SWAZILAND KING’S WORD IS LAW

If you still refuse to believe that King Mswati III is an absolute monarch, read on.

Parliamentarians in Swaziland are in a fix because it is not clearly understood what it is that King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has instructed them to do.

The problem is this: for more than a year the Swazi Government has been trying to implement what it calls a Fiscal Adjustment Roadmap (FAR). It came up with the FAR when it became clear that the kingdom had run out of money and was on the way to going broke. It wanted to get a loan from the African Development Bank, but before it could get this it needed the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF said the government had to cut public expenditure and raise more money in taxes. The FAR was the government’s blueprint to do this.

So far so good, the government thought. But it drove straight into a problem when it decided that to cut public expenditure it would demand pay cuts from public servants and retrenchments (maybe as many as 7,000 jobs would go) or a combination of both.

The government set its stall on a cut of 10 pecent in public service pay, which the unions rejected outright. This led to stalemate.

Discussions continued between the Swaziland government, headed by Barnabas Dlamini (who was personally appointed by the King) and the IMF, on the best way forward. Talks also took place with the unions, but no agreement could be reached.

Then King Mswati stepped in. He is reported to have declared in a speech that the government should not unilaterally implement the 10 percent pay cut. In Swaziland King Mswati’s word is law, so the government wants to abide by it. The trouble is that although the unions say the King made the statement, the government says he didn’t.

Now, the whole emphasise of the debate on public spending cuts has changed. No longer is there negotiation between government and unions about the best way forward. The only question on the table is what did King Mswati actually say? When that is decided the matter is at an end.

So forget the year-long discussions with the IMF; forget the government’s FAR; forget the loan that might be forthcoming from the African Development Bank. All that matters is what King Mswati said (or didn’t say).

Nobody should be the least surprised by this. The Swaziland parliament has no real powers. The King appoints the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The King appoints 20 of the 30 members of the Swazi Senate – members of the House of Assembly appoint the other 10. Of the 65 members of the House of Assembly itself, 55 members are elected by the people (but political parties are banned) and the remaining 10 are appointed by the King.

SACKED EDITOR ATTACKS SWAZI KING

Musa Ndlangamandla, who last week was sacked as editor-in-chief of King Mswati’s Swazi Observer newspaper group, has said he would ‘rather eat grass’ than work for the King again.

Ndlangamandla was giving his version of the events running up to his sacking.

He said over the past year he had been in a battle with Swazi Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini which he lost. And that cost him his job.

Ndlangamandla was also a speechwriter and praise singer for King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, until he was fired last year (2011).

Ndlangamandla had been editor of the Observer for 12 years and was a staunch supporter of King Mswati and was in effect the King’s propagandist. He wrote in the Observer that the ‘collective stand’ of the newspaper was ‘that the integrity of Swaziland as a democratic State and His Majesty King Mswati III as the legitimate leader of the Swazi nation, must never be compromised in any way.’

During Ndlangamandla’s time in control many stories about King Mswati were censored.

These included the calculation from Forbes that King Mswati has a personal wealth of about US$200 million; that in 2011 the King received a huge increase in his budget while all public spending elsewhere in the kingdom was slashed to the bone; and a sex scandal involving the King’s 12th wife and a cabinet minister. All these reports appeared in media outside of Swaziland.

The Observer also failed to report criticisms the King was receiving in the international arena for his attack on freedoms in Swaziland and his lavish personal spending; while as many as 60 percent of his subjects had to rely on international food aid to avoid starvation during the past five years.

Now he has been sacked, Ndlangamandla is saying that Barnabas Dlamini, the man the King personally appointed Prime Minister, was the key mover in his dismissal.

He wrote on Facebook (19 January 2012) that the Prime Minister turned against him after the Observer reported allegations that he had bought nation land for himself at a fraction of its true price. ‘We pushed the land theft scandal by Barnabas and cabinet colleagues whilst I was still a speech writer for the king and whilst I was still travelling with the king and not after.

‘That’s when Barnabas hatched the lie that I was mastermind behind April 12 uprising. This was after he and some in cabinet had had several meetings asking the king to fire me as speech writer and traveller on his trips and as Chief Editor at Observer.’

Ndlangamandla said he also gave space in the newspaper to a number of pro-democracy advocates, including Mario Masuku, Mandla Hlatshwayo, Lucky Lukhele, Bongani Masuku, Sibongile Mazibuko, Vincent Ncongwane and Jan Sithole.

He wrote ‘I knew that this would get me in trouble with the King, the PM and other powerfuls. But we had to do it because that was the right thing to do.’

Ndlangamandla concluded, ‘I will never work for this regime again even if I may be asked to. I’d rather eat grass.’

Ndlangamandla has received praise and criticism in equal measure since his sacking. Writers on social media pointed out that he was in effect the King’s placeman and is not a genuine supporter of democracy in Swaziland.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network, a very vocal opponent of King Mswati, however, in a statement praised Ndlangamandla. It said, ‘Ndlangamandla openly declared his misgivings with the government and the system of governance. He went as far as attempting to liberalise the newspaper, inviting progressive groups to contribute to his “Asikhulumisane (let us talk)” column.’

See also

KING’S PAPER SACKS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/01/kings-paper-sacks-editor-in-chief.html

SACKED EDITOR IS NO HERO

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/01/sacked-swazi-editor-is-no-hero.html

SWAZI EDITOR REPLIES

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/01/swazi-editor-replies.html

NO PARTIES AT SWAZILAND ELECTION

King Mswati III of Swaziland is to fly in the face of international opposition and continue his ban on political parties at the national elections next year (2013).

Political parties have been banned since 1973 when Mswati’s father, King Sobhuza II, tore up the Swazi constitution and ruled by decree.

Today, King Mswati is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

This week, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the Swaziland Government, handpicked by King Mswati, confirmed that there would be no changes to the way the national elections would be run. This means parties are banned and only candidates standing as individuals can compete for election.

This flies in the face of international opinion. At the last election in 2008, the European Union refused to send a delegation to monitor the fairness of the election. It said at the time that it was clear that Swaziland was not a democracy.

The Pan-African Parliament, which did monitor the election, reported, ‘The non-participation of political parties makes these elections extraordinary from any others but we hope with time things will change.’

In 2003, the Commonwealth Expert Team (CET) which observed that year’s election, concluded, ‘We do not regard the credibility of these National elections as an issue: no elections can be credible when they are for a Parliament which does not have power and when political parties are banned’.

After the 2008 election the CET repeated its view that Swazi elections were not credible and called for Swaziland’s constitution to be rewritten to unban political parties and ‘ensure that Swaziland’s commitment to political pluralism is unequivocal’.

Since the 2008 election there have been many mass protests in Swaziland calling for the unbanning of political parties and other reforms.

These calls have been supported by international organisations. Among them is the International Commission of Jurists which says people in Swaziland have a fundamental right to form political parties.

At present the Swaziland Parliament has few powers. Of the 65 members of the House of Assembly, 10 are chosen by King Mswati and 55 are elected as individuals by the people. In the senate King Mswati chooses 20 of the 30 places. The other 10 are chosen by members of the House of Assembly. None are elected by the people.

See also

EU SNUBS SWAZILAND ELECTION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/07/eu-snubs-swaziland-election.html

 

IS SWAZILAND’S ELECTION CREDIBLE?

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-swazilands-election-credible.html

MULTIPARTIES WILL SAVE SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/11/multi-parties-will-save-swaziland.html

LIES AT SWAZI EXPLOSIVES TRIAL

Peter Kenworthy

Stiffkitten blog

18 January 2012

SOURCE

Swazi student leader’s trial begins with prosecution witness lies

The trial of Swazi student leader and political prisoner, Maxwell Dlamini, finally started last week after having been postponed and delayed since last April, where Maxwell Dlamini was apprehended by police and allegedly tortured and forced to sign a confession to being in possession of explosives.

At the trial, Maxwell Dlamini and his co-accused, Musa Ngubeni, pleaded not guilty to the charges of contravening Swaziland’s Explosives Act 4 of 1961. Several representatives of Swaziland’s democratic movement have referred to the charges as ludicrous and the long delay of the trial as a deliberate act by Swaziland’s absolute monarchy to discourage any opposition to its undemocratic and brutal rule.

According to Wandile Dludlu of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, an umbrella movement of democratic forces in Swaziland, over 60 activists attended the court session in a show of support for Maxwell Dlamini and Musa Ngubeni.

“But the state is playing dirty delaying tactics because they don’t have credible witnesses,” said Dludlu, “The only state witness, superintendent Clement Sihlongonyane [who arrested Maxwell and Musa in April 2011], has already told blatant lies during a gruelling cross examination on the first day.”

According to the Times of Swaziland, Sihlongyane had claimed that Dlamini and Ngubeni led them to the explosives hidden in a forest voluntarily and that “bomb experts confirmed that the red, black and grey cables which were hidden in a white shoe box were indeed explosives.”

“Sihlongyane later complained to court of not being well,” Wandile Dludlu said. “But on the second day of the trial, after the magistrate granted him relief to go to hospital, he came outside court to joke with his colleagues when Maxwell’s mother confronted him about the morality of his behaviour. He ran amok with all sorts of insults right in front of everybody.”

The case is set to continue on the15th and 16th of February, the further delay being due to the alleged illness of superintendent Sihlongonyane.

SWAZI EDITOR REPLIES

Musa Ndlangamandla, who was sacked this week from his job as editor-in-chief of the Swazi Observer newspaper group (the paper in effect owned by King Mswati III) has responded to my blogpost of yesterday (18 January 2012).

Here is what he wrote:

Prof. Rooney I need not justify my actions or stance to you or anyone for that matter and I am not seeking sympathy nor am I claiming to be a hero. I am independent and do not belong to any group. Some of what you want Sean to show [this is a refernce to comments left on a Facebook site] you can easily be found in my banned columns 'Asikhulume' or ' This Ink Stings' or 'The Pen That Stings' which are archived in the swaziobserver website and can be googled. However, I don't see what any of us stands to benefit from this ' yo-yo' exchange. I have many disagreements with how you portrayed me in your blog but I am not about to justify my actions. One thing though, I know what I stand I took even before I was fired first from speech writing, then a year later from being Chief Editor. Even before I started giving space to the voice of Mario Masuku, Mandla Hlatshwayo, Lucky Lukhele, Bongani Masuku, Sibongile Mazibuko, Vincent Ncongwane, Jan Sithole and others.....I knew that this would get me in trouble with the king, the PM and other powerfuls. But we had to do it because that was the right thing to do. We pushed the land theft Scandal by Barnabas and cabinet colleagues whilst I was still a speech writer for the king and whilst I was still travelling with the king and not after. Thats when barnabas hatched the lie that I was mastermind behind April 12 uprising. This was after he and some in cabinet had had several meetings asking the king to fire me as speech writer and traveler on his trips and as Chief Editor at Observer. Im sorry for such a long post but I thought I should share a glimpse of what happened leading to this. No I am not a hero and yes I will never work for this regime again even if I may be asked to. Id rather eat grass.