SWAZILAND ‘TO BUILD $3bn SHIPPING PORT’

The Government of Swaziland, an impoverished African nation with no coastline, has backed a plan to build a shipping port which will cost an estimated US$3 billion.

The scheme follows the completion of an ‘international’ airport, built in a wilderness that cost an estimated US$250 million to construct. Fewer than 150 passengers fly out of the King Mswati III Airport at Sikhuphe on any given day.

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King appoints members of the government.

The airport, dubbed a ‘vanity project’ by aviation experts and the port are part of the King’s effort to turn his kingdom into a ‘First World’ nation by 2022. 

At present, seven in ten of the 1.3 million population live in abject poverty with incomes of less than US$2 per day. Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world and this year it is estimated that at least one-third of the population will need international food aid to avoid starvation.

Meanwhile, the King has 13 palaces, a private jet aircraft and fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars, which he shares with his 14 wives and vast royal family.

The plan is to build a 26-kilometre canal from the Mozambican sea to Mlawula, where the port will be constructed on 15 to 20 hectares of land.   

 

Media in Swaziland report it will cost an estimated E30 billion (US$3 billion).The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom where most news media are censored, reported the plan was confirmed by Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Gideon Dlamini. 

The Times reported him saying, ‘At government level, we are fully behind the project and we are giving it undivided support. The project owners had done presentations to Cabinet and we interrogated it and found that it is a wonderful one. Following Cabinet’s realisation that the project is good and viable, Prime Minister [Barnabas] Sibusiso Dlamini then tasked the different concerned ministries to start working together with the project owners straight away.’

The ministries involved are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The plan is headed by Moses Motsa, who is often described in the Swazi and South African media as a ‘billionaire’, but it is not clear in which currency he holds his billion.

The Times reported, ‘Dlamini went on to say that each of the ministries had been given specific responsibilities that are in support of business magnate Moses Motsa and his partners. One of the most critical issues that the business proprietors need to be assisted in is having an agreement with the Mozambican Government as the port will be established through a canal coming from the Indian Ocean from the Republic of Mozambique.

‘In this regard, Dlamini said, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was assigned by the PM to engage with Mozambique with the aim of reaching an agreement over accessing the sea.’

The Times reported Motsa saying the port would harbour big vessels and with docking for up to four ships at once.

SWAZI GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION LAUNCH

Organisations campaigning for multi-party democracy in Swaziland will stage an international campaign next month (September 2015).

Protests will be conducted both inside Swaziland and in South Africa. 

The Global Week of Action for Democracy in Swaziland that will be in the first week of September. The event is held each year.

King Mswati III rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are barred from taking part in elections and organisations campaigning for democracy are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. No members of the Swaziland Senate are elected by the people and the King chooses the government. In June 2015, Swaziland was named among the ten worse countries in the world for workers’ rights.

Provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Mpumalanga, Fidel Mlombo, told a media conference, ‘We are going to lead protest actions inside Swaziland from the 1st to the 4th September. There will be protest actions inside Swaziland as a build up for the ultimate Mother of All battles that will be held on the 9th of September 2015.’

Communist Party of Swaziland’s General Secretary, Kenneth Kunene, said, ‘The world must be fully aware that Swazi suffering also requires support. The isolation of the regime will make sure that (King) Mswati does not breathe, because the more he breathes, the country suffers, because he thinks he can manipulate the world by claiming there is a process towards democratisation in Swaziland, yet there’s much repression.’

Mlombo added, ‘We call on the world to isolate Swaziland and its autocratic monarchy through sanctions. We further demand that a conducive environment be created for genuine political dialogue regarding the future of Swaziland.’

See also

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html

AUTOCRATIC SWAZI KING TO CHAIR SADC

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch in Swaziland, is to take over the chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In Swaziland political parties are barred from taking part in elections and opposition groups are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. The King chooses all government ministers and can and sometimes does veto decisions made at the Swazi Parliament.

SADC has 15 member states. Swaziland is the only one where political parties are banned. 

SADC states that its objectives are to ‘achieve development, peace and security, and economic growth, to alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa, and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration, built on democratic principles and equitable and sustainable development.’

King Mswati has been criticised internationally for his lavish lifestyle. He has at least 13 palaces, a private jet and fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars. Meanwhile nearly seven in ten of his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes of less than US$2 per day.

King Mswati will take up the role as chair in 2016. Meanwhile, he is expected to take the role Deputy Chairperson during the 35th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government being held in Gaborone, Botswana, between 17 and 18 August 2015. 

Swaziland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, told the Observer on Sunday, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by the King, said, ‘Being Chairman is a big stage and comes with immense responsibilities as the country will be responsible for drafting the SADC agenda.’

See also

SADC URGED TO ACT ON SWAZI RIGHTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/sadc-urged-to-act-on-swazi-rights.html

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html

‘STAND UP TO SWAZI KING’, UNIONS URGED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/stand-up-to-swazi-king-unions-urged.html

SADC URGED TO ACT ON SWAZI RIGHTS

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights in Swaziland, Human Rights Watch said.

Heads of state of the SADC’s 15 members meet on 17 and 18 August 2015 in Gaborone, Botswana, for their 35th summit.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement, ‘SADC member states have taken little action to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law in all southern African countries despite identifying peace, security, and the promotion of human rights as key concerns within the region.’

Swaziland is the only member of SADC where political parties are banned from taking part in elections. King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and he chooses members of the government. Opposition groups are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Human Rights Watch said, ‘In Swaziland, human rights conditions and respect for the rule of law have deteriorated significantly. Restrictions on political activism and trade unions, such as under the draconian Suppression of Terrorism Act, violate international law, and activists and union members risk arbitrary detention and unfair trials. 

‘The independence of the judiciary has been severely compromised, as exemplified by the grossly unfair trial of Bhekithemba Makhubu, the prominent editor of the country’s monthly news magazine the Nation, and Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer. Both were sentenced on 25 July 2014, to two years in prison on contempt of court charges, then released on 30 June 2015.

‘On 17 June [2015] King Mswati III fired Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi for “serious misbehavior” following allegations of abuse of office and corruption. While that step won’t end corruption or ensure respect for the rule of law, it presents an opportunity for change and for Swaziland’s authorities – and its African neighbors – to demand an independent judiciary.’

Human Rights Watch said ‘In recent years, SADC governments have taken retrogressive steps on rights, weakening and undermining the SADC tribunal and its mandate for human rights protection. In May 2011, SADC leaders dissolved the tribunal as it was then formed and in August 2014 adopted a new protocol for a tribunal that would be stripped of the authority to receive complains from individuals or organizations in the region. A proposed new tribunal will rule only on disputes between member states.

‘“Action to strengthen the SADC human rights tribunal is a litmus test for its commitment to human rights,” said Dewa Mavhinga, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. 

‘“SADC leaders should change course and restore the tribunal’s power to receive and rule on human rights cases from individuals in member states.”’

See also

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ON SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/02/human-rights-watch-on-swaziland.html

 

‘STAND UP TO SWAZI KING’, UNIONS URGED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/stand-up-to-swazi-king-unions-urged.html

‘STAND UP TO SWAZI KING’, UNIONS URGED

Trade unions across the southern African region have been urged to stand up to Swaziland’s autocratic King Mswati III in an attempt to bring democracy to the kingdom.

Southern African Development Community (SADC) unions have been told they should put the King ‘on the spot’.

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch; political parties are barred from taking part in elections; opposition groups are banned and dissidents arrested under the Suppression of terrorism Act. The King chooses the government.

Workers’ rights are suppressed. In June2015 the kingdom was named among the top ten worst countries in the world for workers’ rights, in a report published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council, meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, heard that King Mswati was resisting pressure to introduce democratic changes. The Sunday Standard newspaper in Botswana reported this week (16 August 2015), ‘Henry Malumo from Action Aid International said that all forms of pressure that have been brought to bear on the kingdom have not yielded positive results. On such a basis, he suggested that it was time to change track.’

The Standard reported him saying, ‘Everybody knows what is happening in Swaziland but unfortunately the government doesn’t feel the heat. It is time to put the King himself on the spot. It doesn’t have to be the people of Swaziland themselves, but us.’

The newspaper reported, ‘Malumo said that in solidarity with their Swaziland counterparts, some South African trade unionists were urging the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) which is “closer to the African National Congress”, to put pressure on the kingdom.

‘”The South African government is the one that is sustaining the kingdom,” he said.’

See also

KINGDOM IN WORLD’S TOP WORST FOR WORKERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/06/kingdom-in-top-ten-worst-for-workers.html

PUBLIC FUNDING FOR SWAZI KING’S GOLF

Following the financial disaster of the King’s Super Cup football competition that may have lost millions of emalangeni in public money; King Mswati III of Swaziland is now plundering more state funds to sponsor his own golf tournament.

On Thursday (13 August 2015) it was announced that the King’s Golf Tournament would be sponsored for E1.2 million (US$120,000). Among the sponsors are the parastatal Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) and the state-owned Swaziland Electricity Company.

Hardly anyone in Swaziland plays golf. Seven in 10 people live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day.

The King’s Golf Tournament is in its 11^th year and generally is an opportunity for King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, to get favourable publicity in the international media.

The main sponsor of the tournament with E350,000 is MTN, the cell phone company that has a monopoly of business in Swaziland. It secured this favourable position by giving King Mswati 10 percent of its shares in its Swaziland subsidiary. It is reported that MTN paid E114 million (US$11.4 million) to the King over the past five years. 

SPTC has put E280 000 into the golf tournament this year, which is an increase of E30,000 on 2014. Swaziland Electricity Company’s sponsorship amounted to E150,000.

The King’s Super Cup football tournament held on 18 July 2015 received E5.8 million of public money, taken from the budgets of a number of government departments. It was intended the money would be repaid from receipts on the day, but only about 10,000 spectators turned up.

See also

SWAZI KING’S CUP FINANCIAL DISASTER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/07/swazi-kings-cup-financial-disaster.html

 

MTN KEEPS SWAZI KING IN ITS POCKET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/mtn-keeps-swazi-king-in-its-pocket.html

NEW FALSE CLAIM OF SUPPORT FOR KING

The Observer on Sunday, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by King Mswati III, misled its readers when it reported that neigbouring South Africa was considering adopting  the kingdom’s political system.
 

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. His newspaper has been making concerted efforts recently to mislead its readers that the King and his undemocratic regime has support from outside the kingdom when it does not.

Last week it claimed that US President Barack Obama had backed the King’s statement that he would personally rid Swaziland of AIDS by 2022. No such support had been given.

In the latest misinformation the Observer reported that civil rights groups in South Africa were advocating for a change in the republic’s electoral system, ‘to incorporate a constituency-based method’.

The Observer added, ‘This is the same system of government practised in Swaziland and described in the kingdom’s constitution.’ In Swaziland the system of government is called tinkhundla.

In Swaziland political parties are banned from taking part in elections. Only 55 members in the 65-seat House of Assembly are elected by the people. King Mswati appoints the other 10. None of the kingdom’s 30 senators are elected by the people. The King chooses the government.

At Swaziland’s most recent national election in September 2013, international observers reported the poll was not fair. The Commonwealth and the African Union separately called for the Swazi Constitution to be rewritten.

Nobody in South Africa is advocating that this system. Nonetheless, the Observer quoted Swaziland Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane wishing the South Africans well, ‘as they push for the electoral reform’.

The newspaper reported Simelane saying, “The destiny of South Africa is in the hands of its people. Unless asked to assist, we shall not interfere nor influence their decision with a comment save to wish them all the best in whatever they want.” 

Unlike in Swaziland, where people who wish to discuss the kingdom’s electoral system are harassed and arrested, in South Africa political debate is allowed.

At present in South Africa there are open discussions taking place about the suitability of the present system of proportional representation. Some people are saying that a system where people are elected to represent a single area or constituency might be better.

Nobody in the debate is advocating that political parties should not take part in elections, or that the head of state should personally select members of parliament or the government, as is the case in Swaziland.

See also

FALSE CLAIM OF OBAMA SUPPORT FOR KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/08/false-claim-of-obama-support-for-king.html

JURISTS SLAM SWAZILAND OVER JAILINGS

The arrest and detention, trial, conviction and sentencing of two journalists in Swaziland ‘involved multiple violations of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial in Africa and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,’ a report from the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has concluded.

Thulani Maseko and Bheki Makhubu, ‘were subjected to unlawful and arbitrary arrest and detention, including violation of their right to legal counsel and their right to a public hearing,’ the hard-hitting 112-page report concluded.

Maseko and Makhubu gained international attention when in 2014 they were sentenced to two years in jail after writing and publishing articles in the Nation magazine that were critical of the Swazi judiciary.

They were released by the Swazi Supreme Court on 30 June 2015 after they had served 15 months of their sentences.

The ICJ reported, ‘All aspects of the trial, including pre-trial proceedings before the Chief Justice and the trial judge, involved violation of the right of all defendants to a hearing by an impartial tribunal. The defendants were improperly convicted, in violation of the right to freedom of expression. 

‘Even had the convictions been proper, they were sentenced to disproportionately severe sentences, particularly in the case of the sentences of two years’ imprisonment of Mr Maseko and Mr Makhubu.’

The ICJ added that although the Supreme Court set aside the conviction it remained the case that Makhubu and Maseko, ‘were arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, including because from the legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression’.

See also

FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS: EURO MPs

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/free-political-prisoners-euro-mps.html

TWO YEARS ON: POLL RESULT NOT KNOWN

Nearly two years after the national election in Swaziland took place in September 2013, the full results have not been released.
 

The election was widely criticised by international observers as not ‘free and fair’ at the time. The Commonwealth and the African Union separately called for the Swazi Constitution to be rewritten. 

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in the election and the King chooses the government.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), which ran the election, promised shortly after the poll to release the full results, but it did not.

The EBC announced the names of the winners at each of the 55 constituencies in the House of Assembly promptly after voting took place on 20 September 2013, but only gave the number of votes cast for 45 of them. No figures were given for the losing candidates in any of the constituencies and the total number of voters taking part in the election has never been revealed. 

This raises the spectre of election fraud because in order to determine the number of votes cast for the winner in each constituency the election officer should have counted the votes cast for all the candidates. 

Only 55 members in the 65-seat House of Assembly are elected by the people. King Mswati appoints the other 10. None of the kingdom’s 30 senators are elected by the people. 

The parliament has no real powers and is widely considered outside the kingdom to be a fig-leaf to protect King Mswati from criticism that he runs Swaziland as a personal fiefdom.

In the run up to the vote prodemocracy groups urged a boycott of the election and following the poll there was speculation within the kingdom that this had been effective.

It was important for King Mswati that there was seen to be a high voter turnout. Only weeks before the election, he announced that Swaziland’s tinkhundla system of democracy would in future be known as a ‘monarchical democracy’. He said this would be a partnership between himself and the people. 

The turnout at the election was seen by some as a referendum on how much his subjects supported him.

Following the 2013 election, the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported the turnout of people on election day was ‘about 400,000’. However, official figures from the EBC stated that only 411,084 Swazis living in Swaziland had registered to vote, which would have meant if the newspaper was correct the turnout would be 97.3 percent.

In the week following the election the Swaziland Democratic United Front suggested the turnout might be as low as 80,000. The Swaziland Communist Party put the figure at 100,000. 

On 3 August 2015, Edgar Hillary, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, reported to the Swazi Parliament that there was ‘division’ at the EBC. 

The Swazi Observer reported him saying this had ‘jeopardised operations of the institution and as a result, the 2013 elections report had still not been finalised’. 

See also

POLL OBSERVERS: ‘REWRITE CONSTITUTION’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/poll-observers-rewrite-constitution.html

KING IS IN CONTROL - ELECTION MEANINGLESS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/king-in-control-election-meaningless.html

KING’S VIRGINITY TEST CLAIMS ARE FALSE

A Nigerian website has falsely claimed that girls and young women in Swaziland are forced to undergo public virginity tests before King Mswati III decides whether to take them as his wife.

The report has brought widespread condemnation from opponents and supporters of the King alike.

The website called Pulse published graphic pictures on 4 August 2015 that it claimed were of women undergoing virginity tests.

Although the pictures do show such tests, they do not show Swazi women. The photographs had previously appeared on a Malaysian-based website in 2009. They were used to illustrate a report saying ‘thousands of girls’ in South Africa ‘were queueing up each month to prove that they are virgins’.

It is thought the pictures might date from before 2009, possible as early as 2001.

The Nigerian website Pulse used the pictures to mount an attack on King Mswati. It reported. ‘Now, photos have been released showing under aged girls being publicly checked to ascertain that their virginity was still intact.

‘All this was done in a bid to help King Mswati choose a wife.’

One photograph was captioned, ‘Under aged girls publicly undergoing virginity tests before King Mswati can choose a bride.’

The report added, ‘Many consider this barbaric and backward but it seems to be a tradition the people willingly live by.’

The publication of the report caused fury on social media. Many of the writers were not supporters of King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and political and civil rights are severely curtailed in his kingdom.

Even people who oppose the King politically wrote to support Swaziland and its people. 

One person wrote, ‘As much as we are against the regime but this is not true and these aren't Swazis in this picture.’

Another person who posted a comment on the Pulse website said, ‘I am no advocate of my country but this post is b******t.’

One reader attacked the writer of the report saying, ‘If you're looking for something to criticize about this beautiful land, let it be on truth and well established facts.’

King Mswati is often criticised in the international media and on the Internet for his lavish lifestyle. He has a private jet aircraft, fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars and 13 palaces. He regularly travels in opulent style across the world.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day.

TUCOSWA WINS HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), the workers’ federation banned in the kingdom because it supported calls for democratic change, has been awarded a prestigious international human rights award.

The George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award in 2015 recognized, ‘the courage and persistence of Swaziland’s workers in demanding their rights in one of the world’s most autocratic countries’.

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King chooses the government.

Earlier in 2015, Swaziland was named among the top ten worst countries in the world for workers’ rights, in a report published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The AFL-CIO workers’ union in the United States reported that in recent years, ‘Swaziland’s monarchical government has become increasingly repressive’.

It added, ‘As legal and physical attacks on Swaziland workers and their allies became more frequent, TUCOSWA remained resolute in its support for worker rights, standing up for its right to exist, and to support human rights activists illegally harassed and imprisoned. 

‘TUCOSWA has stood for democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Through persistent efforts and support from unions worldwide, TUCOSWA won its recognition battle in May 2015, but continues to face hurdles in the way of making legal standing a reality.’

TUCOSWA was formed in 2012 when the Swaziland Federation of Labour, the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, and the Swaziland National Association for Teachers merged. It was refused registration and legal standing for three years.

Swaziland lost its preferential trading rights with the United States under the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) because of its consistent refusal to make promised policy reforms that would recognize freedom of assembly, speech, and organization and curtail the broad discretionary authority that police use to disrupt union activities and arrest civil society activists including union leaders, journalists, student leaders, and political dissidents.

See also

KINGDOM IN WORLD’S TOP WORST FOR WORKERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/06/kingdom-in-top-ten-worst-for-workers.html

 

SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html

LEGAL CHALLENGE TO SWAZI TERROR LAW

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/legal-challenge-to-swazi-terror-law.html

BOGUS SURVEY SUPPORTS KING’S POWER

The Times of Swaziland misled its readers when it reported that a ‘survey’ in Malawi concluded that Swaziland’s King Mswati III should ‘reject Western democracy’.

No such survey was undertaken.

The Times reported the survey was conducted by what it called ‘Malawi’s leading newspaper’, the Nyasa Times.

It reported one person who took part in the ‘survey’ said, “Mswati, don’t listen to these calls for democracy. These are prophets of doom. Your country is much better the way it is right now. Look at what is happening in Libya.’

The Times of Swaziland reporting suggested that a systematic scientific poll had been conducted among the citizens of Malawi. If the survey had been conducted in this way its ‘results’ might indicate the true feeling of people in Malawi. 

In fact, the Times deliberately distorted its story to make it seem that there was general support for King Mswati’s regime in Swaziland. The King rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King chooses the government.

What the Times reported as a ‘survey’ was simply email comments made by readers on a news story published online by the Nyasa Times. The story said that the former President of Malawi Bakili Muluzi had visited Swaziland as part of a Commonwealth team to discuss how the kingdom might move towards becoming a democratic state.

The comments were simply the personal views of 12 people who taken it upon themselves to post to the Internet. The Nyasa Times did not claim it to be a survey.

The Times of Swaziland report demonstrates the measures that the media are going to in Swaziland to try to convince the Swazi people that King Mswati’s undemocratic regime has support from outside the kingdom.

The Commonwealth is continuing to pressure Swaziland to democratise and allow political parties to contest elections in the kingdom.

It is also urging a review of the kingdom’s constitution to ensure that the country meets international standards of democracy.

See also

COMMONWEALTH CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/07/commonwealth-calls-for-democracy.html

FALSE CLAIM OF OBAMA SUPPORT FOR KING

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, has falsely claimed the US President Barack Obama ‘is fully behind’ and ‘endorses’ the King’s pledge to personally rid Swaziland of AIDS.

King Mswati, attracted derision in the international arena in February 2015 when he told the Swazi Parliament ‘I wish to assure the nation that I will personally see to it that the First World Swaziland is HIV and AIDS free.’

The Observer reported on Monday (3 August 2015), ‘President Barack Obama is fully behind His Majesty King Mswati III’s pledge and commitment to have an AIDS free Swaziland by 2022.’

It said President Obama made the statement in a speech to the Africa Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28 July 2015. But, in fact, the President made no reference to King Mswati in his speech.

In a wide-ranging speech the president drew attention to the need to rid Africa of HIV / AIDS and an initiative of the United States to target teenaged girls, which included working in Swaziland. But he did not endorse King Mswati’s pledge to personally rid his kingdom of AIDS by 2022.

The Swazi Observer’s attempt to claim support from the President hid the fact that much of his speech was devoted to the need for democracy in Africa. 

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s only absolute monarch, political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King chooses the government and top judges.

In part of his speech that went unreported by the Observer, President Obama said, ‘I believe Africa’s progress will also depend on democracy, because Africans, like people everywhere, deserve the dignity of being in control of their own lives.  We all know what the ingredients of real democracy are.  They include free and fair elections, but also freedom of speech and the press, freedom of assembly.  These rights are universal.  They’re written into African constitutions.

‘The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights declares that “every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being.”  From Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, to Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, democracy has taken root.’

He added, ‘Yet at this very moment, these same freedoms are denied to many Africans.  And I have to proclaim, democracy is not just formal elections.   When journalists are put behind bars for doing their jobs, or activists are threatened as governments crack down on civil society then you may have democracy in name, but not in substance.  

‘And I'm convinced that nations cannot realize the full promise of independence until they fully protect the rights of their people.’

See also

MEDIA BACK KING’S FALSE HIV PROMISE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/02/media-back-kings-false-hiv-promise.html

 

SWAZI KING’S HIV PLEDGE IN RUINS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/swazi-kings-hiv-pledge-in-ruins.html

MAXWELL’S TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

Kenworthy News Media, 31 July 2015

SOURCE

Maxwell Dlamini finally walked out of prison in July [2015], released on bail after having spent fourteen months in squalid conditions in the prisons of Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III. His crime was to have sung a pro-democracy song, writes Kenworthy News Media.

“Jail being the lonely place that it is, there are moments when you feel down and morally low”, says Maxwell. “But at all times I was motivated by the fact that our course is just, and I refuse to abdicate my responsibility or allow the state to break me”. 

No Christmas presents in jail
Maxwell Dlamini was born in 1989 in a small village in the south of Swaziland called Mantambe. His father works in a hospital and his mother is a farmer. He was top of his high school class, and was admitted to university as a commerce student in 2007.

He is a passionate supporter of the Mbabane Highlanders football team and his friends say he is himself a gifted football player. He says that the birth of his daughter on Christmas Eve last year was the most beautiful moment in his life.

Unfortunately, he was not there to witness it. Because even though Maxwell might be seem like an ordinary guy with ordinary dreams for himself, his girlfriend and their baby girl, the society he happened to grow up in is by no means ordinary.

Because having ordinary dreams in the absolute monarchy that is Swaziland, where over two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day while the royal family live opulence, means that you are seen as a threat to the regime of King Mswati III.

Arrested development
The Swazi regime has constantly harassed Maxwell, tortured, and kept him in prison simply for being an active and high-ranking member of the banned political party PUDEMO and for demanding democratic change and socio-economic justice in his country of birth.

Maxwell was first arrested in 2010 for his role in a student protest. In 2011, on the eve of the largest pro-democracy rally in recent history in Swaziland that he helped plan, he was arrested, tortured, and charged with possession of explosives.

“I was tied to a bench with my face looking upwards and they suffocated me with the black plastic bag with a huge police officer on my stomach. They did that over and over again till I collapsed. They told me that they will kill me for causing trouble in the country”, Maxwell told me after his release.

He was released on bail after spending a year in prison, and over three years later, he was finally acquitted of the charges. He was detained again on Mayday 2014 together with PUDEMO President Mario Masuku. They were charged with having sung a pro-democracy song and having shouted “viva PUDEMO” and released on bail over a year later without the trial having started.

“I was made to sleep on the floor with very few blankets. I was kept in solitary confinement with only a bucket to relieve myself. There was no clean running water and we were made to bath with cold water. Our friends and relatives were made to wait for long hours before they could see us just for five minutes”, Maxwell says of his latest prison ordeal.

Not a desktop warrior
Maxwell was only a few courses away from finishing his undergraduate degree that had been disrupted by prison sentences, withdrawal of his scholarship on political grounds and harsh bail conditions when he was arrested last year.

Nevertheless, he insists that while he is disappointed that he has not been able to finish his degree, he will not put any personal career opportunities above the struggle for a free and democratic Swaziland.

“I am as keenly interested in finishing and obtaining my degree as I am in putting to its logical conclusion this struggle we are waging”, Maxwell says, while admitting that he might have to finish his degree abroad because the regime wishes to ostracise him.

“I hope that I can inspire others to rise out of their fear and challenge this backward and archaic system of royal supremacy, not through desktop and boardroom activism, but through open defiance”.

Dialogue with a dictator
Nevertheless, Maxwell insists that he and PUDEMO are willing to negotiate a settlement for the future of Swaziland with an absolute monarch and his government who have harassed, jailed, and tortured him and many of his fellow activists.

He also insists, however, that the world must demand that the king must hold honest and constructive negotiations with Swaziland’s democratic movement that will bring about a democratic Swaziland.

“I am convinced that the future of Swaziland lies in a negotiated settlement that will lead to the unbanning of PUDEMO. In the meantime I call on the world not to loosen the noose around the regime’s neck until it wilts and subsequently collapses”.

Facts:

Swaziland is an absolute monarchy where the king appoints the Prime Minister and the government and controls everything from the judiciary to land allocations and the national budget. Political parties are banned and political leaders such as Maxwell Dlamini are harassed, tortured, treated as terrorists and sometimes killed for advocating a peaceful transition to democracy. 

The Suppression of Terrorism Act, which Maxwell Dlamini and many other Swazi activists have been charged under, has been referred to as “inherently repressive” by Amnesty international.

Two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day, many on handouts from the UN. Swaziland has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.