Swaziland Newsletter No. 846 – 27
September 2024
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.
eSwatini opposition leader in poisoning scare. Incident
comes before planned October protests
By Jeanette Chabalala and Zweli Dlamini, Sowetan
Live (South Africa), 25 September 2024
An exiled eSwatini
pro-democracy activist has told of how she fears for her life after the alleged
poisoning of the country’s main opposition party president Mlungisi Makhanya.
Makhanya, the president of the
People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), was rushed to hospital in
Pretoria in the early hours of Tuesday after what his comrades said was another
attempt on his life.
A trusted person who lived in
the same house with Makhanya was allegedly behind his positioning.
Makhanya was
apparently locked inside the house and left to die after the poisoning,
with some of his party members saying he was screaming for help.
The incident, according to
party members, comes after a few weeks before a planned pro-democracy protest
in eSwatini next month, which he had been spearheading.
The activist, who fled
eSwatini in September last year, had told Sowetan that when she learned of
Makhanya’s attempted assassination she feared that anyone could be next.
“For me, they managed to find
Makhanya and got to him... and anyone else can be next,” she said.
The woman said she started
fearing for her life following human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko’s
assassination last year in January. He was shot through a window at his home
while he was with his wife and two children.
“I fear for my life and my
family’s lives because they are still in eSwatini. There was a hit list in
eSwatini and Thulani Maseko was part of the list, I worked very closely with
him,” she said.
The woman said after Maseko’s
assassination she received information that her name also appeared on the list
while doing advocacy work around Maseko’s assassination.
“I had to leave in September
last year, after getting reports that it was a dangerous time for me to be
there.
“Makhanya made an announcement
that in October there would be some kind of action in eSwatini, so it is not a
coincidence that he has been poisoned,” she said.
The woman said in August she
went home “under the radar and I was spotted at the American embassy and all of
a sudden there were drones around my house”.
According to those close to
Makhanya, he was allegedly poisoned by someone he lived with in the house.
The suspect is apparently on
the run and is believed to have grabbed some of the Pudemo president’s
cellphones to prevent him from calling and asking for help.
Sowetan called Makhanya’s cellphone, and while it rang, it
went unanswered.
Makhanya’s comrades at Pudemo
accused the eSwatini regime of being behind the incident.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2024-09-25-eswatini-opposition-leader-in-poisoning-scare/
Mswati allegedly fears another political unrest amid
PUDEMO’s looming October week of rage
By Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 20
September, 2024
MBABANE: Mswati allegedly does
not have confidence in Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini that he might
handle the alleged looming political unrest, hence the King opted to send him
to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly amid the October week of rage
threats by the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), royal insiders
told this Swaziland News.
It has been disclosed that,
the King now takes every threat of a protest or political unrest seriously
after the June 2021 nationwide protests that almost toppled him and his
Tinkhundla regime.
“The October week of rage
threats by PUDEMO are taken seriously by the King and the security agencies,
that’s why anything that looks like a protest is quickly attended to by the
police even if it could be a few people”, said the royal insider.
The October week of rage was
announced by PUDEMO President Mlungisi Makhanya when addressing the Nation
recently, this forms part of the efforts to democratize eSwatini.
But Mswati’s Spokesperson
Percy Simelane clarified that, the King’s decision to send the Prime Minister
to the UN General Assembly had nothing to do with PUDEMO’s week of rage but
maintained that, the country remains on high alert.
The Spokesperson said despite
the threats by PUDEMO, the King will not lose sleep.
“Our experience is that he
alternates with the Prime Minister for the UN annual meetings (Annual General
Assembly in particular). Secondly there is a national event in country this
weekend, the Shiselweni Reed Dance. This traditional event is not a duty of the
King and Ingwenya which he can delegate but a responsibility, calling for his
direct participation. As for the rumoured, I have no reasons to think Eswatini
shall ever be caught unaware again. The Kingdom shall, however continue to play
it’s cards closer to the chest on the rumoured threat. The King doesn’t have to
stay indoors and monitor anything. He had not losing any sleep on the rumored
threat in question. Security is a mandate of other clusters within the system
should the need arise. We are not aware of anyone who nearing the panic button
from the Administrative High Table”, said the King’s Spokesperson.
We’re losing skilled labour in droves
By Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, Times of eSwatini,
23 September 2024
The Kingdom of Eswatini is
currently experiencing a critical juncture in its economic situation. Despite
government assertions that the economy is on an upward trajectory, the reality
on the ground starkly contrasts with the optimistic figures being presented.
The daily lives of ordinary citizens are deteriorating. Our youth are
increasingly disillusioned, questioning the value of their educational
pursuits, once considered the key to success, as many remain unemployed with
their qualifications serving as mere wall decorations. Even those with
commendable credentials are relegated to jobs traditionally held by individuals
with only secondary or high school education. Many employed individuals, both
in the public and private sectors, are receiving inadequate compensation, often
resorting to unregulated loan providers, exacerbating their financial plight.
A night visit to Manzini City
reveals a growing number of young females engaging in sex work to make ends
meet, a distressing trend that mirrors scenes more commonly associated with
Johannesburg. The current discourse among both the employed and unemployed
revolves around the pursuit of job opportunities abroad. Numerous Eswatini
citizens have migrated to countries such as the United States, Taiwan, and
Northern Ireland, where there appears to be a steady demand for African workers
in healthcare, palliative care, and manual labour sectors. This has led to a
surge in online agencies claiming to facilitate overseas job placements,
although many are merely exploiting desperate job seekers for financial gain.
The prospect of overseas employment, despite the inherent risks of human
trafficking and organ trade, seems more appealing to the local population than
remaining in a country with limited opportunities.
Disconcertingly, individuals
who have dropped out of school in regions like Hhohho and engaged in illicit
activities such as the dagga trade earn more annually than those with advanced
degrees or legitimate businesses. It is not uncommon for teachers in these
areas to borrow money from their own students. The perceived value of education
has significantly diminished, fostering a generation of youth who are angry,
disillusioned, and hungry. Unless immediate action is taken to address the
needs of our young people, who constitute the majority of the population, we
will face severe repercussions.
To read more of
this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/thinking-aloud/147218-we%E2%80%99re-losing-skilled-labour-in-droves.html
In eSwatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, bucolic
landscapes belie a darker underbelly
By Micah Reddy, International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists, 23 September 2024
Behind the scenes
of ICIJ’s Swazi Secrets investigation, reporters encountered smiling citizens,
gun-toting security, and a simmering undercurrent of fear and mystery.
After sweet-talking our way
past a friendly security guard with a large rifle — “This is nothing; you
should see the guns they have inside,” he said — my two colleagues and I were
in the courtyard of the Usuthu country club, chatting with the head of a
private security firm.
The club, in the serene
village of Mhlambanyatsi, surrounded by hills of timber forests, is about a
30-minute drive south of Mbabane, the capital of Eswatini. We were in the tiny
Southern African country to follow a couple of leads — information that pointed
to the security firm’s potential involvement in quelling anti-government
dissent — as part of a reporting trip for what would eventually become the Swazi Secrets project. Based on leaked documents from a local
financial oversight body, which were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets, the ICIJ-led investigation brought together 38
journalists from 11 countries to shed light on the role that Africa’s last
absolute monarchy plays in the regional and global illicit economy.
The security company was rumored to be acting as a secretive mercenary outfit, suppressing pro-democracy protests that swept the country since 2021. The leaked documents didn’t include enough evidence to establish exactly what the company’s employees were up to. What the leak did show, however, was that the company that owned the country club and had hired the security firm — and which was founded by the country’s finance minister — had procured sensitive surveillance equipment, seemingly to help prop up the state.
 |
| ICIJ journalist Micah Reddy traveled multiple times to Eswatini during the Swazi Secrets investigation. Image: Yeshiel Panchia / ICIJ |
At this point we had made steady progress in sifting through the over 890,000 documents in the leak. Over successive reporting trips, I visited much of the west and central parts of Eswatini, interviewing sources, badgering reluctant officials for information, and tracking down the many, many addresses that cropped up in the leaks, like the Usuthu country club.
On the face of it, most of the
locations I visited seemed totally unremarkable and innocuous — even boringly
pleasant, like the country club, or the rural church we visited just off the
main arterial road that bisects the country.
There is little that sets
apart the All Nations Christian Church in Zion from the countless other
churches that have mushroomed across the country in recent years. Outside the
main church hall — a building resembling an industrial warehouse — we met the “archbishop,”
Bheki Lukhele.
Lukhele is a stocky, affable
man with a disarmingly gappy smile. But his overly protective bodyguards were
odd for someone who’s supposedly just a middling man of God. Perhaps, I thought
at the time, they were a sign of someone who wanted to keep scrutiny of his
earthly activities at bay.
Inside the cavernous hall,
churchgoers swayed in song or spoke in tongues as one particularly irritable
bodyguard tried to swat away ICIJ’s photographer. Presumably, the congregants
had no clue that the humble church and its leader were conduits for millions of
dollars. That’s why we were there — to see firsthand the scene that Swazi
authorities had flagged as a key node in complex transactions involving politically connected figures in
Eswatini and across the border in South Africa. The authorities determined that
the transactions were suspicious and potentially unlawful.
From the church, we drove
about 60 miles north — sometimes over rough four-wheel drive terrain — to the
remote border town of Bulembu, a former asbestos mining town that was largely
deserted after demand for the material plummeted. The picturesque town had
undergone a minor revival in recent years as the site of a church and
orphanage.
We had come to Bulembu to find
a new bank that, bizarrely, had opened in a town with an almost non-existent
economy. Again, what we saw was unremarkable: a modest, freshly painted
building. Inside were brand-new steel waiting room benches and counters. It
looked like any other bank, but the story behind it was full of intrigue.
The bank existed in limbo amid
an ongoing tussle between its shadowy Canadian founders and Swazi authorities
who were concerned about the lack of transparency around the bank’s ownership
and were demanding answers about the source of its funding. Our Swazi Secrets
investigation revealed the
political interests behind the bank, questionable money flows, and the opaque
role of a controversial and highly litigious Canadian property developer — John
Asfar.
Farmer’s Bank downplayed Asfar’s
role, and he failed to produce required personal financial records, according
to a firm that reviewed the bank’s license application. He and his brother
Alexandre, who formally owned the bank, had been involved in endless litigation
with the Canadian tax authority and with other family members over issues like
their father’s estate. His company, Travellers Inn, had also filed for
bankruptcy in Canada.
To read more of
this report, click here
See also
How international
gold dealers exploited a tiny African kingdom’s economic dream
https://www.icij.org/investigations/swazi-secrets/eswatini-mswati-economic-zone-gold-dubai/
Lawmakers signal
crackdown on press freedom following Swazi Secrets
The central bank
in a tiny African country tried to block a suspicious banking venture. Then the
king’s allies intervened.
https://www.icij.org/investigations/swazi-secrets/eswatini-farmers-bank-rijkenberg-belumbu/
Environmentalists,
Taiwanese company clash over mining in eSwatini
By Nokukhanya Musi, Voice of America, 20
September
MBABANE: Residents and
environmentalists in Eswatini have arrayed against Taiwan’s Michael Lee
Enterprises in a battle over mining in the country’s picturesque Malolotja
Nature Reserve.
The company has been accused
of exploiting the park for green chert, a rare mineral found in the area,
putting the park’s wildlife and natural beauty at risk.
Some locals and
environmentalists are calling for an unbiased investigation to determine what
damage, if any, is being caused by the green chert mining by Michael Lee
Enterprises in the Malalotja reserve.
Government spokesperson
Alpheous Nxumalo has maintained that no violations by the mining company have
been confirmed and has urged community members to report any potential breaches
to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy.
“We have spoken to both the
Ministry of Natural Resources and we have spoken to the company,” Nxumalo said.
“The directors themselves, they are disputing what the community members have
supposedly told you in respect to this company and its activities.
“However, the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Energy has committed that they do investigations from
time to time to ensure companies continue with compliance in terms of
protecting environment and in terms of complying with the laws governing the
mining industry in the kingdom of Eswatini.”
To read more of
this report, click here
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