One in three girls in Swaziland experience sexual violence, new report reveals

One in three girls in Swaziland (eSwatini) will experience some form of sexual violence before they are 18 years old, a report just out says.

Almost half of Swazi women (48.2 percent) will experience some form of sexual violence over their lifetime. Intimate partners, such as husbands and boyfriends, are most likely to be the perpetrators of sexual violence against women, making a woman’s home often a very dangerous place.

The report produced jointly by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) was released on Friday (2 October 2020)

The statistics were supplied by SWAGAA.

The report was part of a guide to journalists and other media workers in Swaziland on how to report gender-based violence.

The report stated, ‘In terms of rates of violence against children and child sexual abuse in eSwatini, the statistics are staggering. Nearly nine out of 10 children experience some form of physical or psychological abuse violence in the kingdom.

‘Gender-based violence (GBV) and particularly violence that affects women and girls, is a widespread and raging problem.’

The report said it was difficult to get accurate information in Swaziland because police statistics were unreliable and GBV crimes were grossly underreported.

It added, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW ) committee which evaluated Swaziland expressed concerned with the ‘low level of reporting of violence against women, owing to a culture of silence and impunity, and at the lack of data on the number of reported cases involving violence against women that have been investigated and prosecuted and on the nature of sanctions imposed on perpetrators.’

 

See also

Swaziland sees increase in sexual violence against children as schools closed by coronavirus

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/09/swaziland-sees-increase-in-sexual.html

 

Doubts over survey result that suggests attitudes on wife-beating improving in Swaziland

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/doubts-over-survey-result-that-suggests.html

 

Customary law lets husbands rape wives

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/08/custom-law-lets-husbands-rape-wives.html

‘RITUAL KILLINGS LINKED TO ELECTION’

There are ‘widespread speculations’ across Swaziland that a number of recent abductions resulting in mutilations and killings might be related to the ongoing national election in the kingdom, the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said.

SWAGAA said, ‘Children, both girls and boys, are especially targeted; however, this does not mean adults cannot be a target in future. For this reason, all people should remain on high alert.’

It said in a statement, ‘The fact that there are widespread speculations on whether or not these abductions are for ritual purposes linked to the upcoming Parliamentary elections in Eswatini [Swaziland] cannot be ignored.’

Swaziland has a history of abductions and ritual killings in the run-up to national elections that are held every five years. Voter registration is currently taking place and ends on 17 June 2018. The date for the actual election has yet to be announced.

In June 2017, during a voter-education workshop, Swaziland’s Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) called for an end to ritual killings around voting time. It was concerned about reports of people mysteriously disappearing across the kingdom. 

At KaLanga in the Lugongolweni constituency EBC educator Cynthia Dlamini said ritual murder reports increased during election time. The Swazi Observer reported at the time, ‘Dlamini said this was one belief driven by lunacy which tarnishes the image of the country in the process. She said the commission condemns such beliefs and called for intensive investigations against those who would be suspected of ritual killings.’

At the last election in 2013, The Swaziland Epilepsy Association warned that cases of the abduction of epileptic people always increased during elections. Mbuso Mahlalela from the association told the Swazi Observer at the time it was common for the vulnerable to be targeted and abducted. He spoke after a report that a 13-year-old epileptic boy might have been abducted for ritual purposes.

Before the election in 2008 a march by civil society groups to draw attention to ritual killings was banned by the government amid fears that it would bring bad publicity to Swaziland and might embarrass King Mswati III, the kingdom’s absolute monarch, who had spoken out against the practice. 

The Times of Swaziland reported at the time the march had been motivated by the mystery disappearances and murders of women. Some of these had been found mutilated fuelling speculating that they were related to rituals.

Some Swazi people believe body parts can be used as ‘muti’ which is used to bring good fortune to candidates at the election and help them to win seats in parliament. 

In 2008, it was strongly rumoured in Swaziland that the reason why members of the government wanted to ban discussion on the ritual murders was that some of them had themselves used ‘muti’ to get elected.

In March 2018, a campaign called ‘Don’t kill us, we are human beings too’ was launched to raise awareness about people with albinism, a group at particular risk at election time. The Stukie Motsa Foundation is using social media to dispel the false belief that people with albinism cleanse bad luck and bring fortune to people. 

There have been concerns in Swaziland for years that people with albinism have been targeted and murdered. Witchdoctors use the body parts to make spells that they claim bring people good luck.  Sport teams have also been known to use spells to bring them good fortune during matches. Witchdoctors’ services are especially sought after by candidates contesting parliamentary and local elections. 

In January 2017, the Director of Public Prosecution’s office in Swaziland told witchdoctors in the kingdom to stop murdering people for body parts. The witchdoctors, also known as tinyanga, were advised to go to the Ministry of Health for body parts, such as bones. 

During the national elections in Swaziland in 2013, people with albinism lived in fear that their body parts would be harvested by candidates seeking good luck.  

Independent Newspapers in South Africa reported at the time, ‘In the past [people with albinism], who lack the skin pigment melanin, as well as epileptics have been specifically targeted, prompting the police to set up registries.  

‘In 2010, the killing and mutilation of [people with albinism], including in one instance the decapitation of two children in Nhlangano, prompted panic.’ 

In August 2013, Independent Newspapers quoted an academic at the University of Swaziland, who did not want to be named, saying, ‘Ritual killings to achieve elected office are a natural outgrowth of a government based not on rationality or democratic principles but on superstitious beliefs.  

‘The Swazi king claims power through an annual Incwala festival where a bull is brutally sacrificed and mysterious rituals occur, and this sets the tone. No one knows how office-holders are appointed in Swaziland. It’s all done in secret, without recourse to merit or any rhyme or reason, so this fuels irrational beliefs.  

‘Ritual murder has long been part of Swazi life.’ 

See also 

PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM WANT PROTECTION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/06/swazi-albinos-demand-govt-protection.html

 

‘MPs USE WITCHCRAFT FOR SUCCESS’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/02/mps-use-witchcraft-for-success.html

ELECTION: ‘RITUAL MURDERS WILL RISE’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/election-ritual-murders-will-rise.html

SWAZI GOVT BANS MURDERS MARCH

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/07/swazi-gvt-bans-murders-march.html

ELECTION OF WOMEN BILL STALLS

Evidence is growing in Swaziland that traditionalists do not support a constitutional change to ensure 30 percent of members of the House of Assembly are women.

It has taken 10 years for a Bill to reach parliament and on Monday (21 May 2018) debate on it was halted because some members left the house leaving fewer than the necessary quorum of 30 in place.

During the debate on the Election of Women Members to the House of Assembly Bill, Mbabane West Member of Parliament (MP) Johane Shongwe said that wives should not stand for election unless they had the permission of their husbands. His comments were reported prominently by both of Swaziland’s daily newspapers.

The Times of Swaziland, reported he ‘had some of his colleagues in stitches while others were seething with anger’. 

The Times reported, ‘In his usual funny tone’, Shongwe said he was in favour of passing the Bill but had an issue with the fact that some of the women who would be nominated would be people’s wives.

It added, he queried, ‘If I nominate someone’s wife, who will I say gave me the permission?’

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported Shongwe saying, ‘It is difficult for women to nominate one another in chiefdoms. Therefore, it is advisable for them to get permission from their husbands. I was nominated by a woman to be where I am right now, to show that most women would rather nominate a man than another woman.’

The Observer reported, ‘The legislator further said women MPs would sometimes attend workshops at places far away from their homes. This would mean they would have to go for days without sleeping next to their husbands at home. MP Shongwe said this could pose a problem for the husband, especially if his permission was not sought by the wife before taking the politics path.’

Later, Silindelo Nkosi, Advocacy Officer, for the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), said, ‘This is clear backward thinking. While the rest of the world is advocating and promoting gender equality, it is rather worrying to have a prominent public figure making such an irresponsible statement with no shame.’

In Swaziland, political parties are not allowed to run for election. The King chooses 10 of the 65 members of the House of Assembly and 10 members of the 30-strong Senate. Members of the House of Assembly choose the other 20.

The Constitution that came into effect in 2006 requires five women to be elected to the Senate by the House and the King to choose another eight. There have been two national elections since the Constitution came into effect and the required number of women members of parliament has not been met. 

On representation in the House of Assembly, the Constitution states, ‘The nominated members of the House shall be appointed by the King so that at least half of them are women.’

It also requires there are four female members specially elected from the four regions of Swaziland.

The Election of Women Members to the House of Assembly Bill will put into legal force the constructional requirements. It was tabled in the House of Assembly in April 2018 on the instruction of the King. It is hoped that it would become law before the next national election due later in 2018.

There has been opposition to the change across the kingdom. In the past year, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) ran a series of voter-education workshops and conferences. 

Chiefs at a capacity building conference in Siteki in February 2017 spoke against encouraging the electorate to vote for women for gender-balance reasons, the Swazi Observer reported at the time. ‘The traditional leaders said this may be equal to interfering with the people’s choices or rather channelling them into voting against their will but adhere to an order.’

It added, Chief Mdlaka Gamedze raised the issue and he said the call by many organisations to vote for women might lead to interference with the people’s choices.

‘Instead, Gamedze urged the EBC team to encourage the freedom to nominate or elect any member of the society without considering whether it is a male or female,’ the Observer reported.

‘Meanwhile, Chief Mvimbi Matse reported that some women were denied the opportunity to contest for the elections by their husbands. Matse said there have been instances where women were nominated during the first stage but later withdrew after their husbands instructed them to do so. However, Matse said they would now work closely with the EBC to make sure that such incidents are not repeated in the future,’ the newspaper reported. 

At a voter education workshop at KaGucuka in June 2017, One women, reported by the Swazi Observer at the time, said most women of the area feared being nominated for the elections because they would be questioned and even disowned by their husbands. 

It reported a woman who did not want to be named saying, ‘To be very honest, the reason why this small area has never had a female nominee for elections is because we fear our husbands who will question us on how we got nominated to stand for the elections in the first place. We have heard that a successful nominee requires at least 10 people to nominate them to stand for the elections, unfortunately for us women our husbands will get angry at us when we get nominated.’

Women remain oppressed in Swaziland, according to report published in 2016 by ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa). It reported that despite claims that Swaziland was a modern country, ‘the reality is, despite pledges and commitments, women continue to suffer discrimination, are treated as inferior to men, and are denied rights’.

In a briefing paper called Women’s Rights in Swaziland ACTSA reported, ‘Cultural gender norms dictate that women and girls provide the bulk of household-related work, including physical and emotional care. As a result, girls are under pressure to drop out from school, especially where there are few adults available to care for children and the elderly, for example, in child-headed households.’

Despite the misgivings of traditionalists, the Bill will certainly be passed because King Mswati has instructed it. Barnabas Dlamini, the Swazi Prime Minister, is on record saying government belonged to His Majesty and it took instructions from him to implement them to the letter, without questioning them.  In 2012 the Times Sunday newspaper reported him saying, ‘Government listens when His Majesty speaks and we will always implement the wishes of the King and the Queen Mother.’

The PM said Cabinet’s position on the matter was that it respected His Majesty’s position on all matters he spoke about. He said Cabinet just like the nation, heard what the King said and his wishes would be implemented.

See also

BILL TO GET WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/bill-to-get-women-in-parliament.html

 

NEW DRIVE FOR SWAZI WOMEN’S RIGHTS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/new-drive-for-swazi-womens-rights.html

WIDOWS CAN STAND IN SWAZI ELECTION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/04/widows-can-stand-in-swazi-election.html

‘DAD RAPES DAUGHTER TO TEST VIRGINITY’

A father in Swaziland raped his 16-year-old daughter to test that she was still a virgin, a court has been told.

It is a stark illustration of the way women and girls are treated in the kingdom where traditional law allows husbands to rape their wives and condones men having sex with children.

The Times of Swaziland reported on Monday (21 May 2018) that the 46-year-old man from the Lubombo region in the east of the kingdom made a statement to a judicial officer at Siteki Magistrates Court. He said he had argued with his daughter because he thought she had been sleeping with boys. He asked if she was still a virgin and she told him she was.

The newspaper reported, ‘However, the man confessed that he did not believe his daughter, hence he suggested that he should test her virginity. He unashamedly told the judicial officer that he allegedly forcefully had sexual intercourse with his daughter as a way of “testing” her virginity.’

He was charged with aggravated rape and an unrelated drug offence and remanded by Lubombo Magistrates Court until 1 June 2018.

The case came to light as Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) reported that parents were the main perpetrators of violence in the home. It said that of 332 cases reported in March and April 2018, 43 percent involved mothers or fathers. It added, females continued to be more vulnerable and exposed to abuse.

Women and girls are vulnerable in Swazi culture. In 2013, a 317-page document called The Indigenous Law and Custom of the Kingdom of Swaziland (2013) was presented to King Mswati III who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. It said that under Swazi Law and Custom a husband can legally rape his wife or his lover. Under Chapter 7, which addresses offences (emacala) in Swaziland, rape is said to be committed only if the woman forced is not the man’s wife or lover.

In 2015, a report from a US organisation ABCNewspoint stated that Swaziland had the fourth highest rate of rape in the world. It said there were 77.5 registered cases of rape among 100,000 people.

Four in six married women interviewed in the street in Mbabane by the Swazi News in October 2017 said their husbands had the right to rape them. Some wives said their husbands deserved sex whenever they wanted.

Rape and sexual abuse of children is common in Swaziland. In 2013, Unicef reported that one in three girls in Swaziland were sexually abused, usually by a family member and often by their own fathers - 75 percent of the perpetrators of sexual violence were known to the victim.

Many men in Swaziland believed was all right to rape children if their own wives were not giving them enough sex. In 2009, men who were interviewed during the making of the State of the Swaziland Population report said they ‘“salivate” over children wearing skimpy dress codes because they are sexually starved in their homes.’

See also

PRINCESS'S ‘SOLUTION’ TO MARITAL RAPE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/princesss-solution-to-marital-rape.html

SCHOOL CRITICISED FOR PREGNANCY TESTS

A school in Swaziland is being criticised by an action group against abuse for a decision to make girl pupils take pregnancy tests.

Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) Communications and Advocacy Officer Slindelo Nkosi said the move was highly discriminatory.

She was responding in the Swazi Observer on Thursday (25 January 2018) following a report in the newspaper that Siphocosini High School parents had agreed that girl children should undergo pregnancy tests this year.

The newspaper said parents thought this was a good idea as it might save them money in school fees. Girls who become pregnant are forced to leave school.

The newspaper reported, ‘The most painful part of this situation is that the fees paid for the pregnants are usually non-refundable hence parents reached this decision.’

The Observer reported Nkosi saying in itself, the decision was highly discriminatory and reinforced gender gaps between Swazi girls and boys, thereby promoting unfair and unequal educational and life opportunities. Boys who make girls pregnant are not punished.

Nkosi said, ‘Prioritising “saving money” and not enrolling or sending a girl-child to school due to being pregnant is counterproductive and detrimental to the lives and future of the affected girls as it increases their vulnerability to unemployment, violence, poverty, illiteracy, HIV and AIDS and a myriad of social challenges.’

She added it was also important to recognise that pregnancy could be a result of several reasons such as rape, which most girls did not report due to fear of being ridiculed or blamed by friends and family members.

Swaziland Human Rights and Public Administration Commissioner Sabelo Masuku said the stand taken by the school parents at Siphocosini High School was new and unknown. The question if there was a violation of human rights could depend on how the pregnancy tests were done. Masuku also raised concern on the discrimination and inequality that could be as a result of the pregnancy tests. A challenge could arise when only the girls were tested for pregnancy yet boys were not tested for the same thing. He said girls do not impregnate themselves, but boys were the ones responsible. 

In November 2016 it was reported girls Bekezela Primary School in Lubulini were said to have fallen pregnant ‘due to the poverty levels’. The Swazi Observer reported at the time the children were said to have mainly been impregnated by older men who would promise them food and other necessities. 

See also

SCHOOLGIRLS ‘GIVE SEX FOR FOOD’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/schoolgirls-give-sex-for-food.html

NUMBER OF REPORTED ABUSE CASES RISES

The number of abuse cases reported in Swaziland is on the increase.

The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said reported cases in September 2017 were 11.4 percent up on the previous month.

In a monthly report it said the total number of cases reported to it was 127 compared to 114 in August. People were either sexually, physically, financially or emotionally abused, or suffered neglect.

The Manzini region had the highest number of abuse cases with 68; Hhohho had 48; Lubombo, five; and Shiselweni, four.

According to the report, emotional/verbal abuse continues to record the highest number of cases; followed by neglect, physical, sexual and financial. 

There were 81 female and 46 male clients and 82 male perpetrators and 43 female perpetrators, the report stated. 

The report added parents were the main perpetrators of violence and the home was where most reported cases of abuse took place.

In August 2017, a UNICEF report revealed nearly nine out of ten children in Swaziland suffered violent discipline in the home, nearly four in ten suffered sexual violence and one in three were bullied. UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) reported that much of this was kept secret within the family.

UNICEF said according to national data, violent discipline in the home, which includes physical punishment and psychological aggression, affected more than 88 percent of all children in Swaziland. The study findings also revealed that sexual violence and bullying affected 38 per cent and 32 percent of children in Swaziland, respectively.

See also

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT SWAZI CHILDREN

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/campaign-to-protect-swazi-children.html

 

9 IN 10 KIDS SUFFER VIOLENCE AT HOME

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/9-in-10-kids-suffer-violence-at-home.html

CHILD VICTIMS IN HALF OF ABUSE CASES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/child-victims-in-half-of-abuse-cases.html

WIVES SAY HUSBANDS CAN RAPE THEM

Four of six married women interviewed by a newspaper in Swaziland said their husbands had the right to rape them.

The Swazi News reported on Saturday (21 October 2017) some wives said their husbands deserved sex whenever they wanted.

The newspaper did street interviews in the Swazi capital Mbabane. It did not say how this was done but the women appeared to have been chosen at random.

A Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Bill is stalled in the Swazi Parliament because traditionalists object to four clauses about incest, unlawful stalking, abduction and flashing. 

The newspaper reported, ‘With or without their consent, some women believe their husbands have a right to “rape” them.’

It added, ‘The reason given by four women out of the six interviewed was that part of their wifely duties was to provide sex to their husbands at all times.’

One woman said she had to give her husband ‘unlimited access to sex’ to stop him seeking pleasure elsewhere.

The Swazi News reported, ‘The women were of the view that their husbands should not be arrested because they were breadwinners.’

Section 151 of the SODV makes it clear that a marital relationship will not provide a defence against any offence.

Silindelo Nkosi, the Communication and Advocacy Officer for Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), told the newspaper that forced sex within a marriage was recognised by international conventions that Swaziland had signed as a crime.

However, the SODV Bill runs counter to tradition and culture in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.  The Indigenous Law and Custom of the Kingdom of Swaziland, a document from 2013 that clarifies traditional law states that rape is committed only if the woman forced is not the man’s wife or lover.

 

It is not known how man husbands force themselves on their wives but recorded figures on rape have shown Swaziland to have the fourth highest rate of rape in the world. In 2015, a report from a US organisation ABCNewspoint stated there were 77.5 registered cases of rape among 100,000 people.

In traditional culture in Swaziland women are owned by their men (husbands or fathers). In 2015 a survey conducted in Swaziland suggested four in 10 women believed a husband was justified in beating his wife because he was the head of the household. 

The APA news agency said at the time a demographic health survey called the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Comparative Report gave a number reasons for wife-beating which included; ‘if she refused to have sex with him, if she argued with him, if she went out without telling him, if she neglected the children and if she had sex with other men’.

APA reported, ‘Silindelo Nkosi, the Communication and Advocacy Officer for Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said, “These beliefs of justifying abuse have increased to the worst rate resulting in more young women dying in the hands of their lovers or husbands.”’

It added, ‘Clinical Psychologist Ndo Mdlalose describes this as an abusive mentality where men also tend to claim they are correcting their women by beating them.’

In June 2008 it was reported that the National Democratic and Health Survey found that 40 percent of men in Swaziland said it is all right to beat women. The same year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that the status of some women in Swaziland is so low that they are practically starved at meal times, because men folk eat first and if there is not enough food for everyone, the women must go without.

See also

SEX BILL HIGHLIGHTS CULTURE ISSUES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/sex-bill-highlights-culture-issues.html

 

IN SWAZILAND, CHILD RAPE NOT UNUSUAL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/12/in-swaziland-child-rape-not-unusual.html

SWAZI KING’S RIGHT-HAND MAN DIES

TV Mtetwa, the right-hand man to King Mswati III the absolute monarch of Swaziland, and a fierce opponent of progression in the kingdom has died aged 93.

Mtetwa who was known as the ‘traditional prime minister’ had more power than the actual PM. He advocated for girls as young as fifteen to be forced into marriages, thereby supporting paedophilia (sex with children).

He threatened opponents of King Mswati that they would burn, if they did not do as they were told. He relentlessly worked to limit free speech and criticism of the King.

TV Mtetwa – real name Timothy Velabo – was Acting Governor of the Ludzidzini Royal Residence. This meant when he spoke he was considered to be speaking for the King. The power in Swaziland rests with King Mswati and his mother. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King choses the Prime Minister, top ministers and judges. Critics of the King are labelled terrorists by the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Although a constitution was passed in 2005 giving the appearance that Swaziland had many traits of a modern state, in reality tradition and culture takes precedence over laws. Mtetwa was the ultimate authority on traditional law and custom in the kingdom. 

Mtetwa was quick to pint this out in 2012 when he said it was acceptable for girls aged 15 to take part in traditional marriage known as kwendzisa if their parents agreed and the child wanted to. 

Mtetwa said this knowing that in 2012 the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act had been passed in Swaziland which made it illegal to engage in sexual relationships with girls under the age of 18.

The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said at the time most of these so-called marriages were forced on the girl and sometimes it happened after she had been raped or fallen pregnant.  SWAGAA, in a media statement, said, ‘What is most disturbing is the fact that most of these “marriages” are forced, with the young girls having little or no say in being married to much older men. 

‘The situation is often forced because the family wants to receive payment and if sexual relations have occurred (usually forced upon the girl), the family wants to save face. We have seen tragic stories in the newspaper recently involving these types of marriages, from girls being forced to marry after being raped, to getting pregnant and dropping out of school, to attempting suicide.’

It added, ‘What these young girls are enduring in the name of “traditional marriage” is a human rights violation. Swaziland has signed the Human Rights Declaration and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2012 received assent from King Mswati III to protect the lives and dignity of all children in Swaziland.

‘Protecting young Swazi girls from traditional marriages that they don’t want is a matter of principle. It is not a complicated legal issue; it is simply a matter of upholding human rights and Swazi law.’

One of Mtetwa’s duties was to travel the length and breadth of Swaziland threatening dire consequences to people who dared to defy the King’s wishes. For example, in 2014 he told the King’s subjects in kaLuhleko they ‘will burn’ if they continued to criticise the King’s appointment of a local chief.

In April 2014, the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported Mtetwa and a delegation from the King visited kaLuhleko where it said ‘Bhekwako Dlamini had been mobilising the people to snub meetings called by the newly appointed Chief Zulwelihle Maseko, ‘who was blessed by Their Majesties last June’.

The newspaper reported, ‘His Majesty roared through Ludzidzini Governor Timothy Velabo Mtetwa commonly known as TV.

‘“It has gotten to the attention of His Majesty the King and the Queen Mother that there is something irregular happening here and that is why we are here today,” he said to deafening silence.

‘“There is a bad habit that has come to the attention of the authorities that there are some people who still choose to defy the chief and do not recognise a man who has been appointed by the King. Where have you ever heard of that? This is the person who has been chosen to take over from Mfanwenkhosi Maseko and I have been sent by His Majesty to order that there be complete silence in this place,” said the tough talking Mtetwa.’

The Observer reported Mthethwa warned that people who did not adhere to the directive issued by the King ‘will burn’.

Mtetwa was against free speech. Many times he pronounced that King Mswati’s word was final – on every topic. For example, in 2015, King Mswati introduced a football tournament that failed to attract enough supporters and made a huge financial loss. 

Controversy surrounded the E9 million (about US$900,000) sponsorship of the Ingwenyama Cup tournament by the government parastatal Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (SMVAF). SMVAF exists to compensate victims of road accidents.

A range of critics said the amount of sponsorship was too much to spend in a kingdom that was battling with poverty and a drought. Seven in ten of the King’s 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than US$2 a day.

Mtetwa announced that ‘members of parliament, [cabinet] ministers and whoever’ must be silent on the matter.

The Observer on Saturday (21 November 2015) reported Mtetwa said people must stop discussing the topic, ‘because the lion has already roared on the matter’. The newspaper reported Mtetwa, ‘emphasised that it was wrong for people to publicly talk about what the King has already pronounced and set in motion’.

The newspaper added, ‘Mtetwa said since time immemorial it had been a traditional norm that no one speaks after the King had spoken.’

The newspaper said, ‘He warned all critics to guard against being seen to be going against pronouncements made by the King.’

Mtetwa died on Monday (16 October 2017) in a hospital in South Africa after a long illness.

See also

KING’S MAN SUPPORTS CHILD BRIDES

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/kings-man-publicly-supports-child-sex.html

 

KING’S WORDS BLOCK FREE SPEECH

http://swazilandcommentary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/kings-words-block-free-speech.html

‘THE SWAZILAND KING’S WORD IS LAW’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-swaziland-kings-word-is-law.html

 

‘COUP D’ÉTAT TAKEN PLACE’ - KING’S MAN

http://swazilandcommentary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/coup-detat-taken-place-kings-man.html