Swaziland Newsletter No. 847 – 4
October 2024
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.
[South Africa] High court dismisses defamation case
involving King Mswati
By Tshwarelo Mogakane, Sunday World (South
Africa), 1 October 2024
The Mpumalanga High Court has
dismissed a court battle linked to Eswatini King Mswati III.
The Mbombela division of the
Mpumalanga High Court has dismissed a significant part of a defamation case
brought on behalf of King Mswati III.
Themba Masuku, a former acting
prime minister of eSwatini, filed a lawsuit against Zweli Martin Dlamini, the
editor of the South African-based online publication Swaziland News.
Masuku sought a mandatory
interdict that would have forced Swaziland News to provide the eSwatini
government with at least seven days’ notice before publishing any future
articles critical of the monarchy, alleging defamation in their reporting.
This would have given the
government the opportunity to stall news reporting, effectively imposing prior
restraint on the media outlet.
The articles in question,
published between August 2020 and December 2022, accused the king, Masuku, and
other officials of corruption, fraud, and unethical behaviour.
They included a claim that
Masuku’s wife looted R200 000 during an international trip.
While the court acknowledged
that the articles were defamatory, it ruled that Masuku did not have the legal
standing to bring the case on behalf of his wife or King Mswati.
Judge Johannes Roelofse made
it clear that the individuals directly affected should have pursued the matter
themselves.
“The minister was not defamed.
Perhaps his spouse was. None of the minister’s personal rights were infringed,”
Roelofse said in his ruling.
“Therefore, the minister has
not established an infringement of his personal rights and is not entitled to
interdictory relief.”
Similarly, the court ruled
that King Mswati III should have brought the case himself. Roelofse noted that
Masuku could not represent the king in a South African court.
Initially, the court had
granted an interim order in favour of the Swaziland government, which required
Swaziland News to provide 72 hours’ notice before publishing any content
critical of the monarchy.
This temporary relief was
granted while the court considered the merits of the final judgment.
However, Masuku’s request for
a permanent seven-day notice period was ultimately rejected.
“I granted an interim order in
favour of the minister … as the balance of convenience favoured the Eswatini
government while I was considering what final relief [if any] to grant,”
explained Roelofse.
Separation of
powers
However, the court rejected
the Eswatini government’s attempt to declare Swaziland News’s actions as
terrorism, with Roelofse ruling that such a declaration would breach the
principle of separation of powers and amount to a conviction without trial.
“To declare that the
respondents have committed acts of terrorism … would not only offend the
principle of separation of powers but also convict the respondents without a
fair trial,” he said.
The case underscored the
balance between media freedom and defamation, with Swaziland News editor
Dlamini maintaining that his outlet was exercising its right to report
critically on the government.
Roelofse concluded by
reaffirming the need for the publication to comply with the press code.
He also rejected the majority
of Masuku’s requests for relief, including the one for a seven-day notice
period.
We are a broken people
By Melusi Matsenjwa, Times of eSwatini, 30 September
2024
THE ever-rising statistics of
gender-based violence, even after numerous campaigns and the much-celebrated
enactment of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, are a serious cause
for concern.
he latter development was seen
as the perfect panacea to the worrying trends of GBV; many were convinced that
the tough ramifications that came with this piece of legislation would arrest
the situation through the double-edged sword effect of deterrence and
punishment.
Six years later, our girls and
women are still being raped, beaten and killed while many boys and men suffer
in silence. Of course, it will not take six years to rectify social ills of
generations but we can be forgiven to have high expectations of a major
behavioural change in our people after all the interventions that have been
made.
This, in my view, points to
deeper underlying issues in society that need the attention of everyone,
especially our leaders. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are an angry,
disillusioned society. Both our men and women are struggling in many areas
of their lives and are failing to deal with issues. We are not at all a happy
people and our mental health issues are manifesting in destructive behaviours.
In this country, as it is
right now, it takes an extremely optimistic person to see any light at the end
of the tunnel. With the economy performing as badly as it is right now, with
the huge inequality and poverty; the only light many are seeing is that of an
oncoming train. What further compounds that is the glaring lack of vision and a
sense of duty within our leadership. We only see career leaders, hell-bent on
keeping their jobs and so detached from the suffering of the people. Our
leaders have demonstrated a confused, reactionary leadership that has a strong
aversion to consultation.
If this state of affairs
persists, our problems as a country will spiral out of control. Our leadership
needs to think creatively about how we can foster social cohesion going
forward. We need to see how we build our country, starting from the primary source
of socialisation; the family. The nation can benefit hugely from a ‘Social
Cohesion Indaba’ that will begin analysing our society from that basic unit of
society; the family, to see where we are losing it as a nation.
To read more of
this, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/feature/147322-we-are-a-broken-people.html
By Nokukhanya Musi, Voice of America, 27
September 2024
 |
FILE - People take part in Eswatini's first gay pride demonstration in Mbabane, June 30, 2018. Human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi says the harsh legal environment for LGBTQ people in the kingdom causes significant problems for them.
MBABANE: Eswatini Sexual and
Gender Minorities, an LGBTQ advocacy group, was denied registration by
authorities in 2019, and even after seeking relief from the Supreme Court,
which had ruled the group must be registered, its efforts have been
unsuccessful.
Human rights lawyer Sibusiso
Nhlabatsi said the harsh legal environment for LGBTQ individuals in the
southern African kingdom causes significant problems.
“There is denial that they
exist, so they do not have any form of protection as a group,” Nhlabatsi said. “They
only rely on protection from the law or enjoyment of any rights from the law as
human beings under Chapter 3 of our Bill of Rights of our Constitution. So I
can say it’s quite challenging, because there’s no instrument that seeks to
protect them. There’s no instrument that seeks to recognize them as a group of
people that exist. I don’t think there’s any progress that has been made.”
Besides the lack of legal
recognition, LGBTQ individuals in Eswatini often face discrimination in gaining
access to services, high rates of intimate partner violence, and exclusion from
public discussions.
Sisanda Mavimbela, executive
director of Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities, said the idea of LGBTQ
rights is considered contradictory to traditional African values and religious
beliefs, perpetuating a climate of exclusion and marginalization.
“The community cannot equally
enjoy rights like all Swazis do, as per their birthright," Mavimbela said.
ESGM has been denied "a right to associate, which is a right to all Swazis
as per the Constitution.”
Eswatini is also known by its
former official name, Swaziland.
In the LGBTQ community, “justice
comes hard and sometimes is not reached at all,” for what are usually quoted as
"non-African, unreligious or cultural” reasons, Mavimbela said.
To read more of
this, click here
https://www.voanews.com/a/lgbtq-advocates-struggle-for-visibility-in-eswatini/7802336.html
Threats of more deaths, witchcraft at Mananga
By Bongumusa Simelane, eSwatini Observer, 28
September 2024
Residents of Nhlanguyavuka and
surrounding areas have declared war on those who are stealing and further
robbing them of their dagga.
This comes after the residents
this week apprehended four people who were accused of robbing some dagga
farmers of their dagga where there was a dramatic chase.
This resulted in two
people being dead due to the injuries they sustained after the assault.
Some of the dagga farmers said residents had already declared that they were
sick and tired of people who would come to them and pretend as if they were customers
and later rob them of their dagga.
One of the dagga farmers said
they would continue to be vicious against anyone who tried to rob them because
as dagga farmers, they were not stealing from anyone, but were just trying to
earn a living as there are no jobs. He mentioned that as dagga farmers, they
would ensure that whoever tried the same stunt will be dealt with.
“We are working hard in the
dagga fields and then there are people who will just come and rob us. That is
why we say we will never let our hard work easily vanish due to thieves,” said
one of the farmers.
What also angered some farmers
is that they allegedly got wind that some relatives of one of the deceased had
threatened everyone who had a hand in the death of their family members, that
they would make sure that through witchcraft they also die.
This, the farmers said, will
not end well because they were the ones who were provoked. One dagga farmer
even stated that if it calls for them to die for their hard work, then let it
be, but they will never easily surrender their dagga to thieves.
They said the problem was that
they have been robbed a number of times by thieves and some of them were able
to get away with it.
The farmers said they had
taken the decision to ensure that they dealt with the criminals who steal their
dagga. One even acknowledged that dagga-growing was illegal, but maintained
that as long as they were not stealing from anyone or causing any social
problem in the community, they would be left with no choice, but to grow it to
be able to feed their families.
It could be noted that the
area is one of the well-known dagga growing areas in the Northern Hhohho
region, and most farmers enjoy the fact that they are closer to the border,
where their valuable market is found.
The residents also highlighted
the plight of unemployment and said people had no other alternative means of
earning a living, hence they then ventured into dagga growing. They stated that
most people ended up in the dagga trade despite the challenges they face,
including that of being robbed.
To read more of
this, click here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=22690
See also
Dagga thieves
brutally assaulted, paraded naked, 1 shot dead
http://www.times.co.sz/news/147275-dagga-thieves-brutally-assaulted-paraded-naked-1-shot-dead.html
Get a Load of This Saga of Corruption and Intrigue in
Eswatini
Kudos to the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists for exposing the country’s role in the underground money-shuffling
industry.
By Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Magazine, 28
September 2024
In 1968, the British High
Commission territory of Swaziland became an independent monarchy called
Eswatini—at which point it pretty much disappeared into a thousand crossword
puzzles. However, in recent years, the international money power has discovered
Eswatini as a place where it can do its mischief. The good people at the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists covered the
waterfront in that small place and found something that was half Joseph Conrad and half Goldman
Sachs. The ICIJ reporters were working through a massive leak of 890,000
documents that outlined Eswatini’s role in the worldwide underground
money-shuffling industry, and the steps the monarchy has taken to make sure
democracy doesn’t break out there and screw up the whole business.
There is little that sets
apart the All Nations Christian Church in Zion from the countless other
churches that have mushroomed across the country in recent years. Outside the
main church hall—a building resembling an industrial warehouse—we met the “archbishop,”
Bheki Lukhele. Lukhele is a stocky, affable man with a disarmingly gappy smile.
But his overly protective bodyguards were odd for someone who’s supposedly just
a middling man of God. Perhaps, I thought at the time, they were a sign of
someone who wanted to keep scrutiny of his earthly activities at bay.
Inside the cavernous hall,
churchgoers swayed in song or spoke in tongues as one particularly irritable
bodyguard tried to swat away ICIJ’s photographer. Presumably, the congregants
had no clue that the humble church and its leader were conduits for millions of
dollars. That’s why we were there—to see firsthand the scene that Swazi
authorities had flagged as a key node in complex
transactions involving
politically connected figures in Eswatini and across the border in South
Africa. The authorities determined that the transactions were suspicious and
potentially unlawful.
Then there are the banks.
“We had come to Bulembu to
find a new bank that, bizarrely, had opened in a town with an almost
non-existent economy. Again, what we saw was unremarkable: a modest, freshly
painted building. Inside were brand-new steel waiting room benches and
counters. It looked like any other bank, but the story behind it was full of
intrigue. The bank existed in limbo amid an ongoing tussle between its shadowy
Canadian founders and Swazi authorities who were concerned about the lack of
transparency around the bank’s ownership and were demanding answers about the
source of its funding. Our Swazi
Secrets investigation revealed
the political interests behind the bank, questionable money flows, and the
opaque role of a controversial and highly litigious Canadian property developer”—John
Asfar.
The ICIJ has been publishing
on Eswatini since at least April. For example, there is the “special economic
zone,” which seems to exist only as the spin cycle for gold.
The “brainchild” of Eswatini’s
king, Mswati III, and his “insatiable desire to help stimulate economic
growth,” as one press release put it, the SEZ was meant to be an oasis for new
business. Instead, grass and weeds are slowly reclaiming vacant plots. Wide,
empty boulevards go nowhere, lined with streetlights that aren’t in operation.
One lone building—a multistory government office complex—stands in a surreal
ghost land of nearly 400 acres. There are no remnants of the vibrant community
where Motsa once lived. And there’s nothing pointing to the businesses that, on
paper at least, are based here: mysterious gold refineries channeling millions
of dollars to Dubai.
Ostensibly, the SEZ is home to
two gold refineries: Mint of Eswatini Pty. Ltd. and RME Bullion Pty. Ltd.
Neither of these refineries existed, however.
Mint of Eswatini was a shell
through which millions of dollars in suspicious transactions flowed, and RME
was suspected of being a link in an illicit gold trading operation. Leaked
documents reveal that Eswatini’s authorities were concerned that the gold
refining companies were exploiting the SEZ’s loopholes to evade taxes,
illegally move money abroad, or potentially move illicit money through the
kingdom.
Rather than drawing in
productive investment and spurring economic growth, the SEZ may have turned the
country into a hub for money laundering, the central bank and EFIU feared. The
activities of two figures close to the king concerned the EFIU: Swazi jeweler
Keenin Schofield, one of King Mswati III’s sons-in-law, who was once found
guilty of and fined for diamond smuggling, and Alistair Mathias, a secretive
and politically connected Canadian businessman involved in gold trading and
construction.
It is a sprawling saga of
corruption and intrigue. Crooks marrying into the royal family. Former rugby
internationals who later got into smuggling and carried the nickname “Mr.
Gold.” And Dubai in the middle of the whole thing—which is the least surprising
thing of all.
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