MORE CENSORSHIP OF SWAZI PRESS

Another outspoken critic of the undemocratic regime in Swaziland is in danger.

Musa Hlophe, coordinator of the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations, who writes a column each week in the Times Sunday is being leaned on by what he calls ‘powerful people’ from ‘highly placed sources within the state apparatus’.

He has been told not to write about ‘a certain office’.

Hlophe is too polite to say it out loud but the office in question is I’m told that of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Hlophe told readers of the Times Sunday, ‘One of my recent articles apparently touched some raw nerves among our ruling elite.

‘My attention has been drawn to the fact that I should no longer write about a certain office. These powerful people are not from the Management of the Times Group of Newspapers but from highly placed sources within the state apparatus.’

He goes on, ‘Why are the mighty and powerful so afraid of the truth? This is asking me to censor myself and to deny the public at least my version of the truth and I cannot, in all conscience, do that.’

Hlophe is not the first critic of the undemocratic regime of King Mswati and Barnabas Dlamini, the man he illegally appointed prime minister of Swaziland.

Mario Masuku, the president of the banned organisation the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) was forced to stop writing for the Times Sunday and Mfomfo Nkhambule had to abandon his weekly column for the Times of Swaziland. Both men were told they could not criticise Swaziland’s ruling elite.

King Mswati has form when it comes to censorship in the Swazi media as I demonstrated in a report I wrote for the Media Institute of Southern Africa.

Also, in 2007 King Mswati threatened to close down the entire Times of Swaziland group of newspapers if it did not retract a report it published, sourced from Norway, that King Mswati was partly responsible for the poor economic state of Swaziland.

Meanwhile, Hlophe has told his readers he will carry on writing. I hope he gets the chance.

DEMOCRACY CALL RATTLES SWAZI P.M.

At last the Swazi Government has responded to the launch of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC).

Barnabas Dlamini , the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, told a media gathering that the SDC had no mandate from the people.

Hang on, mandate from the people? Dlamini knows nothing about mandates. He was not elected prime minister by the people. He wasn’t even elected to the parliament by the people. He was selected to the job by King Mswati III, who is himself sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Dlamini told the media that the only reason why people went to the SDC meeting which was held in South Africa was because of the ‘luxuries and freebies that come with the trips’.

I think he is confusing the SDC with himself and his cronies in the Swaziland Government. They and King Mswati are the ones who fly all over the world at the expense of the Swazi people - 70 per cent of them live in abject poverty earning less than one US dollar a day. Only last year (2009) a gaggle of King Mswati’s wives went on a worldwide shopping trip, costing the Swazis six million dollars.

The reason why the SDC launch had to be in South Africa was because the oppressive regime in Swaziland would not allow such a meeting to be held in Swaziland. Only last week police stopped a meeting of young people going ahead and all they wanted to talk about was life skills.

Dlamini also said that the SDC did not support the views of ordinary Swazis who ‘love’ the existing political system in Swaziland.

We’ve been here before; there is no evidence that the Swazis want the present undemocratic system, because they have never been asked their views. King Sobhuza II tore up the constitution in 1973 and the kingdom has lurched from crisis to crisis ever since.

Dlamini is obviously rattled by the SDC. He told the meeting he was going to strengthen the government’s press office because there was a lot of ‘misinformation’ about Swaziland going to the international community.

What he meant, of course, is that the truth about Swaziland is getting out and he needs to put a lid on it.

Dlamini needs to learn he can bully and control the media in Swaziland but he can’t silence people outside the kingdom.

SWAZI DEMOCRACY - WHAT PAPERS SAY

The launch of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign last Sunday (21 February 2010) may prove to be the start of a set of actions that lead to real change in the kingdom.

The campaign has made some headlines across the world, but the newspapers in Swaziland choose not to share the good news of the campaign beyond their own borders. The websites of the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily, and the Swazi Observer, the paper in effect owned by King Mswati III, didn’t report the event on their websites, so people who can’t buy the papers live in ignorance of how the local media reacted to the event.

Below (for the historical record) is what appeared in the print edition of the Times yesterday (23 February 2010).

I particularly liked the response from the Swazi Government (see the final report at the end of this post). ‘Principal· Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Clifford Mamba said he was not in a position to comment on what happened as they had not been briefed offic­ially.’

There you are then, until someone officially tells him, it hasn’t happened. Somehow I think Mamba will miss the revolution when it comes.

SDC LAUNCHED IN SA

Jan Sithole, over 200 activists attend

JOHANNESBURG - A campaign dubbed the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) was launched in South Africa on Sunday.

Several local and South African organisations endorsed the formation of the 'international campaign for democracy in Swaziland.'

The campaign was launched at the civic centre in Johannesburg and was attended by over 200 activists and representatives of different organisations.

The launch was preceded by a strategic planning workshop where a joint declaration was crafted as well as an agreed programme of action.

Amongst some of the high profile speakers who attended were Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) President Sdumo Dlamini,· Global Solidarity activists and a member of the famous Walter Sisulu family, Elinor Sisulu.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (which is banned in Swaziland) Secretary General Sikhumbuzo Thomo was also present.

The SDC workshop was attended by some of the well known democracy activists including former Illovo Managing Director Mandla Hlatshwako and Dr Ray Russon, Former SFTU Secretary General Jan Sithole and Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organizations (SCCCO) Musa Hlophe.

People who attended were given free SDC T-shirts and were informed of the launch of the SDC website. Coordinators of the campaign include COSATU's Crystal Dicks, COSATU international secretary Bongani Masuku, Vanitia Govender arid Philani Ndebele.

One of the activities that will be embarked upon by the SDC is to seek finances for the campaign, help coordinate training for Swazi activities in different areas as well as help forge unity within the progressive inside the country.

COSATU boss says sacrifices need to made

JOHANNESBURG .. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has said it is not a big brother to Swaziland and will not fight on her behalf but will rather complement her work. COSATU President Sdumo Dlamini said they would not substitute Swazis in this struggle but would only expect them to make hard sacrifices for their own victory and freedom.

He said COSATU would not fight on Swaziland's behalf, but would rather fight side by side with the Swazi people

SD government to seek briefing on launch

MANZINI Government is mum for now on the formation of the democratic campaign against the. country.

Principal· Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Clifford Mamba said he was not in a position to comment on what happened as they had not been briefed offic­ially. He said they would wait for their embassy in South and only then would they be able to brief them on the SDC in a position to comment.

WALT DISNEY AND THE SWAZI SOAP INSULT

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the news that some Americans have such contempt for Swazis that they are prepared to send them their used soap and shampoo.

Walt Disney, which owns hotels, as well as the famous movie studio, has decided to collect up all the half used bars of soap and shampoo bottles that guests leave behind and send them off to Swaziland.

Can you believe it? They’re not sending over crates of new soap and shampoo, or other goods that might be of use. Instead they’re sending over partly used stuff that has been wiped around some American’s sweaty body and left out with the trash.

I think it’s an insult, but Walt Disney seems very proud of its generosity. It told the world in a press release that it ‘will recycle all the partly used amenities which would usually be discarded and destined for landfill’ and send it to ‘those in desperate need’.

Swaziland is one of a number of countries that will receive this load of soiled toiletries. I don’t know if anyone in Swaziland was asked about this, but I suspect not. Even Swaziland is not so desperate it needs this kind of aid.

QUALITY AT UNIVERSITY OF SWAZILAND

I see the question of the quality of education at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) is back in the news.

UNISWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Cisco Magagula has been defending standards at the kingdom’s only university.

He’s been trying to tell us that the class boycotts that his students engage in year after year don’t affect the quality of the diplomas and degrees they get. Fair enough, that’s his job.

The standards have been questioned again because the university has been closed down after students protested – along with students from all the kingdom’s tertiary colleges - against government policies.

Magagula told the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, who is also the university’s Chancellor, that there are ‘robust quality assurance measures’ in place at the university.

He then told the Observer that students are required (among other things) to attend classes for so many hours per week. That’s what guarantees the quality.

Hang on. Haven’t the students been missing their classes and therefore not studying for the required period of time? In the years that I worked at UNISWA I’ve lost count of the number of times students have boycotted classes. Sometimes it was only for a day, other times, like during the dispute over semesterisation that dragged on over 2007 and 2008, the university closed down for several weeks.

But when the university reopened, the classes were lost for good. Not necessarily because the lecturing staff or students didn’t want to make them up, but just because there was no time.

In January 2008, during the long semesterisation dispute, the university even announced publicly that it would go easy on students at exam time.

This is what it said at the time:

‘In the event students find difficulty in answering questions based on material not covered in lectures, Senate has advised that students report such instances to their class representatives who should, in turn, inform the Examinations Officer in writing so that remedial action may be taken through appropriate University structures. The Senate took the position that no students should be disadvantaged on account of questions based on material not covered in lectures.’

Put simply this meant that students would only be examined on what they did manage to cover in class and not what they were meant to cover.

So much for UNISWA’s ‘robust quality assurance measures’.