Army recruits in Swaziland
have been barred from having sex, because their commander thinks it will make
them weak.
Commander Sobantu Dlamini of
the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (as the Swazi army is formally known) made
the order to more than 1,000 recruits at the army’s headquarters at Phocweni.
It was during the final rehearsal for their passing-out parade.
The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Thursday (22 March 2018) Dlamini
said he did not expect the recruits to embarrass themselves in front of the
army’s Commander-in-Chief King Mswati III by collapsing in soaring
temperatures.
‘This you will achieve by
staying sober and abstaining from sex,’ the Observer
reported him saying.
Swaziland’s top military officer Lieutenant General Sobantu Dlamini threatened members of the kingdom’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) with violence if they went ahead with a corruption investigation into defence forces personnel.
In a letter to the ACC Commissioner Michael Mtegha he wrote that he would not be responsible should soldiers harm ACC officers.
Rightly, the ACC took this as a thinly-veiled threat and Dlamini has been reported to the authorities.
Dlamini wrote the letter to try to stop the ACC investigating five members of the defence force’s Air Wing on charges of corruption.
They are said to have repeatedly defrauded government, to the tune of E310 000 (about US$45,000).
Charges of corruption were made in September 2010 and in the days leading up to them, the ACC had received a lot of pressure not to make the arrests, according to a report in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.
The Times reports an anonymous source, saying, ‘You would not believe the names of some of the people who felt that the military should not be put under a microscope as most of their activities border on matters of national security. The message was loud and clear; leave the military alone.’
The source said the military went so far as to claim that the arrests put the very safety of Swaziland at stake. Why? Because with the arrested men out of circulation, no one would know how to fly Swaziland’s one-and-only military helicopter.
The source hinted there might be a major corruption scandal in the military that is not yet uncovered. The Times reports the source saying there was a concern that if this case against members of the military was allowed to proceed, it would open the door for more cases against soldiers to be investigated.
And the source is almost certainly telling the truth. In an unrelated Army corruption probe, last week, the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned and editedby King Mswati III,reported that Major General Manyosi Simelane, who ranks third in the Army hierarchy, quit the service on advice from lawyers before he was arrested on a corruption charge. Lawyers said if he was not a serving officer at the time of his arrest he could retain some of his long-term service benefits.
The Observer reported that the corruption allegations against Simelane include among others, abusing the name of royalty within the army, army supplies procurement irregularities and taking bribes for army jobs.
The Swazi News subsequently reportedthat Simelane had confessed to a magistrate that he took bribes from people seeking jobs in the Army. The Swazi News reported that Simelane might have received as much as E300,000 in bribes, from up to 100 different people.
The top Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force commander is operating above the law and may be a danger to the kingdom.
He disobeys legitimate court orders and acts outside the law.
If he is capable of doing these things what else might he do?
These are the concerns of the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.
In a profileof Lieutenant General Sobantu Dlamini, Army Commander, the Times says it is ‘tragic that in the last few weeks, the emerging trend has been that the army lives in its own world, with its own rules, disciplinary procedures and general way of life’.
The newspaper continues, ‘A few weeks ago, this very newspaper reportedthat three junior army officers were making attempts to go back to work.
‘Mpendulo Mngomezulu, Nkosikayikhethi Nxumalo and Vusumuzi Hlatshwayo were arrested a few years ago for allegedly stealing government fuel.
‘The matter went to court because the army realised the alleged act was criminal and the police had to be involved.
‘The court cleared the trio and ordered that they return to work.
‘The Army Commander, probably after consulting his own deputies, came back with his own verdict: The three men stole the fuel and were caught red-handed. They cannot go back to work!
‘Sobantu hinted, when our reporter raised the issue of a Court Order, that such documents were not enough where the army was concerned.
‘The question is: why did the army opt for the legal civil route if it was not going to adhere to the ruling?
‘Then again, what if the court had sentenced the soldiers to, say, three years in jail each?
Would Sobantu have come out to say, “No, actually these soldiers should not go to jail. We do not care much about rulings in the army?”
‘Sicelo Shongwe’s matter is another case in point.
‘Arrested in 2002 for attempted murder, he was cleared by the courts, which automatically meant he had to go back to work.
‘Shongwe had been arrested and charged after he borrowed a home-made gun from a resident in the northern Hhohho to shoot an alleged dagga dealer who was trying to smuggle the illegal herb into South Africa.
‘The bullet from the gun ricocheted, hitting one of the people at the scene.
‘He was cleared of the charge of attempted murder because he had no intention to harm the person who was ultimately hit by the bullet.
‘This is a 2002 incident but still, he is not at work. Army authorities do not want him back.
‘The last story appeared in the Times of Swaziland on Wednesday, two days before Christmas (2009).
It is the sad story of one Sandile Dlamini, who built a big house in Logoba, near Matsapha but could only watch while it was demolished this past week.
‘Sobantu Dlamini allegedly ordered the demolition - verbally.
‘There was neither any court nor eviction order.
‘Sandile is said to have built the house on land that belongs to the king.
‘His claims, to the effect that he got it though the customary kukhonta and has witnesses to prove it have fallen on deaf ears.
‘Sandile is taking the matter to court but if past scenarios are anything to go by, does he have any chance, whether he wins or loses?
‘How many have taken Sobantu to court and came back to claim victory?
‘Will the Army Commander abide by any ruling the court could make on the matter?
‘What if he doesn’t?
‘Will it just be another day in good old Swaziland?
‘Questions, questions but the most important one of all is: If the Army Commander will have no regard for our courts, what else is he capable of?
‘If he will verbally instruct his subordinates to go and demolish a man’s house without following a legally laid down procedure, what else could he send them to do?
‘If he is capable of giving off-the-cuff orders to his juniors and they are capable of taking those instructions without any qualms or further prodding, what else will he instruct them to do – now or in the future?
‘If the courts are useless establishments to the army, what mechanism is there to rein in the fallible-as-everybody-else commander when he breaks the law?’the Times concludes.
