MAN 9 YEARS IN JAIL WITHOUT TRIAL

A murder suspect in Swaziland, who has been in jail for the past nine years without being tried, has filed an urgent application at the High Court to be released.

He had been granted bail in 2009 but could not afford to pay it.

Fana Shongwe from Ndlalambi in the Hhohho region was arrested in September 2009 and charged with murder and arson. He is currently kept at the Sidvwashini Correctional facility.

His case has similarities to that of Sikhumbuzo Mdluli, of Ngwazini in the Manzini region who was arrested and charged with murder in March 2008 and is also reportedly at Sidvwashini awaiting trial.

The Swazi Observer reported on Wednesday (25 April 2018) that Shongwe wanted the High Court to order his release. It reported that in 2009 he was granted bail by the High Court fixed at E50,000 (US$4,070) and was ordered to pay E15,000 cash with the rest being in form of a surety.

It quoted him saying, ‘I was not able to pay the bail as I could not afford and as such I have been in custody from the date of arrest to the date of the present application.’

His lawyer submitted that Shongwe’s incarceration without trial violated the Swaziland Constitution.

Shongwe’s case is similar to that of Sikhumbuzo Mdluli, of Ngwazini in the Manzini region. It was reported in January 2018 that he had been arrested and charged with murder in March 2008 but had not been sent for trial. He has asked the High Court of Swaziland to intervene.

The pair are not the only people jailed for lengthy periods in Swaziland awaiting trial. In December 2017 Swaziland’s Human Rights Commission reported at least 133 people had been detained in Swaziland jails without trial for more than a year, Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Commission Linda Nxumalo told the Sunday Observer at the time,  ‘One of the key cases that the Commission has worked on [in 2017] was one dealing with the issue of access to justice especially for 133 inmates that have been detained for longer than 12 months without trial or sentencing at our already overcrowded correctional facilities.’ 

A report just published by the US State Department into human rights issues in Swaziland for 2017 stated, ‘Lengthy pretrial detention was common. Judicial inefficiency and staff shortages contributed to the problem, as did the police practice of prolonging detention to collect evidence and prevent detainees from influencing witnesses if released. There were instances in which the length of detention equalled or exceeded the sentence for the alleged crime.’

See also

133 JAILED WITHOUT TRIAL FOR A YEAR

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/133-jailed-without-trial-for-year.html

SWAZILAND CALLS ON UN TO ADMIT TAIWAN

Swaziland’s King Mswati III has called on the United Nations to admit Taiwan to the organisation. It came in the week that the country delivered him a multi-million-dollar private A340 Airbus jet and paid US$1.3 million towards the cost of his 50^th birthday celebrations.

Taiwan also promised Swaziland development aid costing millions of US dollars.

In return the King wined and dined Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, awarded her a medal and spoke publicly in her support at his 50^th birthday celebration.

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Taiwan, which calls itself the Republic of China on Taiwan, is not recognised by the UN because the People’s Republic of China claims the territory as its own.

The Observer on Saturday, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by the King, reported (21 April 2018), ‘The King said the Taiwanese have done a great job in the country, especially with their assistance in establishing a Royal Science and Technology Park, constructing the International Convention Centre and Five Star Hotel (ICCFISH) as well as the Mbabane Government Hospital’s Out-patient Department (OPD). He also recognised their contribution to the country’s health, agriculture and vocational sectors.’

King Mswati took delivery of a A340 Airbus jet the week before his birthday. It had previously been owned by China Airlines in Taiwan. The purchase price of the 17-year-old jet was US$13.2 million, but with upgrades the cost is reportedly about US$30 million. Media in Swaziland have reported that Taiwan helped in the purchase and facilitated a good price, but the details of this arrangement have not been made public.

Taiwan wants to join the UN and Swaziland has a vote to support it. Because the People’s Republic of China does not want Taiwan in the UN, only 20 countries in the world recognise Taiwan. Those, like Swaziland, that do get ‘friendship’, usually in the form of development aid or hotel trips to Taiwan for newspaper editors and politicians. King Mswati is to visit Taiwan in June 2018.

Taiwanese companies have set up textile factories in Swaziland and have become known for their poor pay and working conditions.

See also 

‘SLAVE LABOUR’ AT TEXTILE FACTORY

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/slave-labour-at-textile-factory.html

KING MAKES POOR USE FILTHY WATER

Poor people in Swaziland get their water from a pond surrounded by human filth because clean water has been diverted to be used solely by one of King Mswati III’s 13 palaces.

It is happening at Mazamazama in the Shiselweni region, the Swaziland News reported on Monday (23 April 2018).

The pond is only a few metres away from the royal palace. The online newspaper reported,  ‘The water crisis within the area exists despite the availability of a bore that cannot be utilized by the residents as it was strictly reserved to provide water to the King’s Palace.’

King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. He has 13 palaces and he and his family live lavishly. Last week he took delivery of a private A340 Airbus jet that with upgrades reportedly cost about US$30 million. At his 50^th birthday party on 19 April 2018 he wore a suit weighing 6 kg that was beaded with diamonds. His cake had 52 layers. Meanwhile seven in ten of his 1.1 million subjects have incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

Lucky Mkhwanazi, described by the newspaper as the ‘Constituency representative’, was quoted saying, ‘The new borehole cannot be used to provide clean water to the residents as it is strictly reserved for the Palace.’

One resident told the newspaper, ‘Now we are sharing water with animals and during the rainy season human waste is washed towards the ponds. During the winter season, the water source went dry such that it takes nearly three hours to fill a 20 litre container.’

The newspaper quoted Shiselweni Regional Administrator Themba Masuku saying, ‘I would like to assure the residents that the King remains a visionary leader who wants his people to have access to clean water. As a result we have established water schemes even in other areas within the Shiselweni region. We therefore appeal for cooperation from the residents as we work towards developing their areas.’

See also

POLICE BEAT CROWD HUNGRY FOR FOOD

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/police-beat-crowd-hungry-for-food.html

 

SWAZI KING WEARS SUIT OF DIAMONDS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/swazi-king-wears-suit-of-diamonds.html

GOVT SPIES ON PRIVATE INTERNET SITES

The Government in Swaziland has been monitoring private online communications for some years without legal authority, a new report discloses.

These include internet blogs, email and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and internet chatrooms.

Telephone conversations have also been monitored.

This is reported by the United States in a review of human rights in Swaziland, just published.

The revelations add weight to anecdotal evidence circulating in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are barred from taking part in elections and prodemocracy groups are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

The report from the US State Department looked at events in 2017. It stated, ‘There were credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority.’

It referred to a document called the Private and Cabinet First Quarter Report of 2015, in which, ‘the government press office stated that authorities monitored internet blogs, email, and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and internet chat rooms’.

The US report added, ‘Members of civil society and prodemocracy groups reported the government monitored email, Facebook, and internet chat rooms, and police monitored certain individuals’ telephones. 

‘Individuals who criticized the monarchy risked exclusion from the patronage system of the traditional regiments (chiefdom-based groupings of men dedicated to serving the King) that distributed scholarships, land, and other benefits. Both undercover and uniformed police appeared at labor union, civil society, arts, and business functions.’

The report stated that in Swaziland, ‘The law severely restricts free speech and gives police wide discretion to detain persons for lengthy terms without trial or public hearing. Those convicted of sedition may be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. 

‘The King may suspend the constitutional right to free expression at his discretion, and the government severely restricted freedom of expression, especially regarding political issues or the royal family.’

It added, ‘Most journalists practiced self-censorship. Journalists expressed fear of judicial reprisals for their reporting on some High Court cases and matters involving the monarchy. Daily newspapers criticized government corruption and inefficiency but generally avoided criticizing the royal family.’

Radio and television stations, it stated, ‘practiced self-censorship and refused to broadcast anything perceived as critical of the government or the monarchy’. 

In March 2018, Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini hinted the government might try to restrict access to social media.

He told Senators there was nothing police could do ‘at the moment’ about posts on sites such as Facebook. The Swazi Observer reported (28 March 2018), ‘The premier told the senators that all countries in the world were concerned on whether social media was good for development or not.’

He was speaking during a debate about how video footage showing the murder of businessman Victor Gamedze who was shot dead in a petrol station appeared on social media.

The Swazi Government has a history of hostility to social media. In 2011, Dlamini said it was important to keep information published on Facebook away from the Swazi people. ‘If such stories from these websites then make it to the newspapers and radios, then the public at large will start to think there is some truth in the story yet it was just malicious gossip,’ the Times of Swaziland reported him saying at the time.He was commenting after information about a cabinet minister had appeared on social media.

In the run up to April 2011 a group used Facebook to try to drum up support for an ‘uprising’ for democracy in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. The Government threatened the online activists with prosecution.

In May 2011, the Times of Swaziland reported Swaziland had specially ‘trained officers’ to track down people who used  Facebook to criticise the Swazi Government. Nathaniel Mahluza, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology, said the government was worried by what the newspaper called ‘unsavoury comments’ about the kingdom being published on the internet. 

Academic research published in 2013 suggested that people in Swaziland used the Internet to communicate with one another and share information and ideas about the campaign for democracy, bypassing the Swazi mainstream media which was heavily censored. They debated and shared information about activities designed to bring attention to the human rights abuses in the kingdom.

See also

PM HINTS AT SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRICTION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/pm-hints-at-social-media-restriction.html

ONE IN THREE USE INTERNET FOR NEWS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/one-in-three-use-internet-for-news.html  

SWAZI PEOPLE SPEAK UP FOR THEMSELVES

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/swazi-people-speak-up-for-themselves.html 

GOVERNMENT THREATENS FACEBOOK CRITICS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/03/govt-threatens-facebook-critics.html

 

SWAZI POLICE TRACK FACEBOOK USERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/05/swazi-police-track-facebook-users.html

 

FACEBOOK TELLS TRUTH MEDIA WON’T

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/facebook-tells-truth-media-wont.html