SMEAR AGAINST SWAZI LONDON VIGIL

It was only a matter of time before the Swazi government started to smear the protestors who have been holding a weekly vigil outside the Swaziland High Commission in London.

Lutfo Dlamini, the Swaziland Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told the kingdom’s parliament that the people on the vigil were not Swazis, nor were they British. They were, he said, a ‘hired group from an African country who are paid to speak bad things about this country’.

You will notice that he doesn’t name the country, nor give any evidence for his claim. But rather sinisterly he went on to tell parliamentarians, ‘We are working on the issue and have a plan in place’.

Quite what he thinks he can do about a group of people protesting half a world away remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the vigil protestors themselves have hit back at Dlamini. On their website they say they have permission from the UK government to hold their protest. They say that ‘the question of nationalities has nothing to do with fighting for human rights as the world has joined hands in the fight for human rights abuse’.

SIKHUPHE COST SOARS TO $1bn

The cost of building the unnecessary Sikhuphe International Airport in Swaziland has soared to 1 billion US dollars (E7.4 billion at present exchange rates).

This figure slipped out this week in an article in the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III.

Previously, the published figure for the cost was E1.5 billion.

Sikhuphe has been under criticism since the plan to build it was announced in 2004. There was no research undertaken into its need and the International Monetary Fund said it was a waste of money that Swaziland did not have.

Now, Derrick Dlamini, who has close links to the project, writing in the Weekend Observer, says, the 1 billion dollar cost is ‘reasonable’.

Dlamini also reveals that the idea for the airport came direct from King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. It was ‘conceived and projected by His Majesty,’ he writes.

That explains a lot. In Swaziland no one dares argue with the king. Sikhuphe is a waste of time and money. There is no need for it (there are plenty of airports in South Africa within less than an hour’s flying time) but the king decided he wanted it, so have it he must. That’s a definition of ‘vanity project’ if ever I heard one.

SWAZILAND ‘EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES’

There was a definite ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ moment in Swaziland at the weekend.

The Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, ran a report of King Mswati addressing soldiers during Army Day with a headline saying, ‘LEARN FROM ME, KEEP FIT – KING TELLS SOLDIERS’.

Keep fit? Like King Mswati? Anyone who has seen the king lately knows he has a huge belly and a gigantic pair of man’s breasts.

Perhaps, it was a misprint and the Observer meant ‘keep fat’.

There is a serious point to what might appear to be me gratuitously insulting the king. The king so obviously was talking nonsense but his hangers-on just let him get away with it. It must take someone else to tell the king he is in ‘the altogether’ (as it were).

EDITOR’S NOTE. The ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ is a story by Hans Christian Anderson about an Emperor who liked to spend vast amounts of money on himself. He especially liked new clothes. A pair of swindler’s convinced the emperor that they had the finest cloth and would make him a new suit from it. In fact they had no cloth but convinced the emperor that not only was the material so beautiful, but the clothes made from it had the special power of being invisible to everyone who was stupid or not fit for his post. The emperor wore the ‘suit’ and paraded before his subjects totally naked.

But among the crowds a little child suddenly gasped out, ‘But he hasn't got anything on.’ And the people began to whisper to one another what the child had said. ‘He hasn't got anything on.’ ‘There's a little child saying he hasn't got anything on.’ Till everyone was saying, ‘But he hasn't got anything on.’ The Emperor himself had the uncomfortable feeling that what they were whispering was only too true. ‘But I will have to go through with the procession,’ he said to himself.

So he drew himself up and walked boldly on holding his head higher than before, and the courtiers held on to the train that wasn't there at all.

PHONE SWAZI POLICE TO COMPLAIN

Senior Superintendent Paul Ngubane, Hhohho Regional Commander of the Royal Swaziland Police, has asked people who are not happy with the service given to them by the police to call him directly.

His number is 606 2320. The country code for Swaziland is 268.

Please don’t all call at once.

‘SWAZI NEWS’ SMEARS PROGRESSIVES

Claims from a Swazi newspaper that a German ‘billionaire’ is funding one of Swaziland’s most important pro-democracy NGOs has been hotly denied.

The Swazi News, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, reported that Karl Albrecht, aged 89, had been in the kingdom recently to visit the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO).

Albrecht has a connection with a foundation called Bread for the World, which gives humanitarian aid to help alleviate hunger.

Although the Swazi News headlined its report ‘German billionaire funds local progressives’, nowhere in the story did it actually make the claim that Albrecht was personally funding SCCCO. The newspaper gave no evidence of any kind of funding but there was a passing reference to the work that Bread for the World, does in developing countries.

The report has been swiftly denied by SCCCO. In a letter sent out to its board members yesterday (Saturday 20 March 2010), SCCCO said, ‘While parts of the story are accurate in that we met with a representative of Bread for The World who is a German national he was most definitely not an 83 (sic) year old millionaire.

‘We are not sure why the Swazi News has chosen to fabricate this particular lie but we believe that the intention may be to give credence to the increasing levels of suspicion and hostility being shown to Civil Society by the governing structures. You may remember that a similar story regarding our relationship with Freedom House surfaced about this time last year when the Atibuye Emasisweni campaign was being discussed.’

After complaints to the Swazi News yesterday, SCCCO was advised to write a letter for possible publication to the Times Sunday, the News’ stablemate publication. At the time of writing this blog I have no way of knowing if the letter was published. You can see the original text of the letter here.