FACEBOOK SCARES SWAZILAND'S ELITE

More evidence is emerging that the Swazi ruling elite are running scared of Facebook and the way it allows Swazi people to criticise King Mswati III without censorship.

The latest call for the Swazi Government to ‘monitor’ (ie censor) the Internet came from Senator Vuka Moi Moi Masilela.

Masilela, described by the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, as ‘a known traditionalist’ believes Facebook poses a threat to the king and his kingdom.

According to the Times, Masilela said Facebook had ‘created fear among the Swazi people who have read what is written there, especially about the king’.

The senator said Facebook had a lot of influence as witnessed by the uprisings in North Africa where the social networking site has been used to ‘incite’ people.

‘Even royals are ridiculed in this Facebook. However, this isn’t defended. In the uprisings seen in the North, Facebook has been used to incite people, but we’re quiet about it in the country,’Masilela said.

The senator called upon the prime minister’s office to monitor Facebook and counter whatever negative information on Swaziland is posted.

‘This issue of Facebook is very serious. The government press secretary’s office should have someone always monitoring this site,’ Masilela said.

‘This Facebook is dangerous. We need to monitor and correct the things written there,’ he added.

What really worries Masilela and his kind is that he cannot censor what is written on Facebook. Over the past months there has been an increased activity on Facebook with a number of sites carrying information and comment critical of King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and the government he hand picks. They are also very much in favour of bringing democracy to Swaziland.

In contrast, the mainstream media in Swaziland is still fearful of the king’s iron fist – witness the self-censorship in the Times Sunday this week, when it ran a number of reports about Friday’s mass protest that had appeared in the international press, but cut out the many critical references they made to the king.

For those who are new to Facebook here are links to some of the most interesting (in no particular order) about Swaziland.

APRIL 12 UPRISING FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_167326423312962#

UMGOSI ESWATINI Right staff – the return

https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_183294745046213&id

Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=439930195696&ref=ts

Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129594823639&ref=ts

Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=301238832249

Swazi Media Commentary

https://www.facebook.com/Swazi.Media.Commentary?v=wall

(Apologies to those I’ve accidentally missed out).

SEEING THROUGH AIRPORT FANTASY

I see we are being buttered up with excuses about why King Mswati III’s great fantasy - Sikhuphe International Airport - won’t be finished on time.

Readers playing the Fantasy Watch game with me will know that airport is expected to be completed and ready to receive its first flight in March next year (2010).

Now we are told this deadline is ‘unrealistic’ and was only set so that the airport could be used to transport passengers for the FIFA World Cup being played in South Africa next year.

The airport, a vanity project for King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is nowhere near finished and the Swaziland Government is still trying to find E1.5 billion (about 200 million US dollars) to complete it (this works out at about E1,500 for each man, woman and child in Swaziland, in a kingdom where 70 percent earn less than one dollar a day).

This week Swaziland Senator Moi Moi Masilela started on the excuses.

He said the target of 2010 was unrealistic. ‘As a result of the pressure we will end up building an airport that is not up to standard, something that would result in the tarmac collapsing when flights land.’

He told the Minister of Economic Planning and Development Prince Hlangusemphi during a Senate Portfolio Committee debate, ‘Let’s not rush the airport in the name of meeting deadlines but we should take our time to avoid having a structure that’s of poor standards.’

There are also doubts that the new airport will meet standards demanded by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). If the ICAO doesn’t license the airport, planes will not be able to use it.

Senator Masilela needs to be careful. It was King Mswati himself who only last month announced that the airport would be ready in March 2010. The king told an audience in Kuwait, ‘The completion of Sikhuphe International Airport in March 2010 will further improve our [Swaziland’s] standing.’

Whoops. Of course, the airport was never (is never, will never) going to be completed in 2010 and since no organisation is prepared to fund the airport’s completion it’s a fair bet it never will be finished.

As I said before, the whole Sikhuphe International Airport is just a sad fantasy of King Mswati and the people around him who are too self-interested to tell the king he is wrong.