BOGUS SWAZILAND TERROR FEARS

When will the Times of Swaziland stop insulting the intelligence of its readers over al-Qaeda terrorist threats in the kingdom?

The Times and its companion newspapers have been running articles designed to raise the level of fear among Swazis that they are in immediate threat from ‘Asians’ or ‘Muslims’ who are secretly in Swaziland plotting destruction.

The latest episode in this fantasy comes in the Times today (26 January 2010). The newspaper reports that the Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal has been in Swaziland ‘recruiting young men who would act as suicide bombers during the FIFA Football World Cup to be hosted by South Africa in June’.

These so-called ‘suicide bombers’ are, the Times tells us, ‘Muslim extremists who would cause terror at the upcoming world showpiece’.

And what’s the Times’ evidence for this? It copied the story down from the City Press newspaper in South Africa.

And where did the City Press get the story? It copied it down from the Sunday Standard newspaper in Botswana.

Do you remember the Standard? Obviously the journalists at the Times don’t. The Standard is the newspaper that in early 2009 told us that al Qaeda terrorists may be in Swaziland disguised as secondhand car salesmen.

They weren’t and they aren’t.

The Standard went further and reported that al Qaeda terrorists were infiltrating Botswana and 10 nations across the world, ‘Brazil, Namibia, South Africa, Malaysia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Lesotho, Mauritius, Swaziland, and Trinidad and Tobago’.

Nonsense. But the Swaziland journalists fell for it (that time it was mainly the Swazi Observer).

Still the Swazi journalists don’t stop and think. They are going great damage to ‘Asians’ and ‘Muslims’ by spreading a fear that they may be terrorists.

They are also playing into the hands of the repressive regime led by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Every time the media raise fear it gives the anti-democratic supporters of the king the excuse to clamp down on legitimate dissent in the kingdom.

‘SWAZI NEWS’ AND BOGUS TERRORISTS

I think the Swazi News is trying a little too hard to stand up its story that al Qaeda terrorists are in hiding in Swaziland.

This week the Swazi News claimed that Abdullah el-Faisal, who has been in the international news this week after being expelled from the United Kingdom once visited Swaziland.

But in its story published this week it gives no details of when el-Faisal was supposed to have been in Swaziland, nor does the newspaper give any evidence to back up his claim that he was ever in the kingdom.

The story in the Swazi News, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, followed one week after the newspaper claimed that 10 ‘Asians’ were in hiding in Swaziland, that they were members of an al Qaeda cell and that they were dangerous and might blow up the kingdom’s only airport at Matsapha. The newspaper reported all of this without one shred of evidence.

It also offered no evidence that el-Faisal was actually in Swaziland but it still felt able to say his entry to the kingdom, ‘clearly exposes our spongy intelligence and immigration screening procedures because the deported cleric has been on the global terrorists watch list that is normally circulated around the world by security agencies’.

The Swazi News’ editor, Thulani Twala, writing in his own newspaper on Saturday (9 January 2010) claimed ‘real terrorism is creeping into our social fabric’ but the Government of Swaziland ‘seems to be the only one that seeks to be in denial than to properly deal with the problem’. Again, where’s the proof?

If the Swazi News really believes there are al Qaeda terrorists in Swaziland can it please give us some evidence. The best Twala could come up with in his article this week was, ‘We just reported what we had heard.’

Heard? Which bar was his reporter propping up at the time?

NO AL QAEDA IN SWAZILAND - OFFICIAL

There are no Al Qaeda terrorists in Swaziland.

Who says so? None other than Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini. But even though there are no terrorists Swaziland’s security forces will remain on ‘high alert’ and will leave no stone unturned in ‘smoking out the fugitives if indeed they are in Swaziland’.

And just to be sure Dlamini said the Swaziland Commissioner of Police, Isaac Magagula, had set up a Special Task Team led by the Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Moses Maseko, together with Head of the newly Organised Crime Unit alias Tingculungculu, Josefa Bhembe, to investigate.

Sorry, Mr Prime Minister but you can’t have it both ways. Either there are no terrorists in which case there’s no need for intense security, or there are terrorists and they need to be dealt with.

The Prime Minister (who I notice the Swazi Observer, the paper in effect owned by King Mswati III, still insists on calling ‘doctor’ when he has no such qualification) was responding to a report in the Swazi News that said Asian members of al Qaeda had infiltrated Swaziland and might be planning a terrorist attack on Swaziland’s airport.

Plain old Mr Dlamini told the media this week that following the Swazi News report police conducted investigations. ‘So far, the information that has been found does not confirm the existence in Swaziland of these alleged fugitives.’

He said they have a list of names mentioned in the newspaper article. ‘Police are in contact with their international counterparts to conduct background checks on these names and people and, so far, no positive identification has been made.’

Despite the lack of terrorists this is Swaziland after all and the Prime Minister urged people to spy on their neighbours and to inform the police of anything suspicious they might see.

He also told the media they should only publish information on ‘state security’ once it had been agreed to by the Commissioner of Police.

Following the Prime Minister’s request, the Observer, gave a list of phone numbers for members of the public to call with information about terrorists.

Purely as a public service I reproduce the list below. Of course, should readers of this blog wish to phone up the police for a general chat about human rights in Swaziland who am I to stop them.

The international code for Swaziland is 268.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Moses V. Maseko who is also Director Criminal Investigation Department at 606 2303

Josefa Bhembe – Senior Superintendent, Head of the Organized Crime Unit at 608 1132

Superintendent Joseph Ndlovu, Intelligence Desk Officer Internal at 607 2210

People can also contact Police Public Relations Officer Senior Supt. Vusi Masuku at 606 2312, or by calling the Emergency Line 999, or the Confidential Line 404 6373.

RACISM AND THE 'TIMES OF SWAZILAND'

Racist hysteria has gripped one section of the Swazi press following the claim that a group of Asian members of al Qaeda are hiding in Swaziland.

Vusi Sibisi, a top columnist of the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent newspaper, makes the absurd claim that Swazis ‘should be very much afraid’ of Asians in their midst.

He writes, ‘Initially the response likely to be triggered by the news that we might have terrorists within our midst is alarm and panic accompanied by the pungent smell of fear. And we should be very much afraid because we do not know what the mission of these terrorists is or if they are merely using this country as a hideout or a launch pad for their murderous missions.’

He then goes on to claim that ‘the frightening inward flood of Asians’ into Swaziland over the past few years has infiltrated ‘every fibre of Swazi society within every nook and cranny of this country to the extent that by and large they have become the second citizens – far better treated than the majority of the people’.

He then goes on to talk of Asians ‘flooding’ the kingdom and bringing nothing of value in terms of investments.

Complete and utter rubbish of course, and Sibisi, who has a fine record of speaking up for democracy and writing against the ruling class in Swaziland, should know better.

Asians are treated just as badly as Swazis by the ruling elite and have no special privileges.

The Swazi media have an inglorious history of racism and have many times attacked Muslims. They have also allowed the arch racist and businessman Walter Bennett space to peddle his own filth against immigrants.

One of the main ‘concerns’ of the racists is that the Asian immigrants run small businesses (‘fish and chip shop businesses’ they call them in Swaziland) and the implication is that they are taking away businesses that Swazis could do.

I’ll leave it to you to decide whether local Swazis would be setting up the businesses if the Asians weren’t there.

SWAZIS JUMP AT TERRORIST SHADOWS

Be afraid, be very afraid. The Swazi press is whipping up rumours that al Qaeda terrorists are hiding in Swaziland.

It’s not the first time we’ve been fed this nonsense.

This time we are told that 10 ‘Asians’ are living ‘undercover’ in various parts of the kingdom.

According to the Swazi News, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, ‘This should undoubtedly trigger a cause for concern to the nation as the New Year unfolds, as such signs could signal an imminent attack that could most likely to first strike at our security lacking airport.’

The newspaper gives no evidence of who these ‘Asians’ are and why they should want to attack Matsapha Airport beyond saying, ‘that the terrorists may have chose Swaziland for its quietness and enabling environment to work on their targets without hindrance’.

The news media are playing into the hands of the Swaziland political elite that has clamped down on dissent in the kingdom since Barnabas Dlamini was illegally appointed Prime Minister in 2008.

Now, the police will use the ‘terrorist threat’ to further clamp down on legitimate protest in Swaziland.

The Swaziland Police spokesman Vusi Masuku let the cat out of the bag. He told the Swazi News, ‘These allegations are to receive the serious investigation they deserve and cannot be taken lightly. Terrorism is a global enemy, threat to innocent human life and economy.

‘We shall cast our net to the length and breath of this country with the aim of exploring all avenues of our investigation in order to probe and verify the existence of such allegations.

‘We appeal to people with information on the matter to volunteer such to the police through their channels of convenience’.

We’ve been here before. In February 2009, the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported that al Qaeda terrorists may be in Swaziland disguised as secondhand car salesmen. The newspaper reported that ‘sleeper cells’ may already be in place ‘and ready to act’.

Although we might be tempted to laugh off the newspapers’ claims, there is something more sinister going on here. Since October 2008 with the illegal appointment of Barnabas Dlamini as Prime Minister, there has been a clampdown on free speech in Swaziland (there was never much to begin with) and a Suppression of Terrorism Act has been implemented to ban organisations critical of the government and the non-democratic structures in Swaziland.

The actions of the Swazi Government have caused outrage both inside Swaziland and in the international community for being heavy handed and anti-democratic. In response the government has said it needs to do these things in order to save Swazis from terrorism.

As I reported in February 2009, the Swazi people are not alone in being duped about the dangers of al Qaeda. A convenient mythology about the group has grown since the World Trade Center bombings in 2001 as a fear of a phantom enemy has been allowed to grow by politicians desperate to maintain their power.

A documentary on al Qaeda shown by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2004 concluded that al Qaeda ‘is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have “sleeper cells”. It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence.’