ABUSED DIPLOMATS DEMAND APOLOGY

Diplomats who were invited to the Foreign Office this week only to be furiously insulted by the Swaziland Government are demanding an apology.

More than 30 diplomats, including ambassadors and high commissioners who are based in either Swaziland or Mozambique, attended a meeting in good faith believing they were to receive a presentation about the dire state of the Swazi economy.

But before they were given the figures they had to sit through what local media have variously called a ‘tirade’ or a ’10 minute rage’ from cabinet minister, Ntuthuko Dlamini.

He accused the diplomats of dining with Swaziland’s enemies – he meant members of the pro-democracy organisations the Swazi Government has banned and labelled ‘terrorists’.

‘You cannot be seen to be with my enemy and still think I appreciate your presence and anything that you do,’ he told them.

He also abused those present by telling them that they should stand up in front of him if they could demonstrate that their own country’s system of government was perfect. He offered a gift of five cows to anyone who could do this. No one did.

I wasn’t at the meeting, but I can imagine that the diplomats were dumb-founded by this behaviour. Even by the standards of Swaziland, where people with the manners (and less ability) of farm animals get to be cabinet ministers, Ntuthuko Dlamini’s behaviour was unusual.

When asked at the end of the meeting if they had anything to say, only one of the diplomats spoke.

The others maintained their dignity and left quietly.

Today (8 April 2011), the Swazi Observer newspaper reports, ‘Information gathered was that the diplomats had demanded an apology from the ministry of foreign affairs for being called into a meeting only for them to get a tongue lashing.’

It gave no further details.

See also

SWAZI GOVERNMENT ABUSES DIPLOMATS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/swaziland-gvt-abuses-diplomats.html

SWAZILAND GVT ABUSES DIPLOMATS

The Swaziland Government must be cracking up. Yesterday it brought more than 30 diplomats to the Foreign Ministry and roundly abused them.

Leading the attack was cabinet minister Ntuthuko Dlamini.

He accused the diplomats, who are based in either Swaziland or Mozambique, of supporting Swazi people who wanted to bring down the government.

In what the Times of Swaziland today (7 April 2011) described as a ‘tirade’, Dlamini accused the present ambassadors, high commissioners and other diplomats of ‘taking advantage of “small” and “poor” Swaziland by capitalising on her small mistakes’.

He accused the diplomats of meeting with pro-democracy campaigners and members of organisations the Swazi government, handpicked by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have declared terrorist.

The Times reported him saying, ‘We say people should disassociate themselves from the banned political parties or whatever you call them. Then we find some of you, Your Excellencies, sitting and having dinner with these people. You cannot be seen to be with my enemy and still think I appreciate your presence and anything that you do. It is naturally wrong.’

Dlamini made specific reference to the mass protest on 18 March 2011 that called for the resignation of the entire government.

Dlamini went on to tell the envoys that their beliefs and way of doing things are not good for Swaziland.

Ntuthuko Dlamini, like his near namesake Lutfo Dlamini, also lies about conditions in Swaziland.

In a bizarre outburst he told the diplomats about ‘some countries where anyone caught wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of Osama Bin Laden would be taken to task. He said here in Swaziland, anyone wearing the same T-shirt would not be bothered’.

Of course, what he didn’t say – and nor did any of the Swazi media correct him – was that in Swaziland, as in the case of Sipho Jele in May 2010, you can be arrested for wearing a T-shirt with a PUDEMO slogan and end up dead three days later hanging from the ceiling in a washroom of a government correctional facility.

Ntuthuko Dlamini, who clearly needs a few lessons in diplomacy himself, then told the diplomats that Swaziland needed their support, ‘but it will not be dictated to’.

He said if the envoys and the countries they represent have money, they should give it to Swaziland.

Lutfo Dlamini then gave a presentation on Swaziland’s economic woes and begged the diplomats for financial aid to get the economy out of its mess.

‘Donor budget support would go a long way in helping the kingdom’s ailing economy,’ he told them.

He said Swaziland currently gets about four percent of its budget from donors and he hoped the donor budget support could be increased.

The Swazi Observer reported that the diplomats were given a chance to speak at the end, but only one chose to do so.

And who can blame them? If this were a football match we’d call it an own goal scored by the Swazi Government.

IS SWAZI KING TO GET PRIVATE JET?

Here we go again; the Swazi Government is considering buying an airplane for King Mswati III.

Parliamentarians are saying the plane will be for the ‘nation’, but as we know in Swaziland the king holds everything ‘in trust’ for the nation, so in effect it will be his to do with as he pleases.

The idea was aired at a sitting of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport portfolio committee on Thursday (27 August 2009).

The minister Ntuthuko Dlamini told the committee, ‘Let us consider buying our own aircraft.’ The committee was discussing various concerns over the perceived inadequacies of airline travel to and from Swaziland.

Swaziland still hasn’t recovered from the last aborted attempt to buy a jet for King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

In 2002 the then Swazi Government secretly and illegally entered into a contract to buy a private jet for the king. When news leaked out and the outcry travelled around the world, the government was forced to abandon the contract and lost a E28m (3.6 million US dollars at current exchange rates) deposit.

In February 2009 Finance Minister Majozi Sithole promised that the deposit for the jet was to be returned to Swaziland with interest. As far as I know this hasn’t happened, and personally I’m not holding my breath that it ever will.

News that the Swaziland Government is even discussing the possibility of buying a jet plane will cause dismay throughout the world.

The king wastes money all time while 70 percent of his subjects live in abject poverty.

King Mswati has been under heavy criticism this past month after news leaked in the international media (but was suppressed in Swaziland) that five of the king’s 13 wives had been on a global shopping spree, spending at least six million dollars.

In April 2009 he bought 20 top-of –the-range armoured Mercedes cars at an estimated cost of 250,000 dollars each. Last year he spent about 10 million dollars on a 40/40 celebration to mark his own birthday and the 40^th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence from Britain and a further four million dollars sending eight of his wives on a shopping trip to Dubai.

The fact that the Swazi Government may entertain the purchase of the plane is evidence of how out of touch with reality its members are. Swaziland is bracing itself for a reduction of at least a half in Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) receipts this year which will result in vicious cuts in public spending in a kingdom that already has threadbare health and education services.

The Swazi Government needs to make a clear statement confirming that the idea to buy the plane was just a bit of kite flying and no such purchase will in fact be made.

SWAZILAND MP SNUBS KING OATH

Agency France-Press

10 October 2008

Swazi MP refuses to pledge loyalty to king's heirs

LOBAMBA, Swaziland (AFP) — Swaziland's parliament was brought to a temporary halt today (Friday 10 October 2008) when a newly-elected lawmaker refused to pledge loyalty to the king's heirs and successors during an oath-swearing in Africa's last absolute monarchy.

Ntuthuko Dlamini, a young parliamentarian from LaMgabhi Inkhundla, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of the capital Mbabane, left out the oath line about loyalty to King Mswati III's heirs and successors.

He replaced the line with his own words, pledging loyalty to the "Swazi nation", causing a stir.

"I, Ntuthuko Dlamini, do solemnly affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to King Mswati III and the Swazi nation, so help me God," he said.

The parliamentary clerk tried three times to get Dlamini to recite the original oath lines before Dlamini finally gave in.

"This boy is taking his rebellion too far, you do not dare do this on your first day in parliament," muttered one member who did not want to be named.

It was the opening day of the ninth parliament.

Dlamini was among 55 MPs who were sworn to the Swazi parliament following the September 19 election. Ten additional members are appointed by the king. The king's eldest brother, Guduza Dlamini, was re-elected speaker of the parliament.

Swaziland's political system is run under the controversial Tinkhundla system which allows candidates to contest elections only as independents.

Political parties have remain banned in Swaziland since 1973.

King Mswati III, who rules the country with his mother, also appoints a prime minister and other top government officials.

The landlocked southern African country is one of the most impoverished in the world, with more than a third of its one million people living under the poverty line.

In August, King Mswati III was named by Forbes magazine as one of the richest monarchs in the world.

Link http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hWLlVfvQpu5BqLrc69rUF3yT7N4w