DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT ‘CRIED WOLF’

Stiffkitten blog

26 April 2012 

SOURCE 

The democratic movement that cried wolf

Messages proclaiming the final days of king Mswati’s absolute monarchy in Swaziland, or the revolutionary uprising of thousands of Swazis, have been conveyed many times by individuals and organisations within Swaziland’s democratic movement.

Here are a few examples from the past year:

“The people of Swaziland are convinced that no muti or ritual will ever stop the tide of the revolution. The year 2012 will be the year that king Mswati’s dictatorship finally ends and a new democratic dispensation takes its place.” (Swaziland Solidarity Network statement, December 2011).

“They should prepare to govern. Tinkundla, or whatever this royal mess is called, is well and truly over. Come April 12 we will be sweeping its remains off our country.”  (Swazi April 12 Uprising statement, April 2011).

“PUDEMO proclaims the final days of the Tinkundla supremacists.” (PUDEMO statement, April 2012)

What such messages all have in common is that they turn out to be disappointingly far from the truth, that they therefore create false expectations, both inside and outside Swaziland, and that the discrepancy between the predictions and the outcome of the actual protest action reflects poorly on the democratic movement at large – regardless of the fact that much of the democratic movement has for decades worked vigorously and bravely to try and convince the majority of Swazis to stand up and demand democracy and economic justice.

According to Dumezweni Dlamini from the Swazi NGO, Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, the more boisterous part of the democratic movement needs to talk less and act more. “Can we spare the talk and let actions speak more. We are making a lot of noise without action so that it’s so noisy that we cannot even hear what we are saying ourselves.”

And all this in turn leads to apathy amongst Swazi’s otherwise willing to demand democratisation and to foreign newspapers not bothering to run stories about the ‘Swazi Uprising.’

“The April 12 Uprising Facebook group led people outside Swaziland to believe that there was a real demand, not only for change, but for revolutionary change in the kingdom,” says Richard Rooney, a journalist and former University of Swaziland associate professor, as well as currently being one of the best sources of continuous and uncensored news about Swaziland through his Swazi Media Commentary.

“I had many contacts from the international media at this time [April 2011] who genuinely believed there was to be a revolution in Swaziland. Many came to Swaziland for the event and were bitterly disappointed that nothing happened. There was no ‘uprising’, nor anything close to it. This year the media by and large stayed away on April 12, I believe because (correctly as it turned out) they didn’t expect much to happen. It will be very difficult to convince them in the future that people Swaziland are serious about protesting for change.”

KING’S JET: WHAT THE PAPER SAYS

I know many of you outside Swaziland are following the story about King Mswati’s jet. Not all the newspaper reports from the Swazi media are making it to their Internet sites, so as a public service here are three reports that appeared today (27 April 2012) in the print edition of the Times of Swaziland that never made it online.

STORY 1

JET NOT BOUGHT WITH PUBLIC FUNDS – PERCY

By Welcome Dlamini

Mbabane – Public funds were not used to purchase the Douglas DC-9 jet for His Majesty King Mswati III, government has said.

Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane had challenged anyone who believes that taxpayers’ money was used in the jet’s acquisition to provide proof in this regard.

The international media, including the reputable British Broadcasting Corporation was abuzz with speculation that public funds were used to buy the airplane.

The BBC based its assertion on claims made by entities that were banned in the kingdom as well as the Swaziland Diaspora Platform a human rights group based in neighbouring South Africa.

The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) also alleged that some people were suggestion the jet was bought with public funds.

However, Simelane yesterday disputed the claims and said that, had public funds been used then that process would have gone through Parliament first because that is where such monies have to be sanctioned.

“No public money is released without going through Parliament first.  If public funds were used, how did we muss a Parliament (sic) debate on the matter?” the government spokesperson asked.

Simelane even went to the extent of referring to what happened in 2002, when government made moves to purchase the King a Bombardier jet.

Then, Parliament debated and eventually voted against the jet’s purchase even though a deposit of E28 Million had already been covertly made with Bombardier.

In an interview yesterday, the government spokesman said Parliament would have played a similar role this time around too.

“Swaziland has a vibrant Parliament and, therefore, had we bought the jet with public funds, it would have been debated there first.  It was not state funds that were used for the purchase.  If someone insists that public funds were used let them provide proof.  It is discrediting to oneself to speak without proof.  That is tantamount to insulting one’s own intelligence.  If they have no proof, they should keep quiet.” Simelane insisted.

He was adamant that the government will not disclose the name of the donor who is credited as having bought the jet for His Majesty.

“The donor has asked to remain anonymous and we stand by that agreement.  We don’t owe anybody an apology for having been lucky to have someone purchase a jet for the King.” said Simelane.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, told the local media that the jet was from development partners and friends of the Kingdom of Swaziland who had elected to remain unknown.

The value of the jet was also not disclosed as the premier said “when a person presents someone with a gift, he, or she, does not disclose the cost involved, but simply gives it to him or her.”

He said the airplane would be used by Their Majesties when travelling abroad for engagements of national interest.

All along, Their Majesties were using chartered aircraft for their external travels.

The airplane is a DC-9 twin engine jet and it landed at Matsapha International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.  Cabinet ministers were at hand to inspect the jet on its arrival.

STORY 2

IT was not Salgaocar

MBABANE – Government has dispelled rumours that the King’s new Douglas DC-9 jet was bought for the monarch by mining company Salgaocar Swaziland.

The internet yesterday carried numerous reports that the jet was a donation from Salgaocar Swaziland.

Dismissing the rumours, government Press Secretary Percy Simelane said “That is pure speculation.  The donor has asked to remain anonymous and it will be like that.”

Efforts to get comment from Salgaocar yielded no fruit as the woman who answered the company’s phone said they were not going to entertain any questions from the media.

STORY 3

Civil servants want buyer’s identity revealed

Mbabane – Civil servants have called for transparency concerning the identity of the donor who is said to have bought the King a DC-9 jet.

Quinton Dlamini the President of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), said the government has to publicly declare the source of the jet.

“The secrecy creates suspicion amonf the public.  We believe that, eventually, government will reveal the donor’s identity.

“Otherwise the’re sending the wrong impression on issues of good governance and defending of the country’s Constitution.  The public should know where the King got the gift from.” Dlamini said.

He said NAPSAWU had not yet taken a decision on how they planned to confront government to reveal the donor’s identity.

On the other hand, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers also said the donor’s identity should be revealed.

Secretary General Muzi Mhlanga said seeking answers should not be construed as fighting against government but should be viewed as pursuing transparency, since people were saying taxpayers’ money was used.

See also

PRIVATE FIRM GAVE KING HIS JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/private-firm-gave-king-his-jet.html

KING ‘TO MAKE US$100m FROM JET FIRM

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/king-to-make-us100m-from-jet-firm.html

KING ‘TO MAKE US$100m FROM JET FIRM’

King Mswati III of Swaziland could make US$100 million from his share in the company that this week gave him a jet plane as a gift.

Salgaocar, an Indian-based global conglomerate, was granted a licence to mine iron ore at Ngwenya in Swaziland, within a protected area inside the Malolotja Game Reserve, despite fears that its work would pollute the water supply of many rural people and also the population of Mbabane, the kingdom’s capital.

But, the licence was granted and a company called Salgaocar Swaziland was formed with 50 percent owned by Swaziland, according to MetalBulletin, an industry journal. 

In Swaziland, King Mswati III is an absolute monarch and he keeps all mineral royalties in trust for the nation. In practice, he chooses how the money is used and in the past this has meant he spent it on himself and his 13 wives.

Salgaocar Mozambique Chief Executive Officer Ron Herman said last year that he expected 200 million tonnes of ore to be extracted. Salgaocar Swaziland Chief Executive Officer Sivarama Prasad Petla said Swaziland would get a royalty of 50 US cent per tonne.  

On this basis the King stands to get US$100 million.

He could get even more, as figures from the Swaziland Investment Promotions Authority (SIPA) state that 700 million tonnes of iron ore are below the surface of the Pigg’s Peak belt in the Hhohho region. 

Herman said the iron ore extracted at Ngwenya Mine contained 60 percent sulphur, which was amongst the best in the world.

Work started at Ngwenya earlier this year amid fears from locals that effluent from the mining factory would contaminate the water quality of the nearby Hawane Dam.

The IPS news agency reported the Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) draws water from Hawane Dam to supply Mbabane and the tourism hub of Ezulwini.

Today (26 April 2012), news leaked that Salgaocar had given King Mswati a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet as a gift. Barnabas Dlamini, the Swazi Prime Minister, said the donor wanted to remain anonymous. He claimed to the media that the jet had been donated by ‘development partners’ of Swaziland. 

See also

PRIVATE FIRM GAVE KING HIS JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/private-firm-gave-king-his-jet.html

PRIVATE FIRM GAVE KING HIS JET

 The Swaziland Government’s claim that King Mswati III’s newly-arrived jet was given to him by ‘development partners’ may be wide of the mark.

Instead, news is emerging that the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet was donated by Salgaocar, an Indian-based private company that has recently acquired mining rights in Swaziland after going into partnership with the King.

Salgaocar describes itself on its website as ‘a leading multi-conglomerate in India [that] is engaged mainly in mining and export of iron ore to the different countries of the world.’ It is thought to have given the king a corporate jet that the company no longer needed. 

This news contradicts what Barnabas Dlamini, the Swazi Prime Minister, said earlier this week that the jet was given to the king by ‘sponsors’ of Swaziland who were ‘development partners’.

Salgaocar started mining for iron ore this year after it received a seven-year licence from the Swaziland Government to extract iron ore from dump piles left at a closed mine at Ngwenya.

According to MetalBulletin, an industry journal, the Swaziland Government owns a 50 per cent stake in Salgaocar Swaziland, the subsidiary set up to do the work in the kingdom. 

But, in Swaziland, where King Mswati is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, the King takes the place of the government in business dealings and will receive the income from the venture himself and use the money as he pleases.

The value of Salgaocar’s contract is not known.

Meanwhile, the company is keen to promote its charitable work in Swaziland. Last month it was reported that Salgaocar would spend up to E5 million (US$645,000) this year to supply clean drinking water, education, and medical help in Swaziland. 

No official announcement has been made about who donated the jet. Percy Simelane, the Swazi Government’s official spokesperson, said the donors wanted to remain anonymous.

The Government seems to be embarrassed about the amount of publicity surrounding the purchase and has banned people from photographing the jet. One person who took pictures of the plane in order to get its identity number and trace its owners was forced by police and army to delete the pictures.

See also

THOUSAND DENIALS ON JET PURCHASE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/thousand-denials-on-jet-purchase.html

DISBELIEF OVER SWAZI KING’S NEW JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/disbelief-over-swazi-kings-new-jet.html

THOUSAND DENIALS ON JET PURCHASE

The Swaziland Government’s official spokesman has categorically denied that public money was used to purchase King Mswati III’s new jet plane.

Percy Simelane said, ‘A thousand times No’, when asked by the BBC if public money was involved.

Simelane claimed the jet was given to the King by well-wishers, but he denied that it had been given as a gift for the King’s 44th birthday that fell on 19 April.

He told the Focus on Africa programme that ‘sponsors’ had given the plane. He said they were ‘development partners and friends of the King’.

The claim has been met with scepticism from prodemocracy campaigners who say that no reputably development agency would be able to make such a purchase for the King, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch

There are fears that public money has been used to buy the jet because in 2002 the Swazi Government secretly put down an E28 million (US$2.6 million) deposit on a Bombardier jet for the King worth US$51 million, roughly a quarter of Swaziland’s national budget at the time.

The deal fell through when it was leaked and there followed an international outcry over the purchase. Foreign donors said Swaziland might lose developmental aid, including US$30 million from the European Union, if the purchase went through.

At the time, CNN reported Natural Resources Minister Magwagwa Mdluli telling drought victims at rural Macetjeni, ‘The King needs the plane to get food for you.’ 

See also

DISBELIEF OVER KING’S NEW JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/disbelief-over-swazi-kings-new-jet.html

DISBELIEF OVER SWAZI KING’S NEW JET

Claims by King Mswati III of Swaziland that his newly-acquired private jet was a present from ‘development partners’ has been met with disbelief.

Barnabas Dlamini, the man the King personally appointed Prime Minister, said on government-controlled radio that the King had been given a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet as a birthday gift, ‘from development partners and friends of the king, to be used by their majesties for travels abroad’.

No cost for the plane was given but for comparison a 1966 version of the aircraft is being offered for sale on the Internet at US$592,000.  

King Mswati is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and he rules over a kingdom were seven in ten people earn less than US2 a day. Forbes estimated he is the 15th richest monarch in the world and in 2009 said he had a personal net fortune of US$200 million.

The news of the King’s jet was received with disbelief. 

Ntombenhle Khathwane of the Swaziland Diaspora Platform, a human rights group based in South Africa, told the SAPA news agency,  ‘No development partner would want to be anonymous, by their nature development agencies are transparent. We demand the release of full details of the donor and the value of the jet.’

Zakhele Mabuza, spokesperson for the banned People’s United Democratic Movement, accused Mswati of using taxpayer money for the jet. He said, ‘He was secretly using it and only now do they feel bold enough to admit it. We have long said that this monarchy is a huge drain to the economy.’

The Swaziland Solidarity Network, in a statement said, ‘What the Prime Minister hopes to con the world into believing is that a development partner, be it a state, corporation or individual, remarkably overlooked all the basic developmental needs that the country currently faces, from civil servants’ salaries to rural housing and health, and decided to buy flying metal [for] one of the richest men in Africa.’

Swaziland is in an economic crisis and its government cannot pay its bills. Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it would not support the Swazi Government’s economic recovery plan as it was unworkable. This decision could plunge the kingdom into a financial meltdown as it restricts Swaziland’s ability to raise loans from the World bank and the African development bank.

See also

KING’S PLANE HIRE COST $3.5 MILLION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/04/kings-plane-hire-cost-700000.html

SWAZI CRISIS: PUBLIC MEETING IN LONDON

Swaziland: A Kingdom in Crisis
Public meeting

Monday, 30 April, 2012 6.30-8.00pm

Court Room, First Floor, Senate House,Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom

Admission free

Hear from leading trade unionist Vincent Dlamini about the worsening political and economic crisis in Swaziland, the impact it is having on people’s lives and the growing movement for democracy and rights.

For further info and to register contact Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA)

Tel 020 3263 2001 Email: campaigns@actsa.org

KING DANCED AS KINGDOM COLLAPSED

In this extract from an article published by the Daily Maverick, J BROOKS SPECTOR reminisces about King Mswati III and how he and others guided the education of the young king – from economics, to the latest American dance crazes.

SOURCE

Swaziland, a kingdom desperately needing to enter 21st century

When the king and the country were both in their twenties (he was born in 1968, the year the nation ended its colonial status) it was easy to imagine Mswati would follow in his father’s low-key development-orientated ethos. This approach also aimed to protect the traditions of the nation – its Reed Dance and Incwala festivals, the tribal fabric that governed everyday life and its general obeisance to old values. The occasional cynic would sometimes mutter that a wily King Sobhuza had carefully parsed the work of anthropologist Hilda Kuper and consciously modelled his reign on the ancient traditions she wrote about - even as they were already dead or dying out in the 1930s and 40s  - as a way of building a new national and anti-colonial imagination in Sobhuza’s kingdom. While Mswati was better educated than most of his siblings, with that period at his British boarding school, he still had a rather limited acquaintance with the ideas of contemporary governance. Eventually, we discovered that a small group of local high school teachers and instructors from the university were quietly tutoring the king in the modern niceties of government, economics, law and literature.

Eventually we were asked if we could somehow assist. We brought in an early version of the Sim City computerised economic modelling software to give him a chance to experiment with what happens when you tax or regulate a country too much (the most entrepreneurial inhabitants emigrate elsewhere). We ordered an airmailed subscription to a newspaper and couriered it to him as quick, easy reading on the week’s international news. When we received the occasional high-level visitor, or even a mid-level one, we often videotaped a guided conversation with the person on whatever topic they specialised in and delivered it to him as well. When the king let it be known that he was interested in America’s newest dance styles, we ordered videos on them too. And we even had Ronald Reagan offer a videotaped speech of congratulations to the king and country on their concurrent 20th birthdays as a special gift to the nation. It played on local TV for days.

The king would occasionally send a royal runner to seek us out at home in the evenings and “ask” us to drop by for a chat, perhaps to ask for videos on a new topic that had piqued his interest. Eventually we even obtained a jersey autographed by one of his favourite American musicians and, in return, a set of springbok hide-covered cushions arrived at my home one day as an anonymous “thank you”.

Looking back, however, it seems clear the lessons of Sim City wore off – or perhaps never really took hold deeply enough. As the king added new wife after new wife and royal residence upon residence, maybe the more traditional side of his upbringing – abetted by those in the royal circle whose privileges were most threatened by change - overtook a broader interest in the development of the nation as a whole.

The new king maintained the ban on political parties that had been instituted by his father in 1973 to keep anti-monarchist political behaviour in check, but that also restricted media freedom and union organising activity. Add to that the relative collapse of manufacturing in Swaziland after South Africa rejoined the world economy, shrinking aid budgets, the pressure of dealing with the country’s HIV/Aids epidemic, the economic stresses of the country’s rapidly growing population and the roots of Swaziland’s current tensions come into sharper focus.

To read the full article entitled Swaziland, a kingdom desperately needing to enter 21st century, click here 

TRADE UNION GROUPING BAN ‘UNLAWFUL’

The Swaziland Attorney-General acted unlawfully when he deregistered the kingdom’s only trade union federation.

His action could only be done by the Industrial Court after due legal process, one of Swaziland’s leading prodemocracy commentators said.

Vusi Sibisi, who writes for the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, said Attorney-General Majahenkhaba Dlamini had no legal standing when it came to deregulating the Trades Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).

Sibisi wrote in the Times, ‘Nowhere does this law give or provide the Attorney-General unfettered powers, or any powers for that matter, to constitute himself into a court for the purposes of interpreting the law.’

There has been an outcry since the deregulation was announced earlier this month (April 2012), with claims that it was politically motivated because TUCOSWA, which is a federation of the kingdoms main trade unions, had called for a boycott of the 2013 national elections because political parties are banned in Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

TUCOSWA also played a leading part in thwarted protests for democratic reform that were held on 11 and 12 April 2012. 

The deregulation has been condemned across the world. Earlier this week the US Embassy in Swaziland publicly called for greater democracy in Swaziland.  

Sibisis wrote that the attorney-general should have challenged TUCOSWA’s registration in court ‘and not constituted his own court for this purpose’.

He added, ‘The Constitution is unambiguous when it comes to the interpretation of the law; it is the prerogative of the courts and no other authority.’

To read Sibisi’s full article, click here.

See also

SUPPORT GROWS FOR UNION GROUPING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/support-grows-for-union-grouping.html