SWAZI PM AND THE CON-MAN KING

Barnabas Dlamini, the Swaziland Prime Minister, has been derided across social media after it was revealed he had been passing himself off as a ‘doctor’ for more than five years when he had no such qualification. 

Dlamini had been given an ‘honorary’ doctorate from the University of Swaziland, an institution that does not run doctorate programmes, and where most of its students study for diplomas that are below bachelor degrees.

This is not the only time the bogus doctor allowed his vanity to get the better of him. In 2010 he accepted an award for being a global humanitarian from an organisation created by a well-known con-man, Rudy King.

Even though the con was exposed and reported in international media and Dlaimin had been informed he was being tricked, he still travelled to the Bahamas at the Swazi taxpayers’ expense to receive his medal. On his return to Swaziland, he continued to deny that he had been conned.

It started in September 2010, when the Swazi Government issued a statement to say Dlamini was to be honoured by the World Citizen Awards (WCA). It said the medal was being given to the Prime Minister, ‘as a person who has accomplished and made numerous contributions to mankind’. He was also described as a ‘highly respected global figure, whose role in history has been significant.’ 

WCA described itself as a ‘private- charitable foundation whose main objective is to give proper recognition through the conferment of awards of excellence and distinction to individuals or groups worldwide who have distinguished themselves as brilliant exemplars of society or who contributed toward the attainment of peace and respect for human life and dignity.’ 

The media in Swaziland reported the announcement uncritically even though only weeks earlier Dlamini had been condemned internationally after he said critics of his government should be tortured by having their feet whipped. 

Two months previously in July 2010 Amnesty International issued a special plea for its supporters to protest about the Dlamini government, ‘because political activists, human rights defenders and trade unionists in Swaziland were at risk of harassment, ill-treatment and arrest, as the authorities use draconian counter-terror legislation to investigate a spate of government-targeted petrol bombings’.

Although the media in Swaziland fell for the story, proper journalists elsewhere smelt a rat. How could someone with Prime Minister Dlamini’s history of human rights violations be considered for a global medal as a humanitarian?

Africa Contact in Denmark and Swazi Media Commentary unearthed the con-trick in a matter of hours.

They went to the Internet and found the website for WCA. On there they found a list of trustees who were said to be the backbone of the organisation. Each person listed had a reputation as advocates for human rights and it seemed odd that they would vote to give Dlamini a medal.

Each of the trustees was emailed and within hours one of them replied to say he was the victim of a hoax.  It turned out that none of the trustees had ever heard of WCA and certainly were not supporters.

The globally-respected Associated Press (AP) news agency took up the story and realised that the WCA was a sham organisation consisting only of a website and an accommodation address.

Once the AP story hit the Internet, journalists in the Bahamas who knew Rudy King of old ran reports about his background as a con-artist. 

All this was revealed before the award ceremony took place on 2 October 2010. Despite the overwhelming evidence that he was the victim of a con-trick, Prime Minister Dlamini flew to the Bahamas and collected his medal.

On his return to Swaziland Dlamini refused to accept he had been conned. He told the Swazi Senate that the award was legitimate because people of ‘high stature’ were present with him at the awards. Among the people of ‘high stature’ were Ashford and Simpson, a singer-songwriter duo who last had a hit in the 1980s. 

Dlamini told a news conference, ‘In 2005 he [Rudy King] gave an award to a prince [David], gave a medal to Prince Guduza in 2007 and to the prime minister in 2008, so what is the difference now in 2010? His history in Swaziland is rich. This is the fourth medal he has presented to Swazis but now the focus is on 2010.’ 

The only difference between 2010 and the previous years was that proper journalists refused simply to rewrite the Prime Minister’s press releases and instead did their job. Rudy King had conned them all.

To this day, Prime Minister Dlamini probably thinks he is considered as a ‘highly respected global figure, whose role in history has been significant’. Rudy King probably does not care. After he finished conning the vain Prime Minister he moved on.

In August 2014 the Nassau Guardian, a newspaper in the Bahamas reported Rudy King was up to his old tricks. This time The King Global Humanitarian Foundation and an outfit he called Celebrating Women International (CWI) claimed to be raising funds for HIV and AIDS causes when it was not. 

The newspaper reported CWI had been soliciting women from across The Bahamas to receive awards for their contributions to society.

The newspaper added King had been indicted twice in the United States on fraud charges.

See also

SWAZILAND PM IS BOGUS DOCTOR

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/05/swaziland-pm-is-bogus-doctor.html

 

SWAZI PM MEDAL BOGUS - OFFICIAL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/swazi-pm-medal-bogus-official.html

SWAZI PM STILL DENIES AWARD IS CON

And still Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, refuses to accept he received a medal for his ‘humanitarian’ work from a con man at the head of a sham international organisation.

Dlamini went to the Bahamas earlier this month (October 2010) to get a medal from Rudy King, even though King had been exposed worldwide as a con artist.

Dlamini yesterday (21 October 2010) tried to defend accepting the award by saying King was respected in Swaziland and had been ‘in and out of the country since the century began’.

He told a news conference that the media ‘had sung his praises’ when he wanted to open an office in Swaziland.

Dlamini also said King had previously awarded his medal to other Swazi luminaries. ‘In 2005 he gave an award to a prince (David), gave a medal to Prince Guduza in 2007 and to the prime minister in 2008, so what is the difference now in 2010? His history in Swaziland is rich. This is the fourth medal he has presented to Swazis but now the focus is on 2010.’

I’ll tell Dlamini what the difference is in 2010: somebody took the trouble to make inquiries about Rudy King. I was one of those people (among many others) and I’ll tell Dlamini how we did it.

At the centre of the scandal was an organisation called World Citizen Awards (WCA) headed by King. The Swazi Government had put out a press release saying WCA was to honour Dlamini for the work he was doing for human rights. We knew something was fishy because Dlamini is an enemy of human rights and doesn’t deserve an award.

We went to the Internet and found the website for WCA. On there was a list of trustees who were said to be the backbone of the organisation. Each person listed had a reputation as advocates for human rights and it seemed odd that they would vote to give Dlamini a medal.

We emailed each of the trustees and within hours received a reply from one of them that said he was the victim of a hoax. It turned out that none of the trustees had ever heard of WCA and certainly were not supporters.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency took up the story and realised that the WCA was a sham organisation consisting only of a website and an accommodation address.

Once the AP story hit the Internet, journalists in the Bahamas who knew Rudy King of old ran reports about his background as a con artist.

Dlamini cannot dispute any of these facts. The truth is that Rudy King is a con artist and Dlamini has been taken in. Dlamini was embarrassed by King, but he has humiliated himself by continuing to insist that King and his medal are genuine.

So, in case Dlamini hasn’t quite understood: the reason why 2010 is different. It is because some journalists did their job, which Swazi reporters in previous years did not.

SWAZI PM DLAMINI IS LOSING THE PLOT

I think Swaziland Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini dost protest too much about the bogus award he received from conman Rudy King.

Dlamini is still trying to convince us that the medal for his ‘humanitarian’ work given by the sham organisation World Citizens Award (WCA) is genuine.

The latest attempt by Dlamini, who was illegally appointed PM of Swaziland by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was at the Swazi Senate this week.

He told senators the award was legitimate because people of ‘high stature’ were present with him at the awards ceremony held in the Bahamas earlier this month (October 2010).

He said those in attendance were ‘not just randomly picked from the streets’. And besides, before they had the ceremony they all met together for a service at a Cathedral. And there was a bishop there, so that proves it was legitimate.

Dlamini sounds like a small boy trying to convince his parents that he hasn’t been naughty.

He clearly has a very juvenile mind, because he told senators that among the people of ‘high stature’ at the awards ceremony were Ashford and Simpson.

Ashford and Simpson? No, I wasn’t sure who they were either. It turns out they’re a singer-songwriter duo who last had a hit in the 1980s.

So to Swaziland’s Prime Minister the fact that Ashford and Simpson attended the awards ceremony makes it legitimate.

Dlamini is exposed here. Everyone knows that the WCA is bogus and that people the organisation claims as its trustees say they haven’t even heard of the organisation. Rudy King has been exposed as a crook and a conman. Dlamini’s award is not legitimate. It is a fake medal. It is a bogus honour.

Dlamini is losing the plot. He should stop trying to defend this medal and admit he was conned. He has made a serious error of judgement in accepting the award and he compounds the error by trying to justify it.

SWAZI PM DLAMINI IS CONNED AGAIN

Astonishing! That’s the only word I can think of to describe Barnabas Dlamini’s claim that the award he received in the Bahamas from disgraced conman Rudy King was legitimate.

Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, said this even though it was revealed that King’s World Citizen Awards (WCA) organisation was a sham and the people King said were its trustees (and were the judges for the award) publicly said they had nothing to do with WCA and had never heard of it.

Despite this evidence that Dlamini had been taken for a fool, he still maintains the medal for humanitarian work was valid.

Dlamini spoke to reporters on his return to Swaziland yesterday (14 October 2010). The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported him saying, just because Rudy King ‘had a colourful past did not mean he could not have rehabilitated himself’.

Dlamini went on to say the award was legitimate because previous Prime Minister, Absalom Themba Dlamini, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Prince Guduza, and former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Prince David, had all been recipients of the award in the past.

Dlamini said, ‘Dr King firstly explained his history to us and said he was not proud of his past, but just because he had a bad history did not mean one could not rehabilitate himself.’

He said King further told them, in actual fact, few people were proud of their past and he was a changed man which is why he had established the foundation.

But Mr Prime Minister, he would say that wouldn’t he? - because he is a conman.

As I say, Astonishing. Dlamini has made a complete fool of himself and he has done it in the glare of international publicity. He is supposed to be a leader of a nation but how could anyone inside Swaziland or on the world stage trust his judgement ever again?

It’s time for Dlamini to go before he does any more damage to Swaziland.

EX-SWAZI PM'S NEW LINK TO CONMAN

The Swazi Government was so taken in by con man Rudy King it offered him the chance to open an office in Swaziland.

King is the man behind the bogus ‘humanitarian’ award given to Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally appointed Prime Minister.

As I reported on 4 October 2010, Barnabas Dlamini wasn’t the only Swazi Prime Minister who fell for King’s con. The previous Prime Minister Themba Dlamini was taken-in as well.

Following up on my report, the Times of Swaziland discovered in its files that in 2007 Themba Dlamini was quoted as saying members of King’s foundation would be visiting Swaziland to finalise the setting up of an office. King had claimed his organisation funded education by giving grants to primary and high schools, colleges and universities around the world.

Of course, nothing came of this offer and as far as I known Themba Dlamini never talked about it publicly again.

Themba Dlamini was well and truly bamboozled by King, who is a well-known con artist in the Bahamas and the United States.

Themba Dlamini told the media upon his return to Swaziland after receiving his medal, ‘I am humbled for being identified as one of the people to deserve the award and I am dedicating it to the Swazi nation as my efforts would not have been recognised had I not been serving the Swazi nation.’

He was embroiled in a controversy after his return when it was discovered that he had taken his wife and his ‘spiritual advisor’, Pastor Phila Mathunjwa, with him to the Bahamas to collect his award. Mathunjwa flew business class, which cost E39 000 (nearly 6,000 US dollars).

When independent newspapers in Swaziland tried to get the government to come clean over the cost they were told to mind their own business and because there is no freedom of information law in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, there was nothing much they could do about it.