‘T-SHIRT TERRORISTS’ FREE ON BAIL

The seven ‘T-shirt terrorists’ in Swaziland were granted bail of E15,000 (US$1,500) when they appeared at the Swazi High Court on Monday (5 May 2014).

The seven men had been in jail on remand since 23 April 2014 charged with terrorism offences because they allegedly wore T-shirts with the name of the banned pro-democracy group PUDEMO on them and allegedly chanted slogans.

PUDEMO (the People’s United Democratic Movement) is the best known of several democracy groups banned as ‘terrorist organisations’ in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

At an earlier hearing, High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini had asked the prosecution to provide evidence of the chants the PUDEMO members allegedly made but, local media report, it failed to do so.

Each of the accused men is charged with four counts under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

The seven men are PUDEMO Secretary General Mlungisi Makhanya; Public Relations Officer Brian Clive Ntshangase; Bongani Gama; Bafana Mabandla Magongo; Siza Jabulani Tsabedze; Ntobeko Gideon Maseko and Mangaliso Simanga Khumalo.

See also

DEMOCRACY LEADERS JAILED ON REMAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/05/democracy-leaders-jailed-on-remand.html

 

‘T-SHIRT TERRORISTS’ STILL IN JAIL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/05/t-shirt-terrorists-still-in-jail.html

HOW SWAZI KING MSWATI WAS MADE

A lot of people in Swaziland believe that God chose King Mswati III to be king.

And, because of this divine intervention, the king has special abilities and wisdom. For that reason, his word must be obeyed. Those who speak against the King, speak also against God.

Well that’s the theory. And it is very convenient for those close to the power of the King to allow this falsehood to gather ground in Swaziland. After all, some people might want to criticise a King, but who can dare criticise a God?

Of course, King Mswati wasn’t chosen by God. A political group plotting within the ruling elite of Swaziland chose him.

Unlike in many societies that still have monarchs, in Swaziland the eldest child (often only the son is eligible) of a deceased monarch doesn’t simply become king once the reigning monarch dies. In Swaziland, the King is said to be chosen by virtue of the rank and character of his mother in accordance with Swazi law and custom.

But the part of Swazi law and custom relating to the selection of a successor to a king is unknown to a majority of ordinary Swazi. 

The story of how King Mswati, who was known as Prince Makhosetive as a child, became the monarch goes like this, according to one biography. 

‘King Sobhuza II had deftly managed to hold rivalling power factions within the royal ruling alliance in check, and so his death in August 1982, left a power vacuum.’

At this time Makhosetive was 15 years old and a schoolboy at Sherborne in England.

‘In keeping with tradition, Makhosetive’s appointment by his father was not publicly announced. Before his death the King had chosen one of his queens, the childless Princess Dzeliwe, to preside over the monarchy as regent until the prince turned 21 years of age. 

‘It was in keeping with tradition that she be childless, so that she would not involve herself in a factional struggle to advance the position of her own son. Factional quarrels broke out into the open, however, in the interregnum period, while the prince was [at school] in the United Kingdom. 

‘Continuing disputes led members of the Liqoqo, a supreme traditional advisory body, to force the Queen Regent to resign. In her stead the Liqoqo appointed Queen Ntombi, Prince Makhosetive’s mother, who initially refused to take up the position.

Further disputes between royal factions led to his coronation as King Mswati III, at the age of 18, in April 1986, three years earlier than expected.

At the time, the King was the youngest monarch in the world. 

‘Observers saw the early coronation as an attempt on the part of the Liqoqo to legitimate the usurpation of Dzeliwe and consolidate their gains in power. Prince Makhosetive, now King Mswati III, acted quickly however to disband the Liqoqo and call for parliamentary elections.

In May 1986 Mswati dismissed the Liqoqo, the traditional advisory council to regents, which had assumed greater powers than were customary. In July 1986 he dismissed and charged with treason Prime Minister Prince Bhekimpi and several government officials for their role in the ejection of Queen Regent Dzeliwe, though he eventually pardoned those who were convicted.

Another biography of King Mswati says, ‘King Mswati’s first two years of rule were characterized by a continuing struggle to gain control of the government and consolidate his rule.

‘Immediately following his coronation, Mswati disbanded the Liqoqo and revised his cabinet appointments. In October 1986 Prime Minister Bhekimpi Dlamini was dismissed and for the first time a nonroyal, Sotsha Dlamini, was chosen for the post.

‘Prince Bhekimpi and 11 other important Swazi figures were arrested in June 1987. [Prince] Mfanasibili, [Prince] Bhekimpi, and eight others were convicted of high treason. Eight of those convicted, however, were eventually pardoned.

In 2011, court papers relating to the treason trial that was held in secret come to light after 23 years. The papers that had been deliberately removed from Swaziland after the trial in 1987 were unearthed in Namibia. 

They have not been released to the public and might contain details about the plotting that surrounded King Mswati’s rise to power. The papers might also remind the King’s subjects that he is really only where he is today because of political intrigue.

See also

SCHOOLBOOK REVEALS ROYAL FAMILY RIFT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/05/schoolbook-reveals-royal-family-rift.html

DEMOCRACY LEADERS JAILED ON REMAND

Two of the Swaziland democracy leaders charged with sedition following May Day commemorations in the kingdom have been jailed on remand until 9 May 2014.

Mario Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and Maxwell Dlamini, Secretary-General of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), were accused of ‘uttering seditious statements’.

They appeared at Magistrates Court on Friday (2 May 2014) and were remanded in jail.

According to reports from the court published on social media, the two men face four separate charges arising from a single incident.

The two were arrested following a pro-democracy rally at the Salesian Sports Ground in Manzini, Swaziland’s main commercial city.

Local media reported that as many as 7,000 people joined the rallies in Swaziland to mark May Day, but some democracy leaders were prevented from attending by police.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported, ‘Masuku was a hit among the workers yesterday. He was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived with political activists ignoring the programme and running all the way to the parking lot to welcome him.’

It added, ‘After Masuku’s speech, Maxwell sang a song which the political activists danced and toyi-toyied to. He was arrested for this song as the police termed it seditious.’

The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported PUDEMO’s Second Deputy Secretary-General, Mphandlana Shongwe and Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) Coordinator Wandile Dludlu were turned back by police officers and ordered not to set foot in Manzini.

It reported Shongwe was stopped by the police at Moneni where there was a roadblock and he ordered to return home. He was told he would be arrested if he went into the city.

The Times reported Shongwe said police told him he would experience what Sipho Jele experienced if he defied their orders. This was a reference to the death in custody four years ago of Jele, who was arrested on May Day 2010 for wearing a T-shirt supporting a pro-democracy political party.

The newspaper reported that Dludlu was stopped by the police near Bhunu Mall in Manzini while driving his vehicle. The newspaper reported him saying the police used violence against him.

He said, ‘They grabbed me and drove with me to Mbabane in a white Isuzu double-cab, where they dropped me off at my parental home in Msunduza,’

Swazi authorities have clamped down on dissent in the kingdom in recent months.

Seven democracy campaigners have been in jail on remand since last month accused of terrorist activities after they were arrested for wearing PUDEMO T-shirts and berets. PUDEMO has been banned in Swaziland as a ‘terrorist’ organisation since 2008, under the controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko are presently on trial in Swaziland charged with contempt after writing articles for the Nation, a small circulation magazine, that criticised the Swazi judiciary.

Last month, police illegally abducted prodemocracy leaders to prevent them addressing a meeting calling for freedom in Swaziland.

MAY DAY LEADERS ARRESTED

Democracy leaders in Swaziland were arrested and charged with sedition on Thursday (1 May 2014) during May Day commemorations in the kingdom.

 

Mario Masuku, President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the best-known of the opposition groups in Swaziland and Maxwell Dlamini, General-Secretary of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), were among pro-democracy campaigners charged.

They were arrested as part of a renewed clampdown against dissent in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

 

Seven democracy campaigners are in jail on remand since last month accused of terrorist activities after they were arrested for wearing PUDEMO T-shirts and berets. PUDEMO has been banned in Swaziland as a ‘terrorist’ organisation since 2008, under the controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko are presently on trial in Swaziland charged with contempt after writing articles for the Nation, a small circulation magazine, that criticised the Swazi judiciary.

Last month, illegally abducted prodemocracy leaders to prevent them addressing a meeting calling for freedom in Swaziland.

 

Thousands of workers turned out to mark May Day across Swaziland. Police were out in force in Manzini, the main commercial city in Swaziland, where a mass rally took place at the Salesian Sports Ground.

 

See also

‘T-SHIRT TERRORISTS’ STILL IN JAIL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/05/t-shirt-terrorists-still-in-jail.html

POLICE ABDUCT DEMOCRACY LEADERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/04/police-abduct-democracy-leaders.html

‘LONG RECORD OF SWAZI POLICE ASSAULTS’

Police in the northern Hhohho district of Swaziland have a long record of allegedly assaulting suspects, a newspaper in the kingdom reported.

The latest man to accuse the police appeared at Pigg’s Peak Magistrates Court with ‘fresh facial bruises’, the Swazi Observer said.

The accused man was charged with theft and police from Buhleni brought him to court. He told the court that he had been assaulted by police and named the officers he alleged were involved.

The Observer reported, ‘This was not the first accused to appear at the Pigg’s Peak Magistrate’s Court with bruises claiming to have been assaulted by the men of the law.’

It added, ‘Many accused have claimed they were assaulted by police during questioning for crimes they have allegedly committed.

‘One accused claimed that a water pipe was inserted into his mouth by the police and it was connected to the tap and the water was opened and he almost choked. 

‘He claimed that when he had drunk too much water, and was about to pass out the pipe was removed and he was hit in the gut by an officer and vomited all the water.

‘The officers then asked him the same questions and he did not answer and the pipe was inserted again until he had to admit to something he had never done in fear of dying.’

The newspaper said police from northern Hhohho had in the past been accused of hitting suspects in the face, but police from other stations, ‘do not hit their suspects on the face to conceal evidence’ when the suspect makes an appearance before court.

SCHOOLBOOK REVEALS ROYAL FAMILY RIFT

The Swaziland Government, which decides what can and cannot be taught in schools, has approved a history syllabus and book documenting the early history of PUDEMO, an organisation now banned in the kingdom as ‘terrorists’, and the power struggle inside the Royal Family that won King Mswati III the throne.

The Times Sunday, part of Swaziland’s only independent group of newspapers, said the book called ‘Swaziland in Focus’ was ‘explosive’.

According to the Times, the book ‘chronicles how the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) was formed at the height of deadly infighting within the royal family’. This was during the 1980s when supporters of Mswati III, the present King and sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, won a power struggle to win the throne.

The book, aimed at pupils in forms four and five, was previously banned from Swazi schools.

The Times reported the reason the book was originally banned, ‘was mainly that the book’s narration on PUDEMO was not relevant to the history of Swaziland, especially because the party was a banned entity’. It had been declared a terrorist organisation in 2008, following the enactment of the controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act.

The book details how after the death of King Sobhuza II in 1982 there was a long power struggle for his succession, which was won by the present king, Mswati III in 1986.

Today, many supporters of King Mswati claim that he was chosen by God. In fact, he was chosen by a political group plotting within the ruling elite who expected him to give them favours once he took the throne.

Percy Simelane, the Swazi Government spokesperson, told the Times he had read the book but had found ‘inaccuracies’, which the newspaper reported he said would need to be ‘reviewed’.

Timothy Velabo Mtetwa, the Ludzidzini Governor, who is known as the ‘traditional prime minister’, and is generally considered to have more power in Swaziland than the nominal PM, Barnabas Dlamini, told the newspaper, ‘I cannot give my opinion on the events that are documented there but we trust that if government has approved it, then it is okay.’

See also

PLOTS, INTRIGUE AND THE SWAZI KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/plots-intrigue-and-swazi-king.html

‘T-SHIRT TERRORISTS’ STILL IN JAIL

Seven pro-democracy campaigners arrested on terrorism charges in Swaziland for wearing T-shirts with a political slogan have been remanded in jail for a further week.

The men, including leaders of PUDEMO, the best-known opposition group in Swaziland, were arrested outside the Swazi High Court. They were present with members of the public who had come to offer support to magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko. 

The two men are in the High Court on contempt charges arising from articles they wrote for the Nation, a small-circulation independent magazine in Swaziland, that were critical of the Swazi judiciary.

Criticism of the Swazi state is severely curtailed. King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. He picks the government and the top judges and political parties are banned from taking part in elections. All political parties that oppose King Mswati, including PUDEMO, (the People’s United Democratic Movement) have been banned as terrorist groups under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

The seven men, who were remanded in jail by the Swazi High Court until 6 May 2014, are each charged with four counts of terrorism.

 

One charge reads that at the High Court and at a bus rank and in a street in the capital Mbabane they chanted slogans while wearing the white T-shirts with PUDEMO written on them and ‘reflecting terrorist demands at the back’. They also wore red and black PUDEMO berets.

They are also alleged to have ‘attempted, prepared, and conspired with others to do an act with seditious intentions’. 

The seven men are PUDEMO Secretary General Mlungisi Makhanya; Public Relations Officer Brian Clive Ntshangase; Bongani Gama; Bafana Mabandla Magongo; Siza Jabulani Tsabedze; Ntobeko Gideon Maseko and Mangaliso Simanga Khumalo.

See also

T-SHIRT WEARERS ON TERROR CHARGE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/04/t-shirt-wearers-on-terror-charge.html

SWAZI PEOPLE SPEAK UP FOR THEMSELVES

Social media users are once again bringing news of human rights violations in Swaziland to the attention of the world.

This time the world-famous hip-hop and soul singer Erykah Badu is their target.

People are angry because Badu sang Happy Birthday at a private party for King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and then gave him a lucky stone and a US$100 note as a gift.

The Swazi King rules his kingdom with an iron grip and while he lives in luxury with 13 palaces, fleets of Mercedes cars, and a private jet airplane, seven in ten of his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty on less than US$2 a day. Forbes magazine once reported King Mswati had a personal fortune of US$200 million.

King Mswati’s grip on power in his kingdom is so great that at present editor Bkheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko are on trial in Swaziland for contempt of court after calling the independence of the Swazi judicial system into question in articles in a small circulation magazine, the Nation.

Also, seven people are in jail awaiting trial for wearing T-shirts supporting the pro-democracy group PUDEMO.

It was against this background that people rushed to their Twitter and Facebook accounts to condemn Badu, who in the past has been a vocal supporter of human rights. Mainstream media quickly picked up on the story and it went global.

Badu was so stung by the criticism that she went on Twitter to defend herself. She refused to apologise, saying, ‘I can’t be held responsible for the situation in the kingdom because I signed up as an artist, not as a political activist.’

Groups supporting the call for human rights in Swaziland joined in. Human Rights Foundation director of institutional affairs, Alex Gladstein, in a press release said, ‘She claims to want to improve the lives of the disenfranchised and impoverished, but unapologetically does favors for a corrupt tyrant who jails those who challenge his ill-gotten wealth and power. She should be the first in line asking the king to release Makhubu and Maseko.

‘The authenticity of Badu’s philanthropic efforts is called into question by her celebration of Mswati.’

He added, ‘The king is a kleptocrat who lives in the lap of obscene luxury while most of his countrymen toil in abject poverty for less than $2 a day. Badu’s performance for him is a slap in the face of all human rights defenders inside Swaziland and is a mockery of Badu’s work inside the US.’

Social media is being increasingly used by supporters of democracy in Swaziland, by-passing mainstream media in the kingdom, all of which supports the monarchy. Activists have been Tweeting each day from the Swazi High Court as the trial of Makhubu and Maseko continues. They have also drawn the world’s attention to human rights violations concerning, among other things, violence against women, discrimination against gays and lesbians, ill treatment of juvenile prisoners and the rape of young girls.

T-SHIRT WEARERS ON TERROR CHARGE

Seven members of Swaziland’s best known pro-democracy party the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) have been arrested and charged under a terrorism act for wearing t-shirts and berets with the group’s name on them.

They were arrested outside the Swazi High Court where they were with other members of the public who gathered to show support for Bheki Makhubu and Thulani Maseko, who are in court on contempt charges following the publication of magazine articles that were critical of the kingdom’s judiciary.

PUDEMO is banned under Swaziland’s controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) which has been extensively used against opponents of King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), another prodemocracy group banned under the STA, reported that seven PUDEMO members were arrested and charged. It named them as Bongani Gama; Mlungusi Makhanya (the group’s Secretary General); Brian Ntshangase (the group’s public relations officer); Mangaliso Khumalo; Bafana Magongo; Ntobeko Maseko and Size Tsabedze.

The men are expected to appear in court on Monday 28 April 2014.

NEWSPAPER SACKS QALAKALIBOLI DLAMINI

Qalakaliboli Dlamini, the Swaziland journalist whose articles attacked gays and called battered women ‘bitches’, has been sacked by his newspaper.

But, he was not sacked for his articles, even though they caused a storm of protest from readers.

Instead, he was dismissed because of comments he made on his Facebook page about the Times Sunday, the newspaper that employed him.

Qalakaliboli Dlamini, aged 41, whose real name is Musawenkhosi Dlamini, became notorious during 2012 for articles he wrote for the newspaper. 

Among his targets were battered women. In December 2012 he wrote that they were ‘bitches’ and said ‘most’ women who were beaten up by men brought it upon themselves.

After the publication of the article a range of organisations, among them the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organizations, Coordinating Assembly for Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO), Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland National Association of Teachers, Swaziland Positive Living and the Swaziland Agricultural Producers Union (SAPU), called for an apology.

 

Makila James, the US Ambassador to Swaziland, also publicly backed readers who complained about the article.

The newspaper refused to apologise. Instead, the newspaper’s readers’ representative ruled that Dlamini had a right to his views.

Readers boycotted buying the newspaper in protest.

In May 2012, Dlamini was briefly suspended by the Times Sunday after he wrote an article attacking homosexuals as ‘satanic’ and ‘evil’. In the article he said, ‘I hate homosexuality with every fibre of hair or flesh in my body.’

The article received what Times Sunday editor Innocent Maphalala called an ‘unprecedented’ number of complaints.

At the time, Dlamini responded to his critics saying, ‘I am not at all apologetic for my choice of words.’

He added, ‘I will continue to stand up against homosexuals and if need be, I will run a public anti-homosexual campaign.’

His sacking was not the result of readers’ complaints. Times Sunday editor Innocent Maphalala, writing in his own newspaper, said Dlamini was dismissed because ‘while writing for us, he used Facebook to disparage management and staff of the Times Group of Newspapers.  

‘He also had many unkind words to say about our other columnists like the respected Musa Hlophe and the likeable Bundu Teacher.’

He added, ‘We were alerted to this by Facebook users who wondered what was going on because they thought we were one big happy family, especially after I defended Qalakaliboli a year or so ago, when everybody was against him for bashing women and gays in his articles.’

Dlamini’s sacking took place in January 2014, but has only now become public. Maphalala said this was because Dlamini had been writing comments on his Facebook page which were ‘detrimental to the image of the Times Sunday, in particular, and the Times Group of Newspapers in general.’

He added, ‘I view his behaviour as unprofessional and have sent email messages, privately warning him to stop. He has not.’

See also

THE ‘TIMES’ AND PRESS STANDARDS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-times-and-press-standards.html

 

GAY HATE JOURNALIST UNREPENTANT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/gay-hate-journalist-unrepentant.html

PEOPLE UNHAPPY WITH SWAZI DEMOCRACY

More than six people in ten in Swaziland say they are not satisfied with the way democracy works in the kingdom.

This was one of the findings in a report called ‘Let the People Have a Say’, published this week by Afrobarometer.

The research surveyed 34-countries in Africa and asked a series of questions about what people thought about democracy and how democratic they thought their own country was.

But, only in Swaziland were researchers were not allowed to ask a question about whether people rejected ‘one man rule’. In its report Afrobarometer said this was because ‘a near-absolute monarch resists democratization’ in the kingdom.

Among the report’s main findings were that in Swaziland 46 percent of people surveyed said ‘democracy is preferable to any other government.’

Only 35 percent of people were ‘somewhat or very satisfied’ with the way democracy worked in Swaziland.

A total of 22 percent of people said they believed non-democratic governments can be preferable to democracies.

In Swaziland political parties are banned from taking part in elections and political parties that campaigned for democracy in the kingdom have been banned as terrorists. Even so, 70 percent of people strongly disapproved of one-party rule.

Dissent in Swaziland is often put down by police and state forces, but 86 percent of people rejected military rule for Swaziland.

Across the continent seven out of 10 Africans prefer democracy to other political regimes.

The report raised questions about the depth of Africans’ support for democracy, suggesting that levels of support depend on whether citizens were experiencing democracy and whether they felt they were benefitting from it.

The report concluded the demand for, or commitment to, democracy was much lower in countries where democracy is disputed or elections are not held – such as Algeria, Egypt, Madagascar and Swaziland.

The report was authored by Professor Michael Bratton of Michigan State University in the United States and Richard Houessou of the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in Benin.

See also

SWAZIS WANT DEMOCRACY - SURVEY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/swazis-want-democracy-survey.html

 

SEVEN IN TEN SWAZIS GO HUNGRY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/seven-in-10-swazis-go-hungry.html