CASH SCANDAL AT KUWAIT EMBASSY

Cash amounting to nearly E1.1 million (US$143,000) has gone unaccounted for at Swaziland’s embassy in Kuwait, putting the spotlight back on Phesheya Dlamini, who was recalled as ambassador in 2010.

The Acting Swaziland Auditor General Phestecia Nxumalo, in a report found that E434,000 of ‘petty cash’ and E654, 000 in the ambassador’s travel allowances could not be accounted for. The ‘petty cash’ went missing over a three-month period in 2009. The report was for the year ended 31 March 2011.

The A-G’s report was revealed by the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper. It said the A-G found receipts for the expenditure were not available and this was illegal.

The newspaper did not reveal that in 2010 Dlamini was recalled from Kuwait to Swaziland amid accusations of his implication in a corruption scandal. He reportedly stayed at the top-class Ezulwini Sun, in one of the kingdom’s main tourist spots. According to the Swazi News at the time, he ran up a bill close to E100,000 (about US$10,000) .

Lutfo Dlamini, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, was also implicated in the corruption scandal.

At the time the Swaziland Solidarity Network reported that both men had been accused of stealing money from the Kuwaiti Royal Family intended for King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. The Swaziland Police were called in, but no official announcement of what they did was given. It is known that police were sent to pick Lutfo Dlamini up from his parent’s home and escort him to a meeting with Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini.

What happened next is clouded in secrecy. It seems King Maswati ordered both men to be sacked from their jobs, but they were later reinstated, allegedly on the instructions of King Mswati’s mother, causing a rift in the royal household.

Phesheya Dlamini returned to Kuwait. Lutfo Dlamini has since been moved from the Foreign Ministry to Labour and Social Affairs.

See also

AMBASSADOR HARDLY EVER AT WORK

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/ambassador-hardly-ever-at-work.html

PM DUCKS THE LUTFO QUESTION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/pm-ducks-lutfo-question.html

NOMVULA MOTSA IS DEAD

Swazi Observer

22 February 2012

SOURCE

NOMVULA MOTSA IS DEAD

UNIVERSITY of Swaziland Journalism and Mass Communication lecturer and long-time announcer at the country’s national radio station Nomvula Motsa is dead.

Motsa, according to her elder brother Lunga died on Monday night while admitted at the Mbabane Government Hospital, where she had spent a considerable amount of time.

“Yes, it is true that Nomvula has passed away. She died on Monday night while admitted at Ward 18 at the Mbabane Government Hospital. I am currently here at home getting things organised in preparation for her funeral. I cannot give you much information on her death as I am currently busy with the issue,” he said.

The late popular ex-radio announcer was said to have lost her speech and struggled to breathe by the time she succumbed to death. She had been brought to hospital by her employer, the University of Swaziland.

Motsa was a radio personality of repute during the 80s and early 90s, where her command of the English language and her refined musical tastes made her a household name. She pioneered many programmes for the station but will be mostly remembered for her smooth jazz programme ‘Steamboat Jazz’ which she hosted for over a decade.

She left the station in the 90s to further her studies in the United States of America and upon return, joined the journalism faculty at the University of Swaziland. She met her death while still lecturing at the institute; although she still had a yearning to advance further her education.

This became evident during the 2010 graduation ceremony at the university, where she had to be restrained by security as she tried to force her way to His Majesty the King, saying she wanted to relay a message to him.

In later interviews, she stated that she merely wanted to request that the King assist her to go back to school even though she already held a Masters Degree in Communications.

She joined the University as a part-time lecturer in 2004 and was engaged fulltime the following year while the journalism and mass communication programme was at Diploma level. She was among the lecturers who prepared the programme for the Degree programme which was started in 2010.

Her brother Stan was a one time Director at the Swaziland Broadcasting Services, but that was long after she had left.

Government spokesperson Percy Simelane, another former director of the national radio station, who worked with the late Nomvula Motsa for a number of years was dumbfounded when called for comment over the news of her death.

“That is news to me, I had not heard about it. When did it happen,” he enquired.

He declined to comment because Motsa was no longer with government, but acknowledged that she had worked for the station for a very long time.

“It would be better that you call the University for comment,” Simelane said.

His colleague at the institution, Dr Maxwell Mthembu also expressed shock when called, saying he had not heard of the sad news. He also declined to comment saying the university management could be in the right position to comment.

Efforts to reach the Acting Registrar Ambrose Gama proved futile as he did not pick up his phone after being called on several occasions. Acting Director of the station Bheki Gama also declined to comment, saying he could be in a position to do so after receiving the news from Motsa’s family members. Motsa’s voice can still be heard on the station’s English Channel, where she welcomes listeners daily when the stations open at 5a.m.

Her family stated that details of her funerals would be released later after the family had met and decided the right date. Motsa leaves behind only members of his family as she had no children of her own.

‘OBSERVER’ OUT TO GET TEACHER

The Swazi Observer – the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III – is encouraging a witch hunt against a schoolteacher who allegedly forced a pupil to rip up a photograph of the King.

The schoolteacher – who the Observer names – is accused in its report of committing ‘high treason’.

Last week the Observer reported that a 17-year-old pupil from Siteki was fined E400 after he admitted ripping up a photo of the King at his school. He told the court that a teacher had forced him to do it. In a report last week and again today (20 February 2012), the newspaper names the teacher involved, but on neither occasion has it given him the chance to answer the allegations.

Today, the Observer, for no obvious reason connected to news worthiness, quotes ‘businessman’ Justice Nxumalo calling for serious action to be taken against the teacher.

The Observer said, ‘He [Nxumalo] said the incident was tantamount to high treason and should be probed.’

Nxumalo went on to say the ripping of the photo was unSwazi and unheard of in the local context. He added that to avoid a repeat of the matter, it should not be left to die a natural death without being probed.

The Observer quotes no other person apart from Nxumalo calling for action, thereby making it no more than a piece of editorialising dressed up as a news story. It’s about time the newspaper looked again at the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) code of ethics and read the articles about accuracy, truthfulness and bias.

See also

BOY FINED FOR RIPPING KING’S PHOTO

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/02/boy-fined-for-ripping-kings-photo.html

FINANCIAL MELTDOWN ‘IMMINENT’

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Swaziland's fiscal crisis has reached a critical point and there is a high risk that the kingdom will be unable to pay its civil servants' wages for the next few months, the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa reports.

The newspaper quotes an IMF report saying that Swaziland’s gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by 2% during 2012 and, if the country does not change its "unsustainable" fiscal policy, its debt-to-GDP ratio could reach more than 80% by 2016.

The IMF sounded the alarm that the macroeconomic outlook for 2012 was "bleak". It urged the government to take "upfront" action such as cutting jobs and reducing the cumbersome public wage bill to protect the lilangeni, which is pegged to the rand and already overvalued by as much as 33% and at risk, the fund said.

Consumer price inflation rocketed from 6.5% in November last year to 7.8% in December, a trend the IMF expected to continue into 2012, forcing an uncomfortable acceleration in the prices of food and fuel that would be most acutely felt by the poorest members of society.

The IMF warned: "Swaziland's fiscal crisis has reached a critical stage. Budget financing has dried up, domestic arrears continue to mount and the risk of not being able to pay civil servants' wages over the next few months is high."

To read the full report from the Mail and Guardian, click here.

ERADICATE POVERTY AND HUNGER

Stiffkitten

17 February 2012

SOURCE

Economic justice and democracy are interdependent, says new Swazi campaign

“At the centre of poverty is the question of power,” Musa Andile Nsibande of the Swaziland Economic Justice Network (SEJUN) tells Africa Contact. “When we tell people to stand up for their rights, there is a possibility that the balance of power will shift towards the masses, paving way for a full democratisation process.”

To this end, the recently formed SEJUN launched a new campaign, Eradicate Poverty and Hunger, last Saturday [February 11.] in Lavumisa. The campaign takes a rights-based approach to economic justice in emphasizing the right to adequate food in a country where two-thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day – many on food aid from the UN, the need for agrarian reform in a country where the absolute monarch in effect controls all land, and the necessity of empowering ordinary people in order to achieve the campaign goals.

The event was attended by an audience of around 400, as well as a range of organisations including the Coordinating Assembly of NGO’s, the Swaziland Ex-Miners Association, the Swaziland National Union of Students and the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, of which SEJUN is a campaign wing.

“The event was a success,” says Musa Andile Nsibande. “The messages were well received by the target audience and there is a good possibility that the campaign could achieve the changes envisaged.”

Several of the speakers at the campaign launch used the 2008 court victory of the Swaziland Ex-Miners Association against the Swazi government, for its failure to adhere to Swaziland’s constitution’s promise of universal free primary school education, as an example of the potential power of Swaziland’s poor. “The success of the ex-miners has invigorated the marginalized’s search for justice,” says Nsibande.

Read more:

Swaziland: uprising in the slip-stream of North Africa