Swaziland King investigates possible purchase of military arms while at Russian summit

The Swazi delegation are impressed with the Kalashnikovs. Picture: Quartz

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland (eSwatini), and members of his delegation attended a trade fair in Russia to investigate the latest military hardware offered for sale to African countries.

It happened at the Black Sea city of Sochi on the opening day of the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit.

Russian president Vladimir Putin gave an introductory address that positioned its renewed push in the continent in the Soviet tradition of fighting colonialism.

The Quartz website reported, ‘Russian officials argued deals with the modern Russia offered African states their “independence” presumably implying deals with former colonial powers like France and the UK or global powers like the United States or China come with strings attached one way or another.’

Although deals in nuclear energy, oil, gas, agriculture, and diamonds took a prominent place, two of the main attractions for African heads of state were military cooperation and military hardware, Quartz reported.

It added, ‘Russia, which is the second largest supplier of arms in the world, is already a major supplier of arms to African countries.’

Swaziland is a desperately poor kingdom where seven in ten of the estimated 1.3 million population have incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day. Military spending by Swaziland, according to estimates published by the  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), for the current year is expected to reach US$87.8 million (E1.3bn in local currency). For 2017, spending was estimated at US$88.7 million and for 2016, US$86.3 million.

The figures amount to about 1.5 percent of Swaziland’s total gross domestic product (GDP).

SIPRI states military expenditure data is based on open sources only, meaning on publicly available data. The true figure might be higher.

The high military spending comes at a time when Swaziland is broke. In the 2018 national budget all government job recruiting was frozen. It was announced Value Added Tax would go up by 1 percent to 15 percent and there was a plan to try to impose VAT on electricity tariffs for the first time. Pensions for people aged 60 and over were frozen.

Swaziland which is not a democracy has been criticised for many years for the way state forces oppress the people. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and groups that advocate for democracy are outlawed under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. Swaziland is a landlocked country and has no disputes with neighbours.

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) meeting in The Gambia in 2013 said the King was turning Swaziland into a ‘military state’.

In a report OSISA said, ‘There are also reliable reports of a general militarization of the country through the deployment of the Swazi army, police and correctional services to clamp down on any peaceful protest action by labour or civil society organisations ahead of the country’s undemocratic elections.’

In 2009, the Swazi Government was revealed to be engaged in arms dealing by the United States. A diplomatic cable written by Maurice Parker, the then US Ambassador to Swaziland, and later published by WikiLeaks, revealed that the UK Government had blocked an arms deal between a UK company Unionlet and the Swaziland Government because it feared their ‘possible use for internal repression’. 

The Swazi Government wanted to buy equipment worth US$60 million.

Among items listed for purchase were, ‘3 Bell Model UH-1H helicopters, FN Herstal 7.6251mm Minimi light machine guns, blank and tracer ammunition, armored personnel carriers, command and control vehicles including one fitted with a 12.7x99mm M2 Browning heavy machine gun and others fitted with the FN Herstal light machine guns, military ambulances, armored repair and recovery vehicles, weapon sights, military image intensifier equipment, optical target surveillance equipment, 620 Heckler & Koch G36E assault rifles, 240 Heckler & Koch G36K assault rifles, 65 Heckler & Koch G36E rifles, 75 Heckler & Koch UMP submachine guns 9x19mm, and 35 Heckler & Koch USP semi-automatic pistols’.

The Swaziland Government said it wanted the items to fulfil its United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ obligations in Africa.

The UK Government did not believe it and thought either the weapons would be used against the Swazi civilian population, or they were being bought in order to sell on to another country, possibly Iran. The UK Government blocked the deal.

In his diplomatic cable, Parker said, ‘The array of weapons requested would not be needed for the first phases of peacekeeping, although it is possible someone tried to convince the Swazi government they were required. The GKOS [Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland] may have been attempting to build up domestic capability to deal with unrest, or was possibly acting as an intermediary for a third party such as Zimbabwe or a Middle Eastern country that had cash, diamonds or goods to trade.’

See also

Swaziland’s massive military spending

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/06/swazilands-massive-military-spending.html

 

Swazi ‘secret arms deal for Iran’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/swazi-secret-arms-deal-for-iran.html

 

Swaziland ‘becoming military state’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/swaziland-becoming-military-state.html

Call for Swazi men and women to share experiences of gender-based violence

A campaign is underway in Swaziland (eSwatini) aimed at getting both women and men to share their experiences of gender-based violence. They are being asked to write their own stories as part of ‘My Body, My Experience.’

The Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) in a statement widely circulated on social media said, ‘Magnitudes of women and children are subjected to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is not only limited to the home but it is a lived experience even outside the home. It is prevalent in the workplaces, cultural (national events), in schools and tertiary institutions.

‘Many laws are in place in Swaziland to combat GBV but unfortunately it persists. The enactment of Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act has been welcomed with mixed feelings. Enthusiasm from women activists and the progressive camp, whilst the conservatives and traditionalists remain skeptical.’

A demonstration in Manzini, the main commercial city of Swaziland, in August 2019 called for the increase in the number of murders of women and children in the kingdom to be declared a national emergency. The call for action echoed one made by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in September 2018. It said it would support the kingdom’s government and make GBV a national crisis. UNFPA’s Officer In Charge Margaret Thwala-Tembe told a workshop that marginalised and vulnerable groups such as persons living with disabilities and LGBTI should be included.

The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) has reported that one in three Swazi girls will experience some form of sexual violence by the time they are 18 years old, while almost half of Swazi women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lives.

The stories from ‘My Body, My Experience’ will be published online as part of the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence which runs from 25 November to 10 December 2019.

SWAYOCO said the call for stories was open to the general public. ‘We encourage everyone to share their story especially the traditionally marginalized groups such as people living with disabilities, lesbian, bisexual and trans-identified. In as much as the campaign is focused on women, children and other vulnerable groups, men cannot be left behind because they are also victims just as they are also offenders.’

Submissions guidelines:

Stories must be written in the first person (‘I’ statements).
Submissions must be made in either Siswati or English language.
Note: Please say if you want to remain anonymous.

Submission deadline is 15 November 2019 in Word format to email swayocop@gmail.com subject line – my body my story. They can also be sent via whatsapp (+26876957762). Approved stories shall be published on SWAYOCO’s online platforms and shared with partner organizations for wider publicity.

See also

Call to declare murders of women and children in Swaziland a national emergency

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/call-to-declare-murders-of-women-and.html 

Rise in gender-based violence

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/12/rise-in-gender-based-violence.html 

Police in Swaziland beat 14-year-old who went to report she had been raped by her father, court told

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/police-in-swaziland-beat-14-year-old.html 

‘Dad rapes daughter to test virginity’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/dad-rapes-daughter-to-test-virginity.html

Religious zealots imprison two Swaziland women in home for seven years while husbands found for them

Two women in their thirties, described as ‘virgins’ have been locked away in their remote home in Swaziland (eSwatini) for the past seven years and will remain imprisoned until husbands are found for them – in the name of religion.

Hleziphi, aged 34, and Ncobile Mphaphu, aged 32, of KaShewula, in Mnyamatsini, are members of the Shembe Nazareth Church, which is a combination of Zulu culture and Old Testament Christianity.

Phiwase Phungwayo, the Times of eSwatini reporter who discovered the two women, wrote, ‘One of the women was said to have been crippled from staying indoors for such a long time.’

The Times spoke to the women’s mother Josephine who confirmed the two were virgins. The Times reported, ‘According to the mother, a voice appeared to them through a dream from their God. She claims that it informed the women to seclude from the world and serve Him until the right time for them to become wives, a time which till today, had not been revealed.’

The Times was denied access to the women for an interview. ‘This, according to Josephine, was an abomination and was strictly against the Shembe culture,’ it reported. 

It added, ‘When explaining the women’s confinement, the mother says it is called kugoma, meaning a sacred time for women to set apart from the world and be confined in a room until their God appeared to them in a dream to inform them when to return to the world. She says this is done by women who are 20 and above.’

It quoted the mother saying, ‘They stay in their room and are not allowed to do anything except to pray and communicate with our god.’

The mother told the Times that church elderly women who are also virgins would arrange for men who were seeking wives to meet with the virgin girls. ‘The mother articulated that the men who were interested in taking a wife would then indicate which woman he was interested in and it was up to the woman if she also approved of the man.’

The mother said the Shembe religion was ‘observant and obedient of the eSwatini [Swazi] traditional customs’.

The Times spoke to Shembe Nazareth Church senior member Qedusizi Ndlovu who said the women’s culture was ‘bizarre and unacceptable in this religion’. He said, ‘There is no such law in the Shembe culture since its establishment in the country in 1926.’

The case highlights the position of women in Swaziland where by tradition they are considered to be owned by their fathers or their husbands.

Women remain oppressed in Swaziland and a main reason for this is King Mswati III who rules as an absolute monarch, according to report on women in the kingdom published in 2016.

ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) reported that despite claims that Swaziland was a modern country, ‘the reality is, despite pledges and commitments, women continue to suffer discrimination, are treated as inferior to men, and are denied rights.’

ACTSA added, ‘The King has demonstrated he is unwilling to change the status quo and promotes multiple aspects of the patriarchal society.’

In a briefing paper called Women’s Rights in Swaziland ACTSA said, ‘Swaziland has a deeply patriarchal society, where polygamy and violence against women are normalised, deeply unequal cultural and religious norms, and a male monarch who is unwilling to make any change. All this contributes towards the daily discrimination faced by women.’

In March 2018 the European Union in Swaziland began funding a three-year project called Supporting Women Empowerment & Equality in Swaziland (SWEES) to advocate for and support women’s rights in the kingdom.

In September 2018 a report published by Afrobarometer found women’s rights continued to be ‘a challenging issue’ in Swaziland.

‘Violence and abuse are a major development concern in eSwatini profoundly affecting women and children,’ the report stated. 

About one in three women experienced some form of sexual violence as a child, and one in four experienced other forms of physical violence as a child.

See also

Woman, 36, in Swaziland beaten and ordered to leave home because she is not married

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/woman-36-in-swaziland-beaten-and.html

All 20 heads of state invited snub trade event hosted by Swaziland absolute monarch

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland (eSwatini), was snubbed by 20 heads of state who failed to accept his invitation to attend a trade launch.

The Swazi Government, which is not elected but picked by the King, was so confident they would attend it hired 18 top-of-the range cars to transport them while they were in Swaziland.

Media in the undemocratic kingdom revealed that many of the heads of state (sitting presidents and prime ministers) had at first accepted the invitation to the opening of an eTrade regional office but did not show.

The Sunday edition of the Times of eSwatini reported those who at first accepted included Zambia’s President Lungu and Guinea President Alpha Condé. It said, ‘Government went all out to ensure that these very important people would receive dignified treatment once they arrived in the kingdom.’

No heads of state attended and the only ‘VIPs’ who actually attended were former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa eTrade Group, Mulualem Syoum, it reported.

The Times reported Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, ‘confirmed that 20 heads of state had been invited but those that either eventually arrived or sent representatives were five.’ He said they were not heads of states, but ministers.

Khumalo said 18 cars had been hired for the dignitaries. They included Lexus SUVs and BMW 5 series vehicles.

The King received another snub in February 2019 when it was announced Swaziland had missed out to South Africa on the chance to host the 2020 African Union summit. Media in South Africa said this was because Swaziland did not have the resources to fulfil the role.

It is no secret that Swaziland is broke. Hospitals have run out of vital drugs and schools have been forced to close because the government has not paid its suppliers. In his budget speech in March 2018 Finance Minister Martin Dlamini said government owed E3.1bn (US$230 million) in total to its suppliers for goods and services. 

Public servants have been striking for a 7.8 percent cost-of-living pay rise but the government says it does not have the money and has offered zero percent. Police brutally attacked workers during legal protests.

In 2016, when King Mswati was Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) he took about E40m, mostly from public funds, to host a lavish Heads of State summit at a time when his government was so poor it could release only E22m of the E305m earmarked for drought relief in that year’s national budget. 

The Times of Swaziland reported in 2017 that the Swaziland Government spent E29 million (US$2.4 million) on 14 BMW cars and 80 motorbikes for the SADC summit. The vehicles were left idle after the summit ended.

See also

Swaziland’s absolute king misses out on AU Chair because his kingdom is broke

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/02/swazilands-absolute-king-misses-out-on.html

 

Millions ‘wasted’ on luxury vehicles at SADC summit

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/03/millions-wasted-on-luxury-vehicles.html

Swaziland police comb social media to track down union activists during legal strike

Striking trade unionists in Swaziland (eSwatini) say police are using social media to track them down before taking them in for questioning.

Schoolteachers have been especially targeted, according to union sources.

This is not the first time police have used surveillance and spying against trade unionists.

It happened after a three-day legal strike by public servants who want a 7.8 percent cost-of-living (CoLA) salary increase. The government which was not elected but appointed by absolute monarch King Mswati III says it is broke and has offered nothing.

Some teachers were summoned to the Manzini police station after they were traced on social media platforms. Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) President Mbongwa Dlamini and Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini accompanied some of them.

The Times of eSwatini reported that police knew details of the teachers, including their nicknames and what subjects they taught. Teachers said they used social media groups to discuss topics including their welfare, the CoLA issue and the strike action.

One teacher told the Times ‘I believe they just pick individuals who post or comment about the strike and CoLA issues.’

The newspaper quoted one teacher saying police said, ‘they were inviting us to the police station for our involvement in the clash between the law enforcers and marchers during the recent civil servants’ public sensitisation march’ on 2 October 2019. 

Police used teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon on strikers.

Meanwhile, the Times also reported that the Ministry of Education and Training had instructed regional educational offices to supply it with details on SNAT leaders in their areas. The information is to include the names of branch leaders and members of the national executive council.

Police in Swaziland have a long history of surveillance and spying. In September 2018 teachers discovered a police spy at their union conference and threw him out. His name and photograph and a picture of the car he was using was published on social media.

A week before the conference police shot and wounded a schoolteacher when they fired into a group of teachers during a protest over pay. 

In July 2018 it was reported that police were video recording and keeping data of protest marches by political parties and labour federations. They then used the information to deprive people of college scholarships, jobs in the army, police, and correctional services or promotions in government departments, the online newspaper Swaziland News reported.

The newspaper said the Police Intelligence Unit had been captured filming a protest march organised by the Trade Congress Union of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) in June 2018.

In September 2017 police in Swaziland disguised themselves as news reporters at a march of public servants in Mbabane. The Sunday Observer in Swaziland at the time called it ‘spying’ and said it had happened before at other public demonstrations, ‘They [police] are always plain clothed and carry traditional journalistic tools including cameras and notebooks,’ the newspaper reported.

The march was legal. A police spokesman said they were not spying because the march took place in a public place.

In August 2017 it was reported that police infiltrated a Pensioners’ Association meeting to make notes on proceedings.

In July 2013 it was reported that police in Swaziland were spying on the kingdom’s members of parliament. One officer disguised in plain clothes was thrown out of a workshop for MPs and one MP reported his phone had been bugged. Ntondozi MP Peter Ngwenya told the House of Assembly at the time that MPs lived in fear because there was constant police presence, in particular from officers in the Intelligence Unit. 

In May 2013 the Media Institute of Southern Africa reported that police spies had infiltrated journalism newsrooms in Swaziland, which had led to a heightened climate of fear. 

It is legal in certain circumstances to tap phones in Swaziland. The Suppression of Terrorism Act gives police the right to listen in on people’s conversations if they have the permission of the Attorney General.

See also

Swaziland police shoot union leader in back as peaceful workers’ protest turns into a ‘battlefield’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/police-shoot-union-leader-in-back-as.html
 

Swaziland police fire rubber bullets and teargas injuring 15 during national strike

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/09/swaziland-police-fire-rubber-bullets.html

State police spy on Swazi MPs

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/07/state-police-spy-on-swazi-mps.html
 

Police spies infiltrate media

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/police-spies-infiltrate-media.html

Swaziland breaks promise to pay off its suppliers to halt public services meltdown

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government failed to meet its promise to repay E3billon (US$200 million) its owes to suppliers by the end of September 2019.

Public services, especially in heath and schools, are in crisis because businesses are refusing to provide goods and services until their bills are paid.

The government has failed to secure loans to settle the arrears. The failure is a significant setback to the government that was not elected but handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III.

After it came into power following the September 2018 election it pledged to get the ailing economy back on track.

The Times of eSwatini, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported, ‘When asked whether they had been able to meet the September deadline as earlier promised, Ministry of Finance Communications Officer Setsabile Dlamini could only say: “raising money for the settling of arrears is work in progress. However, it still has to go through Parliament.”’

Dlamini added, ‘Government was engaging a number of financiers, both local and external, with a view to pay up the arrears with intent to ultimately bolster eSwatini’s economy for the better.’

The Times reported, ‘Dlamini assured that a detailed austerity measures report would be issued soon.’

It added ‘In his presentation of the integrated annual report, Central Bank of Eswatini Governor Majozi Sithole further noted that the economic activity was projected to decelerate to 1.4 per cent in 2019 from 2.4 per cent in 2018.’

This contradicts a statement by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg who as recently as September 2019 told the African Development Bank, ‘We believe there’s not a problem we can’t solve … We believe that we’ve turned a corner. The indicators … are turning from an unsustainable future to a sustainable future.’

In June 2019, he told newspaper editors in the kingdom, ‘Government is working on proposals to financiers to secure funding of arrears of around E3billion as at 31st March 2019. It is important to note that payment of suppliers is an ongoing process, payments have never stopped, we pay as and when revenue is received.’

Meanwhile, the Swazi Government continues to insist that it does not have the money to pay public servants 7.8 percent cost-of-living salary increases. Unions have been striking for more pay while the government has offered zero percent.

Public services across the kingdom have ground to a halt with reports of people dying for lack of medicines and children going hungry because the government was unable to pay suppliers of meals for children.

In 2017 King Mswati was named the third wealthiest King in Africa by the international website Business Insider. It reported he had a net worth of US$200 million (about E3 billion in local Swazi currency). The King rules a population of about 1.3 million people and seven in ten of them live in abject poverty with incomes of less than E30 per day. 

King Mswati and his family live a lavish lifestyle, at the expense of the people of Swaziland. 

The Swazi Government paid US$30 million to buy the King a private jet plane in 2018. King Mswati now has two private planes, 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars. He wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday party in April 2018. He received E15 million (US$1.2 million) in cheques, a gold dining room suite and a gold lounge suite among his birthday gifts. 

His family regularly travel the world on shopping trips spending millions of dollars each time.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program said it could not raise the US$1.1 million it needed to feed starving children in the kingdom.

See also

More deaths in Swaziland as government fails to pay medicine suppliers

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/more-deaths-in-swaziland-as-government.html

 

Swaziland schoolchildren learn under trees or in tents as government runs out of money

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/swaziland-schoolchildren-learn-under.html

Swaziland police violence rampant, children die as economy collapses, report shows

Police in Swaziland (eSwatini) attacked striking public servants with live ammunition, rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon as a long-running dispute over pay dragged on. The police behaviour has become typical in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch. The number of injured was initially estimated as 15, but that more than doubled as more information became available. Separate from this there were new fears that police had a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy after three men who escaped from a correctional facility were gunned down.

These were some of the main events in the period July to September 2019 and contained in Swaziland: Striving for Freedom, volume 35 of the compilations of reports posted on the Swazi Media Commentary website and available to download free-of-charge from Scribd.

The kingdom continues in financial meltdown, with health and educational services crippled. Schools and hospitals have run out of supplies and staff have been sacked and other vacancies left unfilled. Up to 200 teachers had reportedly died from stress-related illness over the past two years as a result. Cancer patients have been refused treatment because the government has not paid hospital bills. At least 11 children died of diarrhoea because of drug shortages.

Elsewhere, Lisa Peterson, United States Ambassador to Swaziland renewed her call for the Royal Decree that keeps King Mswati in power as an absolute monarch to be scrapped. Oxfam, the international anti-poverty charity, named Swaziland as the country with most income inequality in Africa. Human Rights Watch reported restrictions on freedom of association and assembly continued in Swaziland although the kingdom had signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in January.

An extensive survey revealed LGBTI people in Swaziland suffer mental health issues and many have attempted suicide because of the way they are discriminated against in the kingdom.

Swazi Media Commentary is published online, updated most weekdays. It is operated entirely by volunteers and receives no financial backing from any organisation. It is devoted to providing information and commentary in support of human rights in Swaziland.

See also

Swaziland public services in meltdown and corruption goes unchecked: new report surveys the kingdom
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-public-services-in-meltdown.html

Swaziland in economic freefall with human rights failings, report shows
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/04/swaziland-in-economic-freefall-with.html

King Mswati in complete control as another year of human rights struggle ends in Swaziland
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/king-mswati-in-complete-control-as.html

Swaziland Striving for Freedom Vol 35 July to Sept 2019 by Richard Rooney on Scribd