free to move around but you cannot report on the uprising. If we see you doing so, you will be arrested and deported. It's best you leave Manzini because we don't need bad publicity."

Several foreign journalists were detained and questioned during the week; some were reportedly deported.

Things were much tougher for the locals -- they were harassed in the streets for wearing red, and sometimes beaten by groups of policemen and army warders armed with truncheons. Roadblocks and searches were a daily occurrence. The Times of Swaziland reported on Monday that Mphumelelo Maziya was shot for attempting to bypass a roadblock.

People on the streets talked in undertones, unsure of who might be standing next to them.

On Wednesday afternoon Skinner was sneaking long-lens photographs of the police lobbing tear-gas canisters into the compound of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (Snat). A bystander whispered to us that a person sidling up to us was from the intelligence branch. We moved to another vantage point.

Nothing new
Someone walking past our car while we were interviewing activists on a quiet suburban road in Manzini on Tuesday afternoon informed the police, who arrived soon after. After failing to find incriminating evidence, they let us go, but continued to tail us as we drove two unionists to a bus terminus.

Swaziland's activists appear wearily resigned to the repression, which, during a march on Tuesday afternoon, included being beaten, fired on with water cannons and dispersed with tear gas.

Justice Dlamini, a Snat organiser, spoke matter of factly about being arrested during the protest on Tuesday, being driven around for two hours with two other activists cramped under the tarpaulin cover of a bakkie, beaten and then dumped in a forest outside Manzini. The Swaziland Democracy Campaign's Mary da Silva was similarly deadpan as she described being beaten by police while giving an interview to a South African radio station.

Union leaders who spoke to the M&G early on Tuesday morning were arrested soon afterwards and were out of contact for up to 48 hours, the maximum period of detention without charge. They would reappear to talk calmly about their interrogation.

The jackboot was firmly on Swaziland's throat this week. Indeed, it has been for the past 34 years.

'S AFRICA SPEAK UP ON SWAZI ABUSES'

Cosatu calls on SA to speak firmly on Swazi ‘abuses’

Business Day, Johannesburg, 11 April 2011

SOURCE

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday took issue with SA’s foreign policy for allegedly failing to condemn human rights abuses in Swaziland.

"We want to ask why the Southern African Development Community leaders, including our own South African government, are keeping silent about the situation in Swaziland," Zingiswa Losi, Cosatu’s second deputy president, said.

"How does it happen that our government has the guts to act with the world on Libya and has the courage to confront the situation in Zimbabwe with the boldness we see, but do nothing on Swaziland?"

Ms Losi was speaking in Johannesburg at a forum to mark the first anniversary of the Swaziland-SA Campaign for Democracy in Swaziland. The forum, attended by about 100 delegates, was meeting on the eve of a planned three-day mass stayaway in Swaziland tomorrow. Cosatu plans a 3km march to the Oshoek border post in Mpumalanga in solidarity.

Addressing the forum, George Mahlangu of Cosatu’s organising unit urged Swazi youth to "make that country ungovernable" and said: "That young man (King Mswati) is looting the country."

Justice Dlamini, general secretary of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement, called on the king to relinquish his position gracefully before being forced out. "The monarchy and their friends get comfort when they visit SA. We feel very painful when we find them sitting in swinging chairs with you (South Africans)," he said.

Mr Dlamini called on the South African authorities to ban the monarchy’s ministers and their children from getting healthcare and education in SA.

The monarchy has already cracked down on dissidents organising the protests. Mduduzi Gina, secretary-general of Swaziland’s United Democratic Front, was prevented from travelling to the meeting yesterday. In a message read on his behalf, Mr Gina said the monarchy was applying to the high court to prevent the protests.

The youth wing of the African National Congress, the Young Communist League, and Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union have also voiced support for democratic change in Swaziland.

'MURDER JOURNALISTS', SAY PASTORS

A group of Christian leaders in Swaziland have hired a ‘hitman’ to murder journalists who exposed them as devil worshippers.

Three reporters have been targeted because they reported that a group of pastors had been worshipping the devil as a way to raise money.

According to a media report in Swaziland, the pastors have ‘enlisted the services of hitmen from South Africa to eliminate three journalists who apparently blew the whistle on them’.

The journalists are reported to be Channel Swazi News Editor Mhlonishwa Motsa, Ingwazi News Editor Lucky Ndzimandze and reporter Zweli Dlamini, also from Ingwazi.

According to the Weekend Observer, the a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, the pastors were exposed on a talk show broadcast on Channel S.

The newspaper reports that the pastors ‘met behind closed doors’ and they decided ‘that the journalists be assassinated for “meddling into our business”’.

This is not the first time Christian leaders in Swaziland have called for journalists they do not like to die.

In 2007 Pastor Justice Dlamini, a well known pastor and media figure, said he was praying for the death of two journalists from the Times of Swaziland after that newspaper published a report about Dlamini and an argument he had with another pastor about a clapped out car owned by Dlamini’s church.

I am happy to report that Pastor Justice’s prayers did not work and he just made a complete fool of himself.

I hope this latest case of Pastor Power proves to be just as ridiculous.