NOTHING TO CELEBRATE FOR MOST SWAZIS

Kenworthy News Media, 19 April 2018

SOURCE

Swaziland is one of the world’s most unequal countries, where over ten percent survive on food aid. Absolute monarch King Mswati is celebrating his and his independent country’s 50^th birthday by giving himself a new plane and throwing a huge party, writes Kenworthy News Media.

Today (19 April 2018), Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III begun what Swaziland’s official tourist website refers to as “lavish celebrations” and “a party fit for a king”.

The so-called 50/50 celebrations are a combined celebration of Mswati’s 50^th birthday and the 50^th anniversary of Swaziland’s independence in September.

King Mswati amongst other things bought himself an A340-300 Airbus that was flown into the King Mswati III Airport a couple of days ago. The plane is believed to have cost US$15 million.

Food aid and evictions
Many of King Mswati’s subjects can only dream of such opulence. According to the World Food Programme, about 14 percent survive on food aid from the UN. According to the World Bank, over 40 percent earn less than US$1.90 a day.

Just days before the celebrations, Pakistan donated 1 million US Dollars to help feed starving children in Swaziland, according to Swazi Media Commentary. The Swazi government claimed it could not afford to pay for the food.

Two weeks ago, 61 people in rural Swaziland, including more than 30 children, were left homeless after their homes were demolished by armed police and bulldozers, Amnesty International reported. The evictions were carried out in accordance with a court order.

“The affected people were not provided with an alternative accommodation, forcing some of them to take refuge at a local school. Others slept in the open at the site of the demolitions with their belongings”, Amnesty International wrote in a press release.

According to the British human rights organisation, “Swaziland has a long history of forced evictions”.

Robin Hood in reverse
Many ordinary Swazis have been forced to contribute to King Mswati’s celebrations, even though he is worth an estimated US$200 million.

South African paper eNCA reported, that over $80.000 that had been intended for retired and disabled people in Swaziland were instead used to help pay for King Mswati’s birthday party.

Judges were also sent a memorandum from the office of Swaziland’s Chief Justice on April 4, where they were asked to make a contribution of a minimum of $160 for the 50/50 celebrations.

Coupless dictatorship
According to government spokesperson Percy Simelane, the 50/50 celebrations are worth celebrating, however, because of Swaziland’s peaceful history since independence.

“We are politically stable and have never experienced a coup in those 50 years”, he told online newspaper The Swaziland.

But the so-called peaceful nature of King Mswati’s regime comes at a price, especially for ordinary Swazis.

The King controls parliament, the judiciary and the economy. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections. Political activists are beaten up by police. And those advocating democracy are prosecuted under a terrorism act that Amnesty International has called “inherently repressive”.

Change through activism and democracy
Even so, people in Swaziland continue to protest. Every year, on the anniversary of Swaziland’s independence from Great Britain on 6 September, Swaziland’s democratic movement campaign for democracy through marches, seminars and workshops. This so-called Global Week of Action is organised by the Swaziland United Democratic Front.

Last year between four and five thousand people marched to Swaziland’s parliament to deliver a petition demanding a people’s government, land reforms, rural development and affordable health and education.

And as recently as last Friday (13 April 2018), about 2.000 people marched through the capital Mbabane to protest against poor and worsening living conditions. The march was arranged by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland.

According to political coordinator of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, Wandile Dludlu, bringing about democratic change in Swaziland is the only way to improve the situation for the majority of Swazis.

“Until Swazis truly own and run their country, celebrations such as 50/50 are just personal enrichment journeys of the king and his close associates, local as well as international”, says Dludlu.

See also

KING UNILATERALLY RENAMES SWAZILAND

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

 

SECRECY OVER COST OF KING’S NEW JET

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/secrecy-over-cost-of-kings-new-jet.html

 

THOUSANDS PROTEST IN SWAZILAND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/thousands-protest-in-swaziland.html

SWAZIS DEMAND DEMOCRACY

Swazis demand democracy at Global Week of Action

Kenworthy News Media, 9 September 2017

SOURCE

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Swaziland’s capital Mbabane on Friday (8 September 2017) to deliver a petition which calls for democracy and socioeconomic justice to the country’s Cabinet, writes Kenworthy News Media.

The march was part of the annual Global Week of Action (GWoA) which, according to the organisers, is the biggest campaign for democracy in Swaziland. It is held during the week of Swaziland’s Independence Day, the 6^th of September, and includes marches, seminars and workshops.

Between four and five thousand helped the organiser of the GWoA, the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), deliver a petition to Swaziland’s cabinet, according to SUDF Coordinator Wandile Dludlu.

The petition had seven core demands for Swaziland’s government. These included a people’s government and economy, affordable health and education, equal participation for women, and land reforms and rural development.

Police presence
As in previous years, the GWoA-marchers were followed closely by the police, who often clamp down upon demonstrations and political rallies.

In 2010 and 2011, thousands of peaceful marchers during the GWoA were assaulted by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Several foreign participants were detained, roughed up and deported. Amnesty International called for those responsible for the human rights violations during the 2010 GWoA to be brought to justice in an Urgent Action.

In 2013, political and union leaders from PUDEMO and TUCOSWA were put under house arrest, offices of the democratic movement were ransacked, and many students were detained in their universities.

Freedom House wrote in 2015, that they “hope that this week’s [Global Week of Action] events [in Swaziland] serve as the spark that ignites democratic change.

Important event
According to President of the Swaziland Youth Congress, Bheki Dlamini, events such as the GWoA are important in a country where political parties are banned and the media is censored.

“The [Swazi] Tinkhundla system is supposed to be a product of the people.  Yet we all know that it is not. It is a system meant to serve the interests of the royal family and it is sustained though repression, police brutality and perpetual impoverishment of our people. The world must know and acknowledge that we, the people of Swaziland, want to enjoy civil and political liberties as citizens of the world,” Dlamini says.

See also

GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/GLOBAL%20WEEK%20OF%20ACTION

UN PROBES SWAZILAND ON HUMAN RIGHTS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/un-probes-swaziland-on-human-rights.html

 

SADC URGED TO ACT ON SWAZI RIGHTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/sadc-urged-to-act-on-swazi-rights.html
 

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ON SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/02/human-rights-watch-on-swaziland.html

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD KILLS AGOA

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

DEMOCRACY LEADERS JAILED ON REMAND

Two of the Swaziland democracy leaders charged with sedition following May Day commemorations in the kingdom have been jailed on remand until 9 May 2014.

Mario Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and Maxwell Dlamini, Secretary-General of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), were accused of ‘uttering seditious statements’.

They appeared at Magistrates Court on Friday (2 May 2014) and were remanded in jail.

According to reports from the court published on social media, the two men face four separate charges arising from a single incident.

The two were arrested following a pro-democracy rally at the Salesian Sports Ground in Manzini, Swaziland’s main commercial city.

Local media reported that as many as 7,000 people joined the rallies in Swaziland to mark May Day, but some democracy leaders were prevented from attending by police.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported, ‘Masuku was a hit among the workers yesterday. He was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived with political activists ignoring the programme and running all the way to the parking lot to welcome him.’

It added, ‘After Masuku’s speech, Maxwell sang a song which the political activists danced and toyi-toyied to. He was arrested for this song as the police termed it seditious.’

The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported PUDEMO’s Second Deputy Secretary-General, Mphandlana Shongwe and Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) Coordinator Wandile Dludlu were turned back by police officers and ordered not to set foot in Manzini.

It reported Shongwe was stopped by the police at Moneni where there was a roadblock and he ordered to return home. He was told he would be arrested if he went into the city.

The Times reported Shongwe said police told him he would experience what Sipho Jele experienced if he defied their orders. This was a reference to the death in custody four years ago of Jele, who was arrested on May Day 2010 for wearing a T-shirt supporting a pro-democracy political party.

The newspaper reported that Dludlu was stopped by the police near Bhunu Mall in Manzini while driving his vehicle. The newspaper reported him saying the police used violence against him.

He said, ‘They grabbed me and drove with me to Mbabane in a white Isuzu double-cab, where they dropped me off at my parental home in Msunduza,’

Swazi authorities have clamped down on dissent in the kingdom in recent months.

Seven democracy campaigners have been in jail on remand since last month accused of terrorist activities after they were arrested for wearing PUDEMO T-shirts and berets. PUDEMO has been banned in Swaziland as a ‘terrorist’ organisation since 2008, under the controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko are presently on trial in Swaziland charged with contempt after writing articles for the Nation, a small circulation magazine, that criticised the Swazi judiciary.

Last month, police illegally abducted prodemocracy leaders to prevent them addressing a meeting calling for freedom in Swaziland.

FILM SHOWS DARK SIDE OF SWAZILAND

New film shows dark side of Swaziland, but also light at the end of the tunnel

Kenworthy News Media, November 13, 2013

SOURCE

 

The newly released film “The King and the People”, directed by Zimmedia owner Simon Bright, gives an historic insight into the tiny absolute kingdom of Swaziland, and it shows the brutal nature of the regime that runs the country, as well as the pervasive corruption, lack of media and other freedoms, poverty and inequality, writes Kenworthy News Media.

But the film also shows the growing hope of a more democratic and equal society that is epitomized by the country’s democratic movement, unions and civil society. 

Absolute monarch King Mswati III of Swaziland, a personal trustee of a national fund of ten billion dollars who has a personal fortune of 100 million dollars, is one of the richest leaders in Africa but rules a country where two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day, many on food aid.

“You want to feed your family, but you can’t – there’s no money and no jobs,” as a woman in Swaziland’s rural areas says in the film.

“These gross inequalities are the result of a political system in crisis,” the film concludes – a political system where political parties are banned and manifestations of opposition to the regime brutally repressed, where farmers can be evicted without compensation on the whim of the king, and where few outside the royal family and their supporters benefit from Swaziland’s agricultural and mineral wealth.

Historically, however, many Swazis have been reluctant to openly oppose the monarchy. “We have been born out of a society that encourages you not to challenge, not to question, keep quit, don’t be problematic. Then you will survive” as Swaziland United Democratic Front Coordinator Wandile Dludlu says in the film. “At the hands of an oppressor the best weapon is the mind of the oppressed.”

But there is a sense of change driven by the growing desire for a democratic form of government, the film says. Demonstrations and strikes continue and calls for democracy and socio-economic justice are driven by trade unions, progressive political parties and civil society. People everywhere are demanding change.

“People are now willing to speak out. People are talking about the system of governance, of this year’s elections and the need to open up for a multi-party dispensation and the activeness of political parties,” says Lomcebo Dlamini from the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations.

The film will premiere in Denmark (having already premiered in several other countries) on November 17 at Africa Contact’s offices in Copenhagen, where PUDEMO President Mario Masuku will speak about the political situation in Swaziland. Read more here (in Danish)  or here (English Google translation).

‘STOP AID TO SWAZI KING’ - ACTIVISTS

Stop development aid to Swazi monarch,’ says democratic front

April 19, 2012 Stiffkitten Blog

SOURCE

It is time for the international community to act in response to the Swazi government’s repeated human rights violations, says Wandile Dludlu, Project Coordinator of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, an umbrella organisation of all progressive democratic forces in Swaziland, the stiffkitten blog writes.

A month ago the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland, where Swaziland amongst other things accepted to guarantee freedom of assembly, association and freedom of expression. The Universal Periodic Reviews examine the human rights performance of all UN member states.

Amnesty International welcomed this acceptance in a public statement, although Amnesty indicated that Swaziland still had to “remove all restrictions impeding the full exercise of civil and political rights, including through meaningful participation of political parties in elections.”

As has happened more or less routinely, however, such promises of upholding the rule of law by the Swazi government were followed by actions that disregarded these promises. Last week Swazi security forces more or less forcefully detained most of the leaders of the Swazi democratic movement without charge and barred thousands more from joining a peaceful protest, in clear violation of their freedom of assembly, association and expression. And this is only the latest of a long list of more or less violent disregard for human rights and the rule of law by the Swazi government.

The Swazi democratic movement has grown tired of its peaceful calls for democracy and socio-economic justice being met with arrests or violence whilst the international community treats Swaziland as if it might someday, somehow live us to its promises, and is calling for tougher measures against the Swazi government.

“Maybe the time for Europe to remove the gloves in regard to the Swazi monarchy has come. Blatant disregard for human rights and democracy can’t be allowed anymore. Developmental aid must be stopped until the king commits to democracy. Especially because the Cotonou agreement is repeatedly violated,” Wandile Dludlu of the Swaziland United Democratic Front tells Africa Contact.

The Cotonou Agreement is a development treaty between the EU and over 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states that is aimed at poverty reduction of the ACP states by, amongst other things, funding sustainable development.

As the strategy paper between Swaziland and the EU that is based on the Cotonou Agreement, which channels 70 million Euros to Swaziland between 2008 and 2013, obliges Swaziland to uphold its human rights obligations and seek to implement good governance, this is therefore an obvious place to start.

Links:

Webcast of 2011 UPR of Swaziland

Webcast of 2012 UPR pf Swaziland

UPR - Swaziland

Swaziland – EU Country Strategy Paper

Cotonou Agreement

Swaziland: uprising in the slip-stream of North Africa

COPS BAN PRAYERS, ARREST ACTIVISTS

Riot police were out in force in Swaziland yesterday (14 April 2012) to stop a prayer meeting and to arrest prodemocracy activist leaders.

The move follows the crushing of mass protests across the kingdom on Thursday.

Activists want democratic reforms in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The service to pray for democracy was due to be held at the Lutheran church in the Swazi city of Manzini, but police set up road blocks to stop people attending.

Among those taken were members of organisations banned in Swaziland, including People’s United Democratic Movement President, Mario Masuku; Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) Information Officer, Gugu Malindzisa; Swaziland Youth Congress Secretary General and Organising Secretary, Justice Dlamini and Mcolisi Ngcamphalala who were all detained at Manzini Regional Police Headquarters.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network reported SUDF Coordinator Wandile Dludlu, was dumped in Mbabane and church leader Sydney Nyembe was taken away to an unknown location. The whereabouts of a host of leadership remain unaccounted for.

See also

DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGN WILL GO ON

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/democracy-campaign-will-go-on.html

MAXWELL AND HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

Stiffkitten blog

25 January 2012

SOURCE

Maxwell Dlamini nominated for Irish human rights award

President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), Maxwell Dlamini, has been nominated for the 2012 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. The award is presented by Front Line, an Irish-based human rights organisation founded by former director of the Irish Section of Amnesty International, Mary Lawlor, and is given to “human rights defenders who, through non-violent work, are courageously making an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.”

Maxwell Dlamini was detained, tortured and forced to sign a confession by members of Swaziland’s police and security forces during the so-called April 12 Swazi Uprising, a peaceful protest inspired by the Arab Spring that was brutally clamped down upon by Swazi police and security forces. He is currently on trial for allegedly having been in possession of explosives and remanded and the infamous Manzini Remand Centre. Several representatives of Swaziland’s democratic movement have called the allegations against Maxwell Dlamini absurd, and an international campaign has demanded his unconditional release.

Maxwell is a threat to the undemocratic Swazi regime precisely because “he is a strong and a brave young leader who stands up and defends human rights,” says Dumezweni Dlamini from the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, a partner organisation of Maxwell’s SNUS. “This is why he has been put behind bars.”

“But there cannot be a better recipient [of the award] than this rare gem of a new generation of activists for the liberation of Swaziland,” says Wandile Dludlu from the Swaziland United Democratic Front. “Maxwell has been at the service of the youth in an oppressive dangerous political environment and has led the students in several campaigns of peaceful protests against unjust government policy. We are proud to be associated with SNUS, who has been producing leaders of a special pedigree like Maxwell. They have made an indelible mark in the history of our struggle for democracy, human rights and good governance.”

The Front Line Defenders Award is presented annually. The winner and his or her organisation is awarded with a cash prize of €15,000. Last years award, presented by former Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson, was given to the Joint Mobile Group of the Russian Federation “for their outstanding work investigating torture, killings and disappearances in Chechnya.”

LIES AT SWAZI EXPLOSIVES TRIAL

Peter Kenworthy

Stiffkitten blog

18 January 2012

SOURCE

Swazi student leader’s trial begins with prosecution witness lies

The trial of Swazi student leader and political prisoner, Maxwell Dlamini, finally started last week after having been postponed and delayed since last April, where Maxwell Dlamini was apprehended by police and allegedly tortured and forced to sign a confession to being in possession of explosives.

At the trial, Maxwell Dlamini and his co-accused, Musa Ngubeni, pleaded not guilty to the charges of contravening Swaziland’s Explosives Act 4 of 1961. Several representatives of Swaziland’s democratic movement have referred to the charges as ludicrous and the long delay of the trial as a deliberate act by Swaziland’s absolute monarchy to discourage any opposition to its undemocratic and brutal rule.

According to Wandile Dludlu of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, an umbrella movement of democratic forces in Swaziland, over 60 activists attended the court session in a show of support for Maxwell Dlamini and Musa Ngubeni.

“But the state is playing dirty delaying tactics because they don’t have credible witnesses,” said Dludlu, “The only state witness, superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane [who arrested Maxwell and Musa in April 2011], has already told blatant lies during a gruelling cross examination on the first day.”

According to the Times of Swaziland, Sihlongyane had claimed that Dlamini and Ngubeni led them to the explosives hidden in a forest voluntarily and that “bomb experts confirmed that the red, black and grey cables which were hidden in a white shoe box were indeed explosives.”

“Sihlongyane later complained to court of not being well,” Wandile Dludlu said. “But on the second day of the trial, after the magistrate granted him relief to go to hospital, he came outside court to joke with his colleagues when Maxwell’s mother confronted him about the morality of his behaviour. He ran amok with all sorts of insults right in front of everybody.”

The case is set to continue on the15th and 16th of February, the further delay being due to the alleged illness of superintendent Sihlongonyane.