King Mswati III evicts people without compensation to build one of his many luxuries

This picture (provided by Mtsandzi WeLive Lakhe) says everything that needs to be said. King Mswati III is evicting the people of Nokwane (on the left) without any compensation whatsoever so that he can build his multi-million dream Park (on the right). 

Young, Talented, Patriotic and Wasted Peoples of Swaziland

Swaziland has seen many talented people throughout the years, notwithstanding that the people are still under a brutal tinkhundla system rule. Unfortunately, all those talents have been flushed down the drain, not necessarily because the talented ones gave up, but because the tinkhundla system, is, as it was, never intended to empower them, but to use them for its narrow selfish gains. Truly talented and patriotic citizens have been strategically rejected by the tinkhundla system whilst the exploited believed they would someday be empowered.

In many democratic states, once talented young persons have been spotted, the governments of those countries go out of their way to empower and encourage them on their talents so that they reach their full potential. In the long run this logically presents a good picture of those particular countries as they are seen as countries that empower people. Unfortunately, though not surprising, the same cannot be said for Swaziland where many exceptionally talented young people are used to defend the system instead. Out of ignorance, probably, they also fall into this trap. Names that spring to mind include Sgayoyo Magongo, Fanaza Tsabedze, Lindelwa Mafa, and Simanga Shiba, amongst many others.

Many people are aware of the originality that came with Fanaza Tsabedze’s music. He was a rising star which the government decided to throw into the army, instead of supporting his music. Today the only things that he will sing about are praises to leaders of the country and the tinkhundla system in general. What a waste! The same applies to top boxer, Simanga Shiba. I remember that even some of the Swaziland media personnel radically campaigned that he be sent to the army because he was poor. How tragic! Another talent gone to waste! There are so many boxing promoters outside Swaziland who would have been happy to have Simanga under them. All that was needed was a sound system of government in Simanga’s country, Swaziland. 

Most of us, especially artists, are aware of the undying patriotism of radio DJ, Lindelwa Mafa.  She is one of the few, if not the only, radio DJ that goes out of her way to ensure that Swazi music is exposed to the public. Unfortunately, her patriotism, like that of Simanga and Fanaza, will go to waste, that is if she doesn’t change now when there is still time. She will also be one of the greatest stories of Swaziland that never saw the light of day as long as the current system of government prevails. I guess we are all aware of the wasted talent of Sgayoyo Magongo, Swaziland’s greatest sports commentator and radio journalist. The government had a chance of helping him develop the country’s sports and issues related thereto, but lo and behold, he is now facing unlimited boredom in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a consul.

In conclusion, people can decide to throw these facts out the window and claim that the issues are “PUDEMO-inspired”, but, just like all things that were mentioned by PUDEMO in the past, this and more will also be proved correct, and most of it has indeed been proved. As things stand, Lindelwa Mafa and the others remain talented, patriotic and wasted. Unless and until they open their eyes to the fact that the system they praise everyday will never be a people-empowering system, no matter who gets appointed to Cabinet or parliament, their patriotism will go to waste. Unless and until a system that forces the leaders of the country to be accountable to the people, rather than this current system which forces people to account to the leaders, only the leaders and their ego will always enjoy empowerment. It will only be in a people-centred political system that we shall see young people like Lindelwa Mafa empowered.

What happens at the Swaziland Incwala ceremony – an exclusive report

First posted online by Mr Pius Rinto

The following is an account by a former regiment, who has since joined the revolution in Swaziland, of what actually happens during the Incwala ceremony. The Incwala ceremony is sold to the international community by the royal regime as a national prayer for people of Swaziland. Read this true story and finish it, then print it and send it to more people and save many lives. The story was extensively investigated in 2011 and first reported in that same year. Here for the first time it is properly posted on the net.

“My name is Sithembiso Simelane. My regiment initiation name is Sukulwenkhosi. I am 38 years old, born at Lwandle, near Manzini, but now I live at Nkhaba in the Hhohho region with my wife and two daughters.

These months, November, December, January, and February are months that belong to evil activities in Swaziland as per Swazi culture. This is the time for the annual Incwala ceremony, known in the traditional circles as the national prayer. Many of our people do not understand the evil rituals that take place during this Incwala season. The Christian community has tried to criticize the monarch for continuing to host this ceremony but their calls have always fallen on deaf royal ears. However, some pastors and Christians have decided to embrace these rituals so as to put themselves in the king’s good books when it comes to appointments into Emabandla (king’s advisors or parliament) as the king declared that Incwala is holy.

I’m telling you this story so as to reveal the reality that people in Swaziland do not know, and to warn Swazis against supporting this Incwala ceremony blindly. Many people have been killed in Swaziland for fear that they were witches or wizards. It is so amazing then because royalty, more especially the monarch, continues to practice witchcraft and at a very high rate.

I was a member of the Inyatsi regiment for about 10 years and got to see all the evil that takes place in the royal residencies and more especially at Ludzidzini royal residence (Lobamba).

Now that the king has gone into seclusion, he will be stationed at Mantjolo (near Mbabane) where there is a spirit snake, known as LaMlambo, belonging to the Mnisi clan. There, he will have the snake lick him all over the body for many days. As the snake licks him, the belief is that it cleans him of all the troubles he faced this year so that he emerges a new and strong person the next year.

As he is licked by this monster (LaMlambo), Bemanti (water party) go on a journey to Maputo and some to RSA for sea water in the oceans. They carry small calabash containers called “sigubhu sencwala”. They stay there for days as they watch the sea and also following the moon-cycle. When the full moon emerges they fetch the sea water and return back home after slaughtering a beast in thanks to the king of the sea known as “Inyoka Makhandakhanda”. They then return through two border posts as they raid our people everywhere they pass up until they reach Ludzidzini. The raids are for (kuncutsa) collecting everything that represents each and every homestead all around the country (‘Insila’ in siswati). They then reach the royal residence and on that day Incwala Lencane begins at Ludzidzini. The king is seen there dancing withEmabutfo (regiments) and joined by the Queen mother. Many believe it is just a dance yet there are evil rituals taking place there.

The king then commissions boys from all over the country to go and fetch the sacred shrub, lusekwane. The purpose of lusekwane is to cover Inhlambelo, a small krall inside the big kraal at Ludzidzini. Inhlambelois where much of the evil activities take place. The reason only young virgin males are allowed to take part in this event is because the evil spirit snake does not allow men who have had sexual intercourse before, or those that have children, to be closer to it for it considers them to be unclean and will defile the muti and weaken the king. That is why at Ludzidzini there are signs that say “women are not allowed this side” more especially at the official entrance of Sibaya. Even when the nation has been called to Sibaya women enter through the sides of Sibaya, not the main entrance, for they are seen as a threat to mswati’s powers.

Lusekwane is cut only when the full moon emerges and a sacred song is sung known as “SIYAMNTUNTUZELA, LUYADLALA LWANDLE”. This song is sung only once a year and then banned until the next lusekwane time. When the boys return with lusekwane, the expert elders then start the patching of inhlambelo until no eye can see through. This happens as the young men show their strength by bringing very huge and heavy shrubs to show their strength to the king. One thing they do not know is that the old men are angered by this because the big shrubs are useless as it is not easy to use them for these types of shrubs are too thorny. Only the small ones brought by very young boys are used for it is easy to use such.

THE KING AND SEX WITH THE BULL

Then there will be the catching and killing of the bull event. There are two sessions for this one. The first one is held at three in the afternoon a day before Incwala lenkhulu. The king expects the boys to show their strength by killing the bull with bare hands. They quickly jump onto the bull each with the hope of being the first one to grab it so that the king notices them. The secret here is that these young men have the hope that if the king notices their bravery, they will get promotions in their respective jobs, especially if they are in the security forces, or if they are unemployed, they hope to get jobs in the army or the police. So they beat the bull with fists until it is so tired that it cannot do anything. mswati believes that this action signifies that his people, as they always try by all means to rise against him, will suddenly decide to abandon that action and be confused by his muti. The bull is then taken into the Inhlambelo where mswati awaits it, naked. The young men hold down the bull tight as the king inserts his erect royal penis into the bull’s anus. He has sex with it until just before he ejaculates.

On ejaculation a horn is brought so he ejaculates into it (hence the praises “uchamela enkhomeni nakumuntfu” – translated “one who ejaculates inside a beast and also inside a human being”). The sperm is poured into the horn so that it can be used whenever the nation has been called to Sibaya or any national event. The sperm is mixed with the food that is cooked for the people on those events or ceremonies so that the people can love the king so much and be very afraid of rising against him. An ugly scene once occurred some years ago as he had sex with the bull.  It got out of its coma and all hell broke lose. It pushed him to the side and he started screaming for dear life until we managed to overpower the bull and its throat was cut to ensure it was dead.

Once the bestiality process is complete, he then washes using muti on top of the dead beast.

What inspired me to join the struggle for liberation was when I heard mswati, as he bathed on top of the bull using muti, chant about Mario Masuku and Jan Sithole saying “Ngiyamncoba Mario lonyaka! Ngiyamehlula Jan lonyaka! Angeke bangikhone! Ngimi lo! Angeke ngehlulwe ngemadvodza lamanye! Angeke balitsatse etandleni kimi! Ngalinikwa nguMahlokohla leli!” I was convinced that maybe mswati saw these men as a threat to his throne.

THE KING AND PUBLIC SEXUAL INTERCORURSE WITH HIS TWO WIVES

After cleansing himself on top of the bull, the boys are then ordered to go to the nearby river to bath (kususa sinyama). They then go to sleep up until 2am the next morning when a trumpet sounds again to announce the second session of catching another beast. This one is not killed but just held so strongly into Inhlambelo where the king repeats his bestiality tendency then ejaculates on the horn again and then wash on top of it with muti as he continues to chant about Mario and Jan. He then moves out to Indlunkhulu where two of his wives, LaMatsebula and LaMotsa, await him naked and he has sex with both of them for a short while but then ejaculates into his horn (hence the saying uchamela enkhomeni nakumuntfu). These two wives, LaMatsebula and laMotsa, only serve this purpose at the royal family. They are known as ‘’Tesulelamsiti’’, which basically means it is where the king cleanses himself and removing all his dirt on. On the two women is where mswati leaves his demonic evils so that they carry it whilst he remains clean.  

As he is at Indlunkhulu the bull is then released back to other cattle for a whole year and is then killed the next year during Incwala in the fashion of the first beast. The boys are again ordered to go and wash at the Lusutfu River (kususa sinyama).

Early in the morning, on Incwala day, very young boys who haven’t reached puberty are called to feast on the killed bull which mswati was fucking the previous day. It is believed that only such boys can eat it and not be affected by the strong muti.

The next day is the official Incwala, where everybody will try to appear traditional by being part of this activity. The king joins this dance after checking the guard of honor and the singing of the national anthem. After the two hours of dance, the media is then chucked out of the royal kraal as some evil activities continue. This is the time for kulahlelwa ngeluselwa. Luselwa is a fruit cut from tintsanga. It is coated with strong muti and is thrown at one of the boys by the king. The boy, after it has been thrown at him, has to run faster than the king back to Inhlambelo lest he gets insane for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, most of the boys fail to run faster than the king because he throws the fruit and runs first. When the boy picks it up and tries to follow, the king is, by that time, already at the entrance and the boys lack the courage to push him aside so that they can be first to enter. At the end these boys literally go insane and are given employment in the army to cover this problem.

I must reveal here that these boys to whom the fruit was thrown later usually commit murder, a direct cause of being thrown at with the luselwa. They include even those from the time of the late king Sobhuza II such as Vacu Magongo who is Indvuna yemabutfo and also in the king’s advisory committee.

During the process of kulahlelwa ngeluselwa, these young boys are given small shields with no sticks in them (imigobo). They are always chosen from the Inyatsi regiment kraal (about 20 boys in total) and ordered to dance at the entrance to the small kraal (Inhlambelo) for this session. Senior regiments dance far at a distance, in the middle of Sibaya so they don’t see a thing. The king then comes out of Inhlambelodressed in some funny attire made up of grass and tree branches and inyoni (head gear) on his head and painted all over his body with black lotions (muti). He dances into a song that says “uyinkhosi yamakhosi” (you are king of kings”) as he moves forward into the terrified boys and back carrying the fruit. On that occasion mswati seems like a mad man and he terrifies the young boys and the Indvuna will shout “do not be afraid of your king, he can’t harm you, he loves you all.” This is known to be a way in which the king cleans himself of all the evils of Incwala with the strong muti and all negative energy which he deposits onto one of the young boys who then loses his mind.

The next day is known at kutila (day of fasting) Many things are not allowed on this day. You do not sit on a chair, you do not cook, you do not sing and you do not fold your arms. Once you are seen doing this you are fined money by the water party which roams all around the royal residence.

There is then the last day known as kushiswa kwelukhuni. In this activity all the Insila (dirt) that has been collected by the water party all around the country and the remaining muti and spells used for Incwala is then burnt at the centre of the royal kraal as people dance to traditional music. This one is very dangerous because it marks the end of Incwala and all who attend inhale the smoke and receive the spirit of being docile into their lives. After all this then begins the weeding of the king’s fields to prove that Incwala was successful. Men will abandon their fields at home to weed another man’s fields, very huge for that matter.

The above account is my own. It is meant to open Swazi people’s eyes and minds so that they see beyond the government’s propaganda that Incwala is holy. I must state that Pastor Justice and other pastors were correct when they said Incwala is unGodly. Indeed, nothing can be Godly with a man having sexual intercourse with a bull every year, having sexual intercourse with two of his wives in full view of other men, yearly causing at least one young boy with a bright future to go insane with the use of muti, and forcing many men to abandon their own fields so that they can go and weed his own fields.”

THANK YOU

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Please print this information and distribute widely, and save many Swaziland people and innocent bulls from the king’s cruelty. If you do not send this information to more people, nothing bad will happen to you, but if you do, you will save many innocent lives which may also include your relatives.

Break The Chains Campaign; All the names of political prisoners included

BREAK THE CHAINS

Of

Swaziland’s political prisoners!

Join the campaign, add your voice, and get involved!

CAMPAIGN FOR:

UNBANNING OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES AND ORGANISATIONS

UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS AND DETAINEES

UNCONDITIONAL AND SAFE RETURN OF ALL POLITICAL EXILES

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN, ADD YOUR VOICE, AND GET INVOLVED!

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) is building a broad-based campaign delinked from any party political affiliation called BREAK THE CHAINS. The aim is to demand the release of political prisoners/detainees in Swaziland. We hope you will consider joining the campaign by contacting us (see below). BREAK THE CHAINS welcomes individual supporters as well as organisations.

BREAK THE CHAINS is a campaign for the; Unbanning of Political Parties, Unconditional Release of Political Prisoners and detainees, Unconditional and Safe Return of Exiles. There are currently five activists who are being held without due process on trumped up charges.

They are imprisoned because of their support for the freedom struggle in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy. We appeal to you to support BREAK THE CHAINS by making your voice heard to demand the; unbanning of political parties, release of the five activists and the return of exiles.

READ: Remembering 9 - 10 December 2007; When University of Swaziland burned down

We are also linking the campaign demands with an urgent call for the unbanning of political parties and organisations in Swaziland and guarantees on the safe return of political exiles. We must BREAK THE CHAINS of the five imprisoned activists and BREAK THE CHAINS of the Swazi people!

Swaziland faces a massive struggle to achieve democracy in the face of a vile and corrupt regime, under king Mswati III, that presides over the mass poverty of the Swazi people and their suffering the highest HIV-AIDS-TB rates in the world – all this while the regime lives in gross luxury and wastes the country’s resources on vanity projects for the royal elite.

BREAK THE CHAINS to ensure the release of the following:

1.    Amos Mbedzi - A South African, member of the ANC, SACP, Umkhonto WeSizwe) arrested in 2008, spend four years of incarceration, convicted with 2 counts of murder for the death of his two comrades (Jack Govender and Musa Dlamini), sedition and sentenced in 2012 to 85 years in prison.

2.    Zonke Dlamini - SWAYOCO LEADER: arrested April 2010 sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after being convicted by the High Court of contravening Section 5 (1) of The Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008.

3.    Mario Masuku – PUDEMO President: Arrested May 2014. Charged with sedition after addressing workers in a May Day Rally. Denied bail and waiting trial.

4.    Maxwell Dlamini – SWAYOCO SECRETARY GENERAL: arrested and charged with sedition on 12 April in 2011; released on bail, now on staggering trial. Re-arrested 21 April 2013, remains incarcerated pending bail hearing. Re-arrested May 2014, charged with sedition after leading a song in May Day Rally. Denied bail and awaiting trial.

5.    Musa Ngubeni – FORMER STUDENT LEADER, SWAYOCO Member: arrested and charged with sedition on 12 April 2011, released on bail now on staggering trial. 

6.    Mfanawenkhosi Mtshali – CPS Central Committee member, PUDEMO member: Arrested December 2005 and charged with sedition, released on R15 000 bail in March 2006, re-arrested 19 April 2013, released on R15 000 bail and is awaiting trial.

7.    Derrick Nkambule – CPS leader on campaigns, PUDEMO member: Arrested 19 April 2013, released on R15 000 bail and is awaiting trial.

8.    Rolland Rudd – PUDEMO Member. Arrested 20 June 2012, charged with attempted murder to a soldier on guard, denied bail and no trial date till today.

9.    Basil Twala – Trade Union leader at the Swaziland Transport and Allied Workers Union (STAWU), arrested in 2013 charged with under the public order act and convicted and sentenced to 2 years without an option of a fine for organising a workers protest.   

10. Wonder Mkhonza – PUDEMO National Organiser; arrested 12 April 2013, charged with sedition after found in possession of PUDEMO pamphlets. Released on R15 000 bail and is awaiting trial.

11. Musa Dube - CPS Deputy General Secretary; arrested September 2013 and charged with sedition, out on R 15 000 bail and is awaiting trial.

12. Goodwill Sibiya - CPS organiser, arrested November 2013. Out on R15 000.00 bail after spending 7 months of incarceration. He is awaiting trial.

13. Bhantshana Gwebu – a trade unionist at National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), arrested January 2014 and charged with sedition in that he impounded a government vehicle driving the Chief Justice for an unauthorised trip. Out on bail pending trial outcome.

14. Thulani R. Maseko – Human Rights Lawyer, arrested March 2014, charged with contempt of court in that he wrote critical on the unlawful incarceration of Bhantshana Gwebu. The Nation Magazine published his article. Released after 19 days of unlawful incarceration and regime appeals his released. Re –arrested after a successful appeal by the Chief Justice. Sentenced to 2 years in jail without an option of a fine.

15.  Bheki Makhubu – Editor of The Nation Magazine, arrested March 2014, charged with contempt of court in that, he commented in his editorial column in the Nation Magazine, critical to Mswati’s authoritarian judicial system in relation to Gwebu’s unlawful incarceration. Released after 19 days of unlawful incarceration and regime appeals his release. Re –arrested after a successful appeal by the Chief Justice. Sentenced to 2 years in jail without an option of a fine.

READ: ANC Conflicted on Swaziland: Can it be trusted?

Support BREAK THE CHAINS

We urge you to:

-          Send demands to the Swazi government and the king calling for the immediate release of ALL THE POLITICAL PRISONERS in Mswatis jail

-          Raise awareness on the issue of Swaziland’s political prisoners by spreading news of the campaign for their release.

-          Raise the issue in your community, trade union branch, Church group, and among your neighbours and friends.

If you are outside Swaziland:

-          Issue calls to Swazi diplomatic missions for the unbanning of political parties, release of political prisoners and return of exiles.

-          Demand the boycott of Swaziland by the government of the country in which you reside until the demands are met.

-          Get your organisation / political party to join the campaign

CONTACT:

Dlamini Njabulo

Break the Chains Coordinator

Email: njabulowdlamini@gmail.com

Cell: +268 76039844

Goodwill DuPont

Deputy Chairperson & Head of Campaigns CPS

Email: goodwilldpnt@gmail.com

Cell: 079 472 4508

Why the world needs more divorces

Introduction

In South Africa, the 2012/2013 Annual Report of the Department of Justice reported that in 2012/13, there was a 28% increase in new divorce matters. There were more females than males who instituted divorce (plaintiffs) during that period. This seems to be an increasing and interesting trend these days. Many moralists hold the view that the reason for the increase in the number of divorces is the decay of the ‘good’ norms and values that have been in place in society since ‘time immemorial.’ However, this world needs more divorces than ever before if we are to see real women emancipation. Divorces are therefore a condition without which the liberation of women is impossible. They are a conditio sine qua non for the liberation of women.

This world has been a patriarchal society since, to use the moralists’ language, time immemorial. Patriarchy is much older than capitalism. It is even older than feudalism and slavery. Patriarchy is rampant even in many Socialist and Communist parties of the world. As such, when the priests, pastors and their moralist buddies claim that divorces are caused by the decay of societal norms and values they refer to patriarchal norms and values. Seen in this fashion, one then needs to praise this high prevalence of divorces. It is a good thing. It is a clear sign of progress in so far as the women’s struggle for liberation is concerned. It is an act of rebelling from the dictates of the oppressive world-wide patriarchal system. Rebelling against patriarchal norms and values is a good thing which everyone, men included, must do.

God and Ancestors want people to get married?

Perhaps we also need to question the very idea of marriage. Marriage has set principles and processes. It does not matter whether it is a marriage based on religion or culture or other system, or whether it is a marriage in Africa, Europe or America. Whilst on the one hand the pastors and priests claim we should marry because it is what God wants us to do, African traditionalists, on the other hand, claim that we must get married because marriage is one of the precious institutions that our ancestors left us and which they want us to continue doing.

But whose principles and processes are these? As stated above, the world has been a patriarchal world for many centuries. That means all the marriages of this world are firmly based on the rules, principles and processes underpinning patriarchy. Hence, we have the ‘Mrs’ title, for instance, whilst in many societies the woman must leave her family and join her husband’s family after the wedding ceremony where she will practically become the husband’s minor child. In some societies, when the woman is raped by a man their principles state that the rapist man must be forced to marry her. Nothing about the raped woman’s right is in issue. All they are worried about is the embarrassment that the rape has caused on the woman’s family, a family which also has a male as its head and ultimate ruler. In a nutshell, marriage as it stands today, is nothing but a tool which is used to keep women in bondage and perpetuate the nonsensical belief that a woman is not a real woman unless and until she is married to someone (a man) and lobola is paid for her.

Therefore, all the marriage principles, rules and processes are nothing but a way of strengthening patriarchy. Patriarchy has developed to such an extent that even women themselves are its champions and thereby contribute to the subjugation of women; hence fighting against it is difficult. Even men have found it extremely difficult to fight against the backward principles of marriage such as the payment of lobola and other backward principles. Many times, the opposition against such rebelling has come from women themselves. They seem to want to keep themselves in this perpetual disease of patriarchal marriage system and, like wild animals which always fight veterinarians who want to heal them of their infectious wounds, many women will fight even the men who have rebelled against this patriarchal system of marriage.

Conclusion

Women and men must, despite the challenges mentioned above, rebel against the current system or form of marriage. When one investigates the trend that divorces have taken, it becomes clear that the more women get their independence the more divorces we shall see. Women independence has contributed to the increase in divorces. More women are making their voices heard and stand by them. They are questioning the very institutions in which they find themselves. Unfortunately, they are in a patriarchal world where pastors, priests, evangelists, traditionalists, lawyers, human rights activists (yes, them too!) and all other moralists are always armed with powerful weapons against this independence that these women seek. When the women make their voices heard and stand by them the one thing that they consistently receive is violence and condemnation by society. Nevertheless, the struggle must continue. More divorces mean the goal towards women liberation is getting closer.

Let there be more divorces!

Imprisoned PUDEMO President Mario Masuku denied medical care by Mswati regime

The People’s United Democratic Movement’s (PUDEMO) President Mario Masuku has fallen critically ill at His Majesty’s Correctional Services at the Zakhele Remand Centre. He is suffering from pneumonia due to a combination of various horrible conditions he has been exposed to. He has grown physically weak, pale, lost weight and has lost part of his eyesight.

Having to be subjected to a poor diet of porridge, beans and the occasional poorly cooked cabbage has contributed to his deteriorated condition.

Zakhele remand centre has refused to put President Masuku in a cell well secured in terms of cold and bad weather conditions since his arrest on the 1st of May 2014. He has been further denied warm clothes and access to his private medical practitioner. Visitors who come to check on him have been made to wait for nothing less than five hours, including refusal of his own son to consult him in his capacity as a lawyer .The latter has been classified as a normal visitor, much against the law itself.

Some of his comrades have been banned from visiting him. The ban was constituted after they brought him and Maxwell Dlamini newspapers deemed too political by warders. The reading material included nation magazine which is a Swazi monthly publication that is normally critical of the authorities, city press and Sowetan which are both South African newspapers.

Maxwell Dlamini still in academic limbo

Maxwell Dlamini, the Secretary General of Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), who was arrested alongside Masuku, continues to be denied the right to sit for his examinations at the University of Swaziland where he is doing his fourth year in Commerce. Much against the dictates of the laws of the country Justice Mpendulo Simelane overturned his own judgement that Dlamini should write his examinations. In what appears to be two shades of Justice, a convicted fraudster, a known king’s praise singer Chawe Mamba is allowed to further his studies while the 23 years old Dlamini’s future has been abruptly curtailed.

As the Commander in Chief of the Correctional Services, PUDEMO holds Mswati III responsible for the abuse perpetrated on both President Mario Masuku and Maxwell Dlamini. It will also hold him answerable in the eventuality that the condition of the President worsens to the point of death.

PUDEMO demands that Mzuthini Ntshangase as head of the prisons should personally attend to this matter as soon as possible because it has become clear that his subordinates have not even the least regard for the law. As an awaiting trial detainee President Mario Masuku remains innocent until proven to the contrary. He should get fair treatment as per his health condition. His son should be allowed to consult him like any other lawyer. He must be allowed visitations and his visitors must not be intimidated with harassment and banning.

PUDEMO demands that Maxwell Dlamini should be immediately allowed his right to education by being allowed to write his examination.

PUDEMO remains deeply touched by the levels of cruelty and inhuman conditions that these prisoners of conscious are daily subjected to.

Issued by: The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO)/ Office of the Deputy President

PUDEMO-ANC Alliance: Is it dead?

Introduction

All members of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) grow up with the knowledge that there is an unbreakable historical alliance between PUDEMO and the African National Congress (ANC). This teaching has come under immense scrutiny especially from young comrades. We have seen some of these younger members of PUDEMO going to the extent of openly advocating for political parties that are opposed to the ANC in South Africa and daily alleging that the ANC has sold out its own friends in the Swaziland struggle. These comrades allege that the ANC has chosen to act ignorant on the brutalities committed by the royal regime of Swaziland.

Brief History of the alliance

PUDEMO was officially born in 1983. Before that year underground ANC cadres who were based in Swaziland worked together with other Swazi nationals in the struggle against apartheid and in the organising of the trade union movement in Swaziland. As such, there are many unsung Swazi heroes who fought in the struggle against apartheid, some of whom even went to exile with the ANC. In the years leading to the launch of PUDEMO the relationship between the ANC and Swazi comrades became cemented. PUDEMO was formed by Swazi comrades in unity with South Africa’s ANC comrades.

Towards the end of the 1980s the PUDEMO-ANC alliance was so strong that the Royal regime in Swaziland was more willing to cooperate with the South African apartheid regime when it wanted to arrest or murder some important ANC cadres who were based in Swaziland. Some of the Swazi comrades had to go to exile, escaping from both oppressive regimes. The maintenance of this alliance meant that if any of the two movements attained freedom before the other, this would present fertile ground for the one which would not have attained freedom to find root in the independent state. Thus, for example, if PUDEMO had attained freedom before the ANC could, PUDEMO would be duty-bound, in strict revolutionary terms, to assist the ANC in its fight against the apartheid regime, and vice-versa.

The ANC- King Sobhuza II alliance

It is important to mention at this point that the ANC did have a strategic alliance with King Sobhuza II, such alliance having commenced during the reign of Queen Regent Labotsibeni, to such an extent that Sobhuza had an ANC membership card. ANC leadership would sometimes send delegations to Sobhuza to meet with him and discuss important issues with an aim to strengthen their strategic alliance. This alliance was, in my view, important for the ANC, for at that time South Africa was surrounded mostly by colonies such as Mozambique (Independence: 1975.), Angola (Independence: 1975), and Namibia (formerly South West Africa – Independence: 1990). Thus, it became important for the ANC to have at least a temporary strategic alliance with the independent Swaziland state (Independence 1968). This strategic alliance also made sense because they had a common enemy: colonialism.

Post 1994

PUDEMO members must have understandably believed that when South Africa had its first democratic elections in 1994, especially with an expected ANC victory, Swaziland would immediately follow and attain democracy. In 1994 I was too young to understand the mood of our PUDEMO comrades, but it must have evoked some spirit of freedom from within them. This, sadly, was not to be. South Africa celebrates twenty years of democracy this year, whilst Swaziland, on the other hand, seems too far from freedom and the ANC seems neutral on the struggle for freedom in Swaziland.

The ANC has had three presidents since 1994. Some of our comrades claim that President Jacob Zuma will never speak out against the Swaziland regime because he is directly related to King Mswati III. It is public knowledge that Zuma was given a woman, Princess Sebentile, as a gift from the Swazi royal family, to marry, although he now seems reluctant to officially marry her. Thus, Zuma is King Mswati’s brother-in-law. Princess Sebentile is King Zobhuza II’s daughter. Further, it is believed by many people, some of our own comrades included, that Zuma received great help, specifically in the form of muthi, which helped him beat the academically-decorated former president, Thabo Mbeki, in the 2007 ANC elective congress in Polokwane. It is true that on the years leading to that congress Zuma was in and out of Swaziland, in most instances the Swazi media choosing not to report on the visits or the reasons for those visits. With these facts in mind, some of our comrades are convinced that in order for our struggle to make greater progress, Zuma must vacate the presidency.

I do not entirely agree with my comrades’ narrative, however. Firstly, none of the previous two presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela, has ever publicly condemned the Royal regime for its atrocities. In most cases it was just praises for King Mswati, with Mandela being the main culprit here. Mandela went to Swaziland and publicly proclaimed, in praising King Mswati, that the king was not just a king for the Swazis but also a king for all people in Southern Africa (Ingonyama akusiyo nje yamaSwati kuphela. Ingonyama eyethu nathi sonke eMzansi Afrika).

Secondly, Mandela is also related to King Mswati. His eldest daughter, Zenani, married Swaziland’s Prince Thembumuzi, a son of the late King Sobhuza II, in 1973. Zenani is still known in Swaziland with the title “Her Royal Highness” due to that marriage, although she has separated from her Swazi husband. Therefore, Mandela and Zuma find themselves in the same pot. Thabo Mbeki never condemned nor praised King Mswati. He was forever silent until the last days of his presidency when he committed the utmost blunder of visiting Swaziland.

There are many other reasons why I disagree with the above-mentioned anti-Zuma narrative. The main thing is that since 1994 none of the presidents has actually come out to condemn the regime. In fact one must boldly state that the greatest progress that has been seen in the ANC with regard to our struggle has been under President Zuma’s presidency. In the Mangaung conference in 2012, for instance, the ANC resolved to not only support the struggle for Swaziland’s democracy, but went on to form a special committee that would concentrate on the democratisation of Swaziland. Well, the fact that the committee is toothless and filled with too many pro-monarchy members is an issue for another day.

ANC in business with King Mswati III

Today we have all accepted that the ANC is in business with King Mswati. Sadly, some of our comrades would not like to see us raising this issue repeatedly. They must close their eyes and ears, or better yet shut down their brains! I wonder what they stand to gain in this evil business partnership. The ANC, through its investment wing, Chancellor House, owns a large part of Maloma Colliery, with the other part being owned by King Mswati’s Tibiyo Taka Ngwane. Practically this means the ANC is in bed with King Mswati. All their business partnerships are simply about profit, bigger profit and more super-profits. All this happens at the expense of the oppressed people of Swaziland and the liberation struggle as a whole, whilst they proclaim the now-tired diplomatic phrase, “we will not interfere into the internal affairs of another sovereign state.”

It is known that many other rich ANC cadres do visit Swaziland and even go on to play golf with King Mswati. They even enjoy exclusive dinner with him in his extravagant palaces. No political program is ever attached to their visits. It is just great friends visiting one of their own great friends on great days. Some ANC comrades, such as Siphiwe Nyanda, have even supplied the regime’s army with guns and ammunition which the regime has proceeded to use for the murder of our comrades. Some ANC comrades make it a point to visit Swaziland during the Marula season and drink with Mswati whilst some prefer to take part during the reed dance ceremony. At one point Baleka Mbethe also took part in the Marula celebrations at Buhleni Royal Kraal, where she was also able to secretly meet and discuss with the king and other government officials such as Mr Lutfo Dlamini. At another point, Julius Malema, then an ANCYL president, visited Swaziland. He was reported by the Swazi media to have been on a tour of Swaziland and was later caught by the Royal Swaziland Police for drunken driving. He had gone to Swaziland to have some nice time with his Swaziland-based friends. Just like his elders’ visits, there was no political program attached to his visit as well.

Additionally, the ANC-led government has a deal with the autocratic regime of Swaziland to have a rail-line operating from South Africa, which will go through Swaziland and reach Richards Bay, a business venture aimed at cutting costs for the South African government. None of the projects being carried out either by the ANC or individual ANC cadres or the ANC-led government have any political program attached to them. None of them is of any benefit to PUDEMO or the struggle. They are all about business and making as much profit as possible for the ANC, the ANC-led government and some individual ANC comrades.

The ANC is today in warm blankets and comfortable bed with the brutal royal regime. It is as if they have forgotten about the people of Swaziland’s role in the South African liberation struggle. It appears as if they have forgotten the historical alliance between PUDEMO and the ANC. The myth that Swazi exiles receive refugees’ status in South Africa because of the existence of an ANC-PUDEMO alliance must be debunked. It is international law, not any PUDEMO-ANC alliance, which forces the South African government to issue refugees’ status to Swaziland exiles. If it were due to the alliance, then that would mean the ANC is also in alliance with Zimbabwe’s MDC and other opposition parties in countries such as Angola, Pakistan, Iraq, DRC, etc, as well. The truth is that Swazi exiles receive refugees’ status because there is a political crisis in Swaziland, a crisis which is well-acknowledged by the international community. Even people who are not members of PUDEMO have received such refugee’ status.

The relationship that the ANC has with the royal regime has muddied the PUDEMO-ANC alliance. Thus, whatever resolutions the ANC has taken in the past, when one views the relationship that it has with King Mswati, it becomes clear that those resolutions were nothing but cold water on the back of a duck. The ANC gives us hope whilst at the same time taking away the little hope that we have. This year PUDEMO was invited by the ANC-led government to president Zuma’s inauguration at the Union Buildings. All this was being done, in my view, to keep us quiet about the Mswati-ANC seemingly unbreakable relationship. I dare say that if Swazi guerrillas could attack King Mswati and aim to overthrow his regime by the barrel of the gun, the ANC-led government would interfere and attempt to save the monarch, partly in order to save its own economic interests, despite the non-interference rhetoric!

Conclusion

It is sad that a revolutionary alliance that had a great promise has disintegrated to such levels. Some Swazi comrades seem to have given up on the struggle because of such a seemingly-dead alliance. If there is any life in this alliance it is important that drastic measures are taken to energize it. As things stand, the ANC looks like any of the other political parties in South Africa in so far as the struggle for freedom in Swaziland is concerned.

If it is not possible to resuscitate the PUDEMO-ANC alliance, then we should remove the wool in our eyes and start opening up to the fact that we no longer have an alliance and instead start treating the ANC as just one of the organisations of the world from which we can accept any kind of assistance, but with the knowledge that they are not our friends. We should wake up to the fact that they will not stand with us when it matters the most. As things stand the alliance looks dead!

Communist Party of Burma turns 75 years old

Communist Party of Burma turns 75 years old

Message from the CPS to the Communist Party of Burma

The Communist Party of Swaziland congratulates the Communist Party of Burma on the 75th anniversary – 15 August 2014 – of the founding of the CPB.

The example of the CPB in its immense struggle against fascism and dictatorship in Burma, one that has shaped the emergence of the party as well as the character of the current challenges it faces.

We have paid particular attention to the discipline you display in party building and organisation, and hope to learn more about your forms of struggle and mobilisation.

Our party, the CPS, is a very new player on the scene, and we take inspiration from your history and struggle. Swaziland is also essentially a one party state – the monarch being the ruling party – as all political parties are banned. We are struggling to put an end to this monarchic autocracy, and to put an end to the feudal-capitalist order.

It is therefore with particular interest that we follow the work of your party, and we hope that we can create a basis for practical solidarity between our two organisations.

We wish you a very auspicious anniversary, one that points the way to the victory of your struggle.

Long live the Communist Party of Burma!

Long live socialism!

Long live working class internationalism!

In Solidarity

Kenneth Kunene

General Secretary

CPS

12 August 2014

In Solidarity

Kenneth Kunene
General Secretary
CPS
12 August 2014

Trust and Betrayal

It takes a very long time to build trust, but only one small stupid act to destroy completely. Once trust is destroyed it is impossible to rebuild to the point in which it was before. 

For lovers, the ultimate act of betrayal, I suppose, is cheating. When you have cheated on your lover and your lover has forgiven you for it, you must not be then act surprised when your lover doesn't see you the way she/he used to see you before the betrayal. The fact is that, notwithstanding that one act of betrayal, however small, the cheating will always be in your lover's mind for the rest of her/his life. Some days it'll be intense and some days will be mild, but it will be there. People who've cheated and got caught should never, therefore, expect that they'll in future be called the nice names and receive the warmest cuddling they used to get before the betrayal. It is absurd for a cheater to expect that her/his partner will continue with the purest excitement they exhibited before the cheating.

Hence when someone has cheated and got caught, they have two choices:

1.    Stay in the relationship and live the rest of your life with the knowledge that your partner doesn't trust or love you the same way she/he used to, OR

2.    Leave the relationship and start a new one with someone you've never betrayed, someone who'll obviously have 'better' trust for you than the one you betrayed. 

For comrades, the ultimate act of betrayal is when one starts to sleep with the enemy, that is, the oppressor. It has been mentioned before that there is no prison for traitors. Hence they're usually, and should in fact be, killed when caught. Failure to do such risks the whole movement being delivered to the hands of the enemy where it shall be destroyed. Hence, comrades who've been caught working for the enemy must simply request that particular enemy to help move them far away, safe from their former comrades. 

I end with a warning that if you've betrayed someone or people, you should never expect that things will be as they were before the betrayal, no matter the number of apologies and no matter the depth of the forgiveness.

Why most Christians, especially Roman Catholic Priests, are accomplices in the mass-murder of Palestinians

My Religious Me: Part V

The truth about the history of Israel and Palestine must be told. Christians, especially Catholic priests, must not hide vital information about this subject. I would understand that most of the fly-by-night churches may have zero information on this. Catholics, however, have information at their disposal but they do not want to share it with the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the people of Palestine are being butchered daily by apartheid Israel under the pretext that the land of the Palestinians is a land that was promised to them by their God. Nonsense!

Today I share an enlightening article, first published in Umsebenzi Online, written by Future Msebele regarding this question.

The question of Palestine in historical perspective: What does the Bible say?

By Future Msebele

We have seen on our television screens image after image of Israeli planes and heavy artillery bombarding the narrow coastal strip dominated by the city of Gaza. Hamas, the dominant party in control of Gaza has retaliated by relatively harmless rocket attacks against Israel.

Why is Israel attacking Gaza? Who are the Israelis? Who are the Palestinians?

In Zimbabwe there is a strong body of opinion which says “This land belongs to the Jews because the Bible says so.” This is indeed a very short-sighted and misinformed statement. When the Christian religion began, it adopted wholesale the Jewish scriptures which we know as the Old Testament. Read the relevant historical portions properly and you will find that there were many different peoples there long before the invasion by the Hebrew tribes who were to adopt and introduce what we now call the religion of Judaism.

18: In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates;

19: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20: And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21: And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis 15 vs. 18-21 (KJV)

Two things are obvious here: firstly that there were other people already living there; secondly, as all would know too well through the European versions of African history - history is mostly written by the winners. It is the Israelites, and not all the other people mentioned who are saying that the land was promised to them!

Further on, in the First Book of Samuel Chapter 15, we read that God ordered King Saul to commit genocide against the Amalekites!

1: Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

2: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

3: Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Again, Jews regard Jerusalem as their historic capital. But they did not build it:

4: And David and all Israelwent to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land.

5: And the inhabitants of Jebussaid to David, Thou shalt not come hither.

Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.

1 Chronicles 11 vs. 4&5 (KJV)

What we read, then, in the Old Testament is about a group of warlike nomadic tribes with their herds of cattle, sheep and goats, conquering peaceful city dwellers and establishing themselves as rulers.

As we study the history of the Jews through the Bible and other sources we find that the people of Palestine/Israel, lying between the two great early civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia (Iraq) were of extremely mixed origin including in their gene-pool both fair-haired Hittites and black Ethiopians. Likewise, when it comes to religion we find that worship of the Golden Calf and of Baal went side by side with the worship of the one God - with different forms of religion being dominant at different times. People who did not originally belong to the Hebrew tribes began to practise the Jewish religion and people that were of Hebrew origin turned to other religions.

By the time of Jesus, there were more Jews outside Palestine than in Palestine, many of them proselytes, that is converts.

Following unsuccessful Jewish revolts against the Romans in 70CE - when the temple was destroyed and the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132CE, the Jewish leadership left Palestine, leaving behind the peasants who slowly converted - first to Christianity, then later to Islam. Many people do not know that about 15% of Palestinians are Christian - descendants of the earliest Christians. Most of the rest are Muslims.

The Palestinians of today, then, are the descendants of the many different peoples that inhabited the land in ancient times - including Jews - since which they have also acquired ancestry from the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, West European Crusaders and Turks - all of whom conquered that territory at various times. Israeli Jewish historian Tsvi Misinai states categorically in a piece written in 2009 that “90% of Palestinians are descended from Jews.”

At the same time, many people of non-Palestinian origin converted to Judaism. In the Acts of the Apostles:

Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

Acts 13 v 43 (KJV)

There are a number of other references to proselytes in the New Testament.

More than that, we know of many cases of whole communities which converted to Judaism in Yemen, Ethiopia and most spectacularly in the Khazar Kingdom which covered an area now in Russia and eastern Ukraine. In the 8th century CE, an entire Turkic-speaking kingdom, the Khazar Kingdom converted to Judaism, and, although estimates vary, it is definite that a considerable part of European Jewry have Khazar ancestry.

How then did Jewish settlers from all over the world come to claim Palestine as theirs?

During the 19th century in Europe, nation states began to be formed. Italy became one nation in 1851, Germany in 1871. Others, Poles, Czechs and Hungarians were seeking to form nation states. Some Jews began to ask themselves where they belonged.

In 1895, an Austrian Jew, Theodor Herzl wrote a book called The Jewish State. Two years later the First World Zionist Congress took place in Switzerland. Herzl approached the Turkish government for a Jewish settlement in Palestine (at that time part of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire) although permission to establish a Jewish state was refused (despite an offer to assist the Turks pay off substantial debts), small groups of Jews began to settle in Palestine. However, Palestine was not the only place thought suitable for a Jewish National Home, part of British East Africa (now Kenya) was also seriously considered!

In Russia in 1910, as the Tsarist Empire grew to a close, and only 7 years before the Russian Revolution. Pogroms - attacks on Jewish settlements by right-wing thugs (the Black Hundreds) took place. Some emigrated to America, a few to Palestine. This group formed a solid core of Jews in Palestine.

As fascism grew in Europe during the 1930s, more and more Jews, fleeing persecution, went to Palestine. Following the end of the Second World War, many Jews who escaped Hitler’s attempt to destroy them, fled to Palestine (by then under British control). They began to fight the indigenous people for their land. The newly formed United Nations agreed to partition Palestine into a Jewish and a Palestinian state. In 1948, the State of Israel was formed. They had already seized considerably more land than had been granted to them by the UN. The West Bank became part of the Kingdom of Jordan and Gaza was administered by Egypt.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization was formed and was given immediate recognition by many countries as the sole representative body of the Palestinian people. It obtained UN observer status in 1974. But in 1967, war had broken out between Israel and its Arab neighbours and the Israelis seized both the West Bank and Gaza.

Nevertheless, in 1987, the Intifada, the uprising against Israeli occupation, started. By 1993, the Israelis, led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestinians led by PLO President Yasser Arafat signed an agreement to recognize both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine.

In 1995, Rabin was shot dead by an assassin who represented the extreme right of the Zionist movement. Soon after that, Israel was ruled by a succession of extreme right-wing governments which refused to recognize Palestinian rights and continued to steal Palestinian land and build Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Yasser Arafat was humiliated in front of his own people and in 2004 was poisoned by a radioactive chemical. The Palestinians have been reduced from being the owners of the whole area of what is now Israel and Palestine to being confined to the tiny area of Gaza and a few even smaller enclaves in the West Bank.

The Zionist Jews who came to Palestine to flee persecution have now themselves become the persecutors - or as one commentator put it:

“The Palestinians are the last victims of Hitler.”

Future Msebele is President of Zimbabwe African People’s Union Youth Front (ZAPU Youth Front)