ANC, 24 April 2012

Having considered the grounds of appeal and the Heads of Argument, the NDCA rules as follows:-

APPEAL OF FLOYD SHIVAMBU

227. The appeal is dismissed.

228. The Respondent`s argument that the sanction of the Appellant be increased to a suspension of 5 years was considered by the NDCA and rejected.

229. The sanction imposed by the NDC that the Appellant`s ANC membership be suspended for a period of 3 years is confirmed.

230. This sanction is applicable to the Appellant`s membership of the ANC Youth League.APPEAL OF SINDISO MAGAQA

231. The appeal is dismissed.

232. Having had regard to all the circumstances concerning this appeal, the NDCA, in the exercise of its discretion, varies the sanction imposed by the NDC as follows:-

"The Appellant`s ANC membership is suspended for a period of 1 year, which shall come into operation with immediate effect".

233. This sanction is applicable to the Appellant`s membership of the ANC Youth League.

234. Consequently, cde Sindiso Magaqa shall vacate his position as Secretary General of the ANC Youth League.

APPEAL OF JULIUS MALEMA

235. The appeal is dismissed.

236. With regard to the Appellant`s disciplinary hearing held in May 2010, the sanction imposed by the NDC that the Appellant`s ANC membership be suspended for a period of 2 years is confirmed.

237. In respect of the present disciplinary hearing, the NDCA confirms the sanction imposed by the NDC that the Appellant be expelled from the ANC.

238. These sanctions are applicable to the Appellant`s membership of the ANC Youth League.

Issued by:

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
CHAIRMAN
ANC NATIONAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF APPEAL

JEFF RADEBE
MEMBER
ANC NATIONAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF APPEAL

JESSIE DUARTE
MEMBER
ANC NATIONAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF APPEAL

TREVOR MANUEL
MEMBER
ANC NATIONAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF APPEAL

BRIGITTE MABANDLA
MEMBER
ANC NATIONAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF APPEAL

Guardian, 23 April 2012

Five countries in southern Africa have joined forces to launch a research centre that will work on combating climate change in the region. South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration on Wednesday to base the initiative in the Namibian capital Windhoek.

The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) is intended to support cross-border research and land management.Ministers from the five countries were joined by Annette Schavan, Germany’s science minister. Germany is providing €50m (£41m) in aid for the first four years.

Scientists based in Namibia estimate southern Africa will suffer double the average rise in global temperature because of its regional air circulation system. This could devastate agriculture and result in severe food and water shortages.

John Mutorwa, Namibia’s agriculture minister, said: “It is forecast that the region will be hard-hit by the effects of climate change, leading to the spread of deserts, water shortages, loss of fertile soil, biodiversity and agricultural output. Hundreds of thousands of people could be displaced, aggravating poverty and increasing the spread of vector-borne diseases and epidemics such as malaria, meningitis and cholera.

“Clearly, nations need to co-ordinate and communicate across political borders to jointly prepare for climate change.”

Namibia said the centre, due to open in August, will equip regional researchers and decision makers with scientific data and services to address future trends of global climate change, the vulnerability of societies and ecosystems, and the potential for improved natural resource management and services.

Mutorwa added: “Sasscal will focus on innovation and knowledge exchange for enhanced adaptive land use and sustainable economic development in southern Africa.”

Southern African countries will help with the creation of trans-boundary early warning systems for floods and drought, and regional climate change projections, the centre said.

A similar facility was recently set up among 10 west African countries, also supported and funded by Germany.

African countries have often lagged behind the rest of the world in cross-border co-operation, for example in intra-African trade. But last year Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe created a trans-frontier conservation area, allowing animals and people to roam freely across borders and establishing a framework to protect and share precious water resources.

Mswati III of Swaziland is accustomed to marking his birthday with a no-expense-spared celebration, literally one fit for a king.

But with his country’s economy in free fall, this year there is no budget for a lavish do on Thursday 19 April as he turns 44.

Home Affairs Minister Prince Gcokoma has called on ordinary Swazis to donate cows to be slaughtered for a mass feast where there will be traditional music and dancing.But this call – in a country where more than 60% of the population live in poverty and where one in four is HIV-positive – has sparked outrage.

Rated by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s richest monarchs with an alleged personal fortune of more than $100m (£62.5m), King Mswati has 13 wives, each with her own palace, security entourage and fleet of luxury cars.

Yet his kingdom is facing financial ruin linked to the global economic downturn with a drop in revenues from a regional customs union.

Late last year, it needed an emergency loan of several million dollars to cover its salary bill which the International Monetary Fund says is not sustainable, advising that 7,000 civil servant jobs need to be urgently cut.

The threat to jobs has been a trigger for labour protests which have evolved into pro-democracy calls.

These campaigners see the king as a “deluded multimillionaire” and want an end to his absolute rule and the unbanning of political parties.

International media outlets miss no opportunity to pour scorn on the portly British-boarding-school educated king, who often attends official events bare-chested in traditional robes.

‘Symbol of unity’

But Sam Mkhombe, private secretary to the king from 2004 until 2011, says the foreign media’s portrayal is unfair and “fed by his detractors”.

He remains fiercely loyal despite being fired from office for his alleged involvement in trying to promote political parties.

“The king is very important to the Swazi nation because he is their symbol of unity and their identity,” he told the BBC.

“The people love their king and they believe that he was given to them by almighty God.”

Mr Mkhombe also maintains that the king’s leadership style and eloquence is also admired.

Fellow former royal adviser Mandla Hlatshwayo, now active in the country’s pro-democracy movement, agrees that the monarchy as an institution is held in very high esteem.

“Swazis normally refer to the king as the sun that shines on the land or the mouth that tells no lie,” he says.

“The deeper meaning of this is that the king is not just a king for himself or his family or those who agree with him but a king for all the people of Swaziland regardless of their political or religious persuasion, including those who disagree with him.”

Ordinary Swazis tend to refer to the king in hushed tones and always with respect – and do not like to be questioned about him.

The bold criticism of the monarchy from sections of the pro-democracy movement is seen as one reason why they have failed to inspire mass support during their protests.

However Mr Hlatshwayo, now a businessman living in exile in South Africa, says people are starting to lose faith in the king.

He believes King Mswati has failed to live up to the legacy of his late father, Sobhuza II, who opted for an absolute monarchy and banned political parties in 1973 and remains greatly respected.

“Sobhuza during his later years used to openly defend the rights of citizens to disagree with him and often stated that he was merely a trustee of the Swazi nation.

“But Mswati is not seeking to find a compromise with his people but is imposing his will by military force.”

Union ‘anti-strike’

Swazi magazine editor Bheki Makhubu, who has spent time in prison for his outspoken views, believes the king has lost touch with his subjects, with one “terrible weakness at the heart of the problem”.

“He likes the finer things in life. Now, this works for his advisers. It is what has fostered corruption,” he says.

The extent of the king’s power has also corrupted him, he says.

“He operates from the premise believing that he can do no wrong, as we Swazis have been telling him for the last 25 years.

“Why shouldn’t he believe that if this is what we have been preaching to him since he was an 18 year old?”

But while many people grumble about the king, few would consider trying to overthrow him, Mr Makhubu says.

“We are like an abused wife who believes she is the one who causes the problems that prompt the man to beat her up.”

Four years ago, Swaziland staged the so-called “40/40″ celebration marking King Mswati’s 40th birthday and 40 years of independence – a shindig that cost in excess of $2.5m and drew staunch criticism, particularly from aid donors.

This year’s event, due to be held at the King Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium in Nhlangano in the Shiselweni region, will be on a much smaller scale.

However, banned opposition party the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) says it should be cancelled with the money already collected donated to good causes.

And the newly formed Trade Union Congress of Swaziland has urged its members to stage an anti-strike and go to work on Friday – a public holiday to mark the birthday.

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign pledged a birthday gift of mass mobilisation and widespread street protests last week, though this proved a damp squib given a heavy police presence and court action by the government.

However, Mr Mkhombe, who now works as a private business consultant, defended the celebration which he said was an important part of “nation building”.

“This event is costly to government, but the communities through their chiefs also voluntarily contribute in the form of cattle and other food stuff,” he said

“Nation building has its costs in any state.”

He predicts that the thousands who will turn up at the stadium will do so for the love of the king and not for the free food, as some have suggested.

But for Mr Hlatshwayo, the days of Swazis worshipping their king as a divine leader are numbered and it is only a matter of time before he has to give up his absolute power and allow democratic rule.

“The king has a limited window to provide constructive leadership and open dialogue with his people about political reform. He has no other option. Change will happen.”

The Guardian, 19 April 2012

A South African miner who claims he contracted tuberculosis as a result of digging gold on behalf of Anglo American will use the FTSE 100 company’s annual meeting on Thursday to demand compensation.

Daniel Seabata Thakamakau, 66, will represent more than 1,200 former miners who are suing Anglo American for allegedly failing to provide protection from dangerous levels of dust created by deep-level gold mining between the 1960s and 1990s.The miners claim that Anglo American South Africa (AASA), a subsidiary of the UK-listed parent, is responsible for them developing silicosis, an incurable lung disease that often leads to tuberculosis. The condition, which is similar to asbestosis contracted by asbestos workers, has been described by South African mining medical expert Prof Tony Davis as a “river of disease flowing out of the South African gold mines”.

Leigh Day, the law firm representing the miners – many of whom cannot read and write and signed up to the class action with a thumb print – said the number of claimants could rise to tens of thousands and a potential payout could be worth hundreds of millions.

Anglo denies any liability and points out that it was only a minority owner of the mines and does not currently have any stake in them. It is also disputing the right of the miners to bring the case at the high court in London because the case is against AASA, headquartered in South Africa. A decision on the jurisdiction of the case is expected on 9 May.

Thakamakau, who started mining gold deep underground when he was 19, said he will ask Cynthia Carroll, Anglo American’s chief executive, to “find it in her heart to support the miners and our families, and continue to support our families when we are dead”.

He said: “While Anglo became rich from the work that we did on their mines, we are now suffering. I have no money and I cannot afford to get medical treatment. All we are asking is for the company to provide medical assistance and our fair compensation.”

He claims that less than 15 minutes after explosions were set off to open up new areas of the gold mine, he was sent in to dust-filled tunnels without any respiratory protection, which is against industry best practice. “One day I complained about the amount of dust to the foreman, who called the white boss. He said: ‘Do the job or go home.’ I continued to work as there was no other option to provide for my family.”

Thakamakau, who was paid 1,000 rand (about £100) a month, said he is one of the lucky ones, despite finding it difficult to breathe because his chest is “always burning”.

“Three of my five close friends from the mine have already died from the condition,” he said. “About 70%-80% of families in my area are headed by women because the men have died, often as a result of mining.”

Thakamakau, who spoke to the Guardian via a translator, said that Carroll’s £2.2m total pay package last year “shows that they can afford to help”.

Richard Meeran, a partner at Leigh Day who is bringing the case on behalf of the miners, said three out of 18 claimants in a separate legal action in South Africa have already died from the condition. “Anglo have examined the other 15, and five were hospitalised immediately,” he said.

Meeran said AASA recruited hundreds of thousands of labourers from across South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi during apartheid. He claims that white managers were rarely sent down deep mineshafts and were provided with considerably more respiratory protection than their black colleagues.

He said the threat of silicosis, particularly from gold mining, has been “known for a century” and claimed the miners are the victims of the industry’s “flagrant disregard for the health of its black workers”.

“[Anglo] has accumulated massive profits on the backs of black miners, if they are really good corporate citizens – as they claim – they should give assistance to their miners,” he said.

Meeren said the case was similar to a successful action against UK multinational Cape over South African miners’ exposure to asbestos.

Peter Bailey of South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers claimed Anglo has “done absolutely nothing” to help the miners: “It’s time to stop the talking about its moral values, and do something.”

A spokesman for Anglo said that while the company contends that it is not in “any way liable” for the claims, it had the “deepest sympathy” for those miners contracted silicosis.

“Anglo American’s absolute priority has always been to ensure that our people return home safe and well at the end of every working day and working lifetime. Anglo American does not believe that it is any way liable for the silicosis claims brought by former gold workers and is defending the actions. We do have the deepest sympathy for those miners who have contracted silicosis and we fully support initiatives of the mining industry, labour and government to ensure that sufferers of silicosis receive the proper treatment and statutory compensation and that silicosis amongst mineworkers is ultimately eliminated altogether.”

A dying former Anglo American miner will speak out at its annual meeting today in a bid to win compensation and healthcare for men like him left destitute with silicosis which they blame on the company’s neglect.

Daniel Seabata Thakamakau, 66, who toiled underground at gold mines in the South Africa province Free State, is coming to Britain to attend the meeting. He is one of 1,200 claimants whose case is being brought by law firm Leigh Day as a mass action in the English court against Anglo American South Africa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Thakamakau, whose silicosis from dust exposure has led to his contracting tuberculosis, says: “The tuberculosis is so bad that I am unemployable. I gave the best years of my life to that company. We were treated like animals. They make billions each year and I can’t even provide a plate of food for a day for my wife and four children. I am constantly in pain. I live from day to day.”

Anglo American South Africa – which also faces legal action in its own country – disputes the English courts’ ability to hear the claim. The miners’ demands are supported by the TUC and British-based groups, Action for Southern Africa

(ACTSA), War on Want, the London Mining Network and Amnesty International UK.

Brendan Barber General Secretary TUC said, “Anglo American has made vast amounts of money from the labour of its South African workforce. Now the company must do the right thing, listen to the unions, and compensate the workers for the illnesses caused by the jobs they did.”

Tony Dykes, the ACTSA director, said: “Black southern African gold miners toiled in hazardous conditions creating profits for the mining companies. Many are now suffering from silicosis. They need and deserve adequate compensation and access to health care. Litigation can be complex and lengthy. Action is needed now. We call on Anglo American South Africa to stop procrastinating, to lead by example and ensure decent compensation and justice for ex gold miners suffering from silicosis now.”

Ruth Tanner, campaigns and policy director at War on Want, said: “These miners are seeking justice for the neglect they faced doing an extremely hazardous job. Anglo American is responsible for the suffering of the miners in South Africa. The company must pay damages for their sickness and ensure adequate healthcare.”

 Richard Solly, the London Mining Network’s coordinator, said:  “For years we have been challenging Anglo American and its subsidiaries to improve the way they treat agricultural communities being removed from their land to make way for mining. The devastating suffering of former mineworkers in the company’s South African mines shows that the company’s record on its treatment of workers is as reprehensible as its treatment of communities.”

Peter Frankental, Economic Relations Programme Director Amnesty International UK said, “Anglo American should not be allowed to hide behind their South African subsidiary. Anyone suffering from silicosis because of the negligence of a mining company should be able to pursue litigation against the parent company where ultimate control and responsibility lies.”

Zimbabwe’s president said on Wednesday that political violence must be “buried in the past” to move the nation toward free and unhindered elections.
In a rare departure from his usual finger-pointing at opponents and critics, President Robert Mugabe, addressing celebrations marking 32 years of independence on Wednesday, acknowledged violence and intimidation have long blighted campaigning.

He said he asked politicians vying for office to look back at how “we have done wrong to our people” through violence and “fighting among ourselves”.

Mugabe’s party militants and loyalists in the military and police have been blamed for much of the violence and political intimidation that has plagued elections since 2000.

“We must now take absolute care and caution and ensure the fights of yesterday are buried in the past,” he said.

Mugabe (88), in a conciliatory and often faltering address of 50 minutes — less than his usual, fiery 90-minute public speeches — said voters should be allowed to join and freely vote for the party of their choice.

“All fights, all struggles that were violent should not be allowed, he said. Political party membership “should never be forced”.

“We organise ourselves on the basis of freedom of choice, belonging to a party of choice and freely voting for that party of choice.”

Mugabe’s party has frequently been criticised for coercing the electorate to support it and using emergency food aid as a political weapon to garner votes.

Bob deviates from health reports
Mugabe did not refer to the latest claims on his ailing health. He returned on Thursday from Singapore, where he received medical treatment last year.

Disputed and violence-ridden elections in 2008 led to a power-sharing coalition with former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, brokered by regional mediators the following year.

Mugabe said on Thursday he was pleased to see Tsvangirai — now the prime minister — and coalition leaders at the packed 60000-seat Chinese-built stadium for the independence day celebrations, parades and sports.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party had expressed concern over the focus of Thursday’s celebrations on Mugabe’s policies of black empowerment and the proposed seizures of 51% of foreign and white-owned businesses.

Tsvangirai in his anniversary message on Tuesday described that theme as “repugnant” and likely to again scare off much-needed investment.

He said fighters who died to end Britain’s colonial rule in 1980 “will only be proud of us if we bring back the noise in our silent factories,” attract investment and create jobs and economic growth.

Mugabe said crowd organisers had asked not to wear party symbols, and that all coalition partners had a responsibility to guarantee peace and security so as to safeguard future development goals.

“We also say to you that your responsibility is not only to listen to us, but also to do what we bid you to do,” he said to the attentive crowd.

The tiny nation plays on its status as the only absolute monarchy in Africa – but citizens demand democracy as well as tradition.

Culture and tradition are big selling points for Swaziland. Tourists looking for “the real Africa” are encouraged to see the big five wild animals on safari, visit villages or witness the annual Umhlanga (reed dance), in which more than 20,000 bare-breasted young maidens hope to catch the eye of the king, should he wish to add to his present tally of 13 wives.

“A tiny country with a big heart and warm, friendly people aptly describes Swaziland – a country that is the only absolute monarchy in Africa and which embraces and upholds its own unique and ancient traditions,” says the national tourism authority. “These are carefully guarded and faithfully celebrated and are just one aspect of the kingdom that makes it a very special place to visit.”

What few admirers of the mountains, forests and valleys hear are the voices of discontent: those who call King Mswati III a despot and dictator; the allegations of extrajudicial killings and torture; the civil society activists who live in fear of tapped phones and snooped emails; the journalists and judges who toe the line of state control; the suffering of a people, 63% of whom live in poverty and 26% of whom are HIV positive; the protests planned for Thursday, the 39th anniversary of absolute rule; and the whispers of revolt that could emulate the Arab spring by toppling the king.

These voices portray a darker side of Swaziland’s “unique and ancient traditions”. They call Mswati an African Nero fiddling while his country burns, an arrogant playboy relishing banquets, fast cars and private jets while many of his million subjects go hungry.

They blame rituals, in which old men take child brides and celebrate promiscuity, for helping spread Aids. They say the “old ways” do not justify fascist tendencies and the evisceration of human rights.

“Dictator is a fair word,” said a spokesman for the lobby group the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations, who did not wish to be named for fear of recriminations. “This is not a totalitarian regime. This is an authoritarian regime. It doesn’t have an ideological purity like North Korea or like what used to be in Cuba.

“The king is interested in more money, more power, more women. The regime has normalised abnormality.”

Swaziland gained independence from Britain in 1968 under Mswati’s father, King Sobhuza II, whose nominal reign of almost 83 years was a world record; he had 70 wives and 218 children. On 12 April 1973, he repealed the constitution and banned political parties, making himself absolute ruler. One right the king does not enjoy is the choice of his successor from his plethora of children.

After Sobhuza died in 1982, Mswati was steered into power by his canny mother, and he performed the ceremonial ritual of slaying a lion to inherit the throne.

In the years since, he has become ever more anachronistic on a democratising, economically vibrant continent.

One of the wealthiest kings in the world, with a fortune estimated at $100m (£63m), he reigns over a country that was once an oasis of peace surrounded by anti-apartheid protests and civil war in South Africa and Mozambique – but now is the sole country in the region that does not at least pay lip service to multi-party voting.

Elections are held but the king appoints the prime minister, cabinet and a portion of parliament, supported by powerful local chiefs in a system known as tinkhundla.

“We hear nothing and understand nothing about Magna Carta in Swaziland,” said one legal expert. “The judges of the high court once said: ‘Democracy, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.”

Insulting the king is legally defined as an act of terrorism. Among those who have felt the regime’s wrath is Maxwell Dlamini, 22, a pro-democracy activist and president of the Swaziland National Union of Students. In April last year he was stopped near the South African border, pushed into a police van and quizzed over his role in a planned “uprising”.

“In the interrogation room they assaulted me with fists and open hands and kicked me,” he said last week.

“It was the time of the Arab spring so there were a lot of worries in the region. They said I had brought weapons and explosives from South Africa to bring about an armed insurrection. They made me strip and lie on a bench and wound rope around me. A police officer almost suffocated me with a plastic bag.”

After an ordeal lasting five hours, Dlamini said he was taken to a faraway police station where he was held in darkness with no food or water. At 11pm he was taken to an interrogation room and tortured again in a similar manner. He added: “I still have the after-effects. I’m traumatised, I hallucinate. I can’t stay in my room on my own.”

Dlamini was charged with possessing explosives and spent 10 months in jail. “It was hell. Sometimes I was kept in isolation for a week. There were insects: you just have a rash on the first day, but they eat you. There were 68 people in a small cell with two toilets and no running water. The food is very poor.”

Dlamini had been sentenced to 32 months but was released on 50,000 lilangeni (£4,000) bail – a national record. He has vowed to continue the struggle.

“I want the people of Swaziland to live in a democratic dispensation and my children to enjoy fundamental human rights,” he said. “If death, arrest, torture is necessary for the accomplishment of this just cause, then let it be.”

Frustration with the king’s autocratic rule, and the prospect of economic ruin, triggered unprecedented public demonstrations on 12 April last year.

The state responded with a brutal show of force involving riot police, teargas and mass arrests. Another protest is planned for the anniversary on Thursday.

Most campaigners are not necessarily demanding a republic. “We are not wanting to wipe away the monarchy,” said Wandile Dludlu, national co-ordinator of the Swaziland United Democratic Front.

“There are many European countries that still have them today. But when they consistently resist change, history shows that they have tended to be wiped away. Here, if the monarchy proves an impediment to democracy, it will have to face the wrath of the masses. If the king stands in the way of progress, we’ll push him out.”

Dludlu described the king as a “gallivanter” who recently added a Rolls-Royce and Mercedes to his car collection and enjoys a hedonistic whirl of cocktail parties, “orgies” and shopping trips to Dubai.

“It is daylight robbery, using taxpayers’ money. The king is extravagant. He doesn’t live in this world. He’s setting a problematic trend, encouraging everyone to be more excessive right beside naked, abject poverty. Swazis are being strangled by a mafia.”

Others tell of a sinister culture of state surveillance, including plainclothes operatives. Thulani Maseko, a member of Lawyers for Human Rights, said: “We all feel that whatever you say to someone on the other side of the phone is being recorded. So you do feel a sense of insecurity from time to time.”

Not everyone is a dissident, however. Three in four Swazis live in rural areas, where loyalty to the king runs deep. Children are told stories of his magical powers such as the ability to induce rain, turn himself into a cat or make himself invisible to his enemies.

In the national language, the words for chief, king and god are similar. To criticise the king can be seen as an abomination. “The king is the mouth that tells no lie,” one saying holds.

The king and queen mother have shored up their popularity by distributing free food and blankets to villagers, who typically blame politicians for their troubles instead. Local chiefs, who have the power to confiscate land, also help to preserve the status quo.

Mbabane, the administrative capital, has a population of about 100,000 and is the country’s largest city.

A half-hour drive away, at a clinic in the village of Gilgal, Ncamsile Mkhwanazi, 36, said: “The king is a very good leader. I wish I was one of his wives.”

Martha Sibande, 72, who runs a medical practice, said: “I don’t trust democracy in Africa. We had an influx of Mozambicans here: they ate all the goods and said they were fighting for democracy. This country has been ruled by kings for over 400 years. You can’t come and tell me democracy is right.

“If Swazis say they want democracy, they must show us, where is Gaddafi? Look at Iraq as well, the leader slaughtered. If they want democracy, they must leave the country. In Swaziland, if you plough the field, you get food. If you work hard, then you live well. You don’t kill.”

Political activists say such views are largely attributable to propaganda from TV and radio, which remain tightly state-controlled. The government recently announced a crackdown on Facebook and Twitter and the country’s two daily newspapers fare little better. In January, the chief editor of the state-owned Swazi Observer was fired after publishing interviews with banned pro-democracy groups; he fled to South Africa saying he feared for his life.

Last month, the Swazi Observer published a routine report taken from the international newswires concerning the king’s friend, President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea. A week later it was forced to print a prominent apology for appearing to “undermine the person and integrity” of Obiang.

But Bheki Mahubu, editor of the independent monthly magazine the Nation, who was jailed in 1999 for criminal defamation, believes the media should be bolder. “I think we’re living through that period of ‘Let them eat cake’ except that we haven’t reacted to it,” he said.

“There’s a lot of bullying that goes on in Swaziland. If we journalists were to speak out for ourselves more strongly and say, ‘This is unacceptable,’ they would probably change.

“There is a lot of acceding to government demands when it’s not necessary. Any bully becomes accustomed to getting away with it. Swaziland is like an abused woman who says, ‘I started it – he’s a loving guy.’”

The Swazi royal family is celebrated as a fixed point in a changing world, a bulwark of African heritage against the march of modernity and globalisation. But opponents argue that “culture” and “tradition” are used as a convenient figleaf and indulged by the international community, which has been slower to condemn Mswati than other autocrats such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

Musi Masuku, Swazi programme manager of the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa, said: “I want Swaziland to be seen as a blot in the region, which is a sea of democracy: every country around us is trying to hold on to the democratic ideal.

“Sometimes we see Zimbabwe as much better than us because at least political parties are the norm – at least Mugabe has to renew his mandate with the people.

“The belief is everyone is treating this government with kid gloves because they like the exotic story and every year they see the girls dancing and the king wearing animal skin robes. They seem to want to preserve the traditional culture. I am traditional. But I want democracy as well: they can exist side by side.”

The Swazi government, however, says the country is already a democracy. “Very much so,” insists Percy Simelane, its press secretary.

“To say that Swaziland is democratic is an understatement. People don’t understand our elections. Me and you at grassroots level can vote for someone who goes straight to parliament, as opposed to a situation where the electorate votes for a political party who imposes candidates on them. I’m still to come across a situation where the king dictates to his people. In Swaziland nobody has a concentration of power.

“The people report to the government, the government reports to the king, the king reports to the people. It’s a cycle and everybody participates. I have no reason to say this is a dictatorship.”

Simelane also rejected criticism of the king’s luxurious lifestyle in one of the world’s most unequal societies. “I’ve never seen a poor king anywhere in the world. All kings and heads of state are above their subjects.

“In September 2007 I was London and walked from Buckingham Palace to the Guard House and I came across beggars. Poverty has no nationality – there are gaps all over the world. It’s not unique to Swaziland.”

The Guardian, 7 April 2012

Prominent women’s rights campaigner Joyce Banda was sworn in as Malawi‘s president on Saturday, becoming southern Africa‘s first female head of state and raising hopes for a fresh start in the small, poor nation after the death of her predecessor.

Banda, a 61-year-old policeman’s daughter who has won international recognition for championing the education of underprivileged girls, had served as vice president under Bingu wa Mutharika, who died on Thursday following a heart attack.

She succeeds him under the terms of the constitution.Aid-dependent Malawi had slid into economic crisis over the last year, as Mutharika, a professorial but temperamental former World Bank economist, squabbled with major western donors who then froze millions of dollars of assistance. Banda took the oath of office on Saturday in the National Assembly in the capital, Lilongwe, as flags flew at half mast in mourning for Mutharika, whose death was only officially announced by Malawi’s government on Saturday.

“I want all of us to move into the future with hope and a spirit of unity,” Banda said amid loud applause and singing.

The two-day delay in the official announcement of Mutharika’s death had raised worries that there could be a power struggle. Banda had been expelled from his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) party in 2010 after an argument about the succession, though she retained her state position.

But fears of a political crisis in the landlocked former British colony receded as top officials and the army backed the handover of the presidency to Banda.

In a sign that she has support across the political spectrum, opposition leaders had called for her to be sworn in as head of state swiftly, and 20 members of the national governing council of Mutharika’s DPP also expressed their backing for her.

Banda said she had already held a “good meeting” with Mutharika’s cabinet.

Malawians, many of whom had viewed Mutharika as a stubborn autocrat, appeared to welcome their first female president.

“We now have a female president, this to me is the greatest day because she is a mother and a mother always takes care of her children,” said Alice Pemba, a vendor in Lilongwe.

“She will be able to do a good job and surmount the challenges to work with the IMF and World Bank and win back the donor support which we need,” said a local businessman who gave his name only as Tiyazi.

Earlier, Banda appeared at a news conference to dispel fears of a succession struggle and declare 10 days of official mourning for Mutharika, who had ruled since 2004.

“I call upon all Malawians to remain calm and to keep the peace during this time of bereavement,” Banda said, flanked by members of the cabinet, the attorney general and the heads of the army and the police.

“As you can see, the constitution prevails,” she said.

Malawi’s constitution says the vice-president takes over if the president dies, but Mutharika appeared to have been grooming his brother Peter, the foreign minister, as his de facto successor. Peter Mutharika did not attend Banda’s swearing-in.

Banda is expected to run the country until scheduled elections take place in 2014.

Ahead of a day of action by Swazi democrats and trade unionists on 12 April, the TUC has joined international trade union protests at the deregistration of the newly merged Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), which held its founding conference only a month ago. General Secretary Brendan Barber has protested to the Swazi High Commissioner in London, as well as to the Commonwealth Secretary General, reiterating the Commonwealth Trade Union Group’s demand that Swaziland be suspended from the Commonwealth for human and trade union rights abuses.Background

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has issued the following briefing about the situation in Swaziland.

The trade union movement in this small Southern African country is struggling to survive under one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world.

Swaziland has the highest HIV infection rate in the world. Sixty-three percent of its population lives under the poverty line and gets by on less than $1.25 a day. King Mswati III, however, lives in abundant wealth: in July 2010, Forbes Magazine estimated his personal fortune at 100 million USD. His daughters take his private jet to go shopping in Europe.

Meanwhile, everyday life in Swaziland is marked by serious violations of democratic, human and trade union rights. These include extrajudicial killings by security forces, mob killings, the use of torture by the police, beatings and the use of excessive force on detainees, police impunity, arbitrary arrests and lengthy pre-trial detentions, restrictions on freedom of assembly, association and movement, prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political activists, discrimination and violence against women, the harassment of labour leaders, and restrictions on workers’ rights.

Swaziland has been ruled under a state of emergency for 39 years now, since King Mswati’s father and predecessor, Sobhuza II, issued his Proclamation to serve as the country’s fundamental law on 12 April 1973, thereby establishing what has become known as the Tinkhundla regime. The international trade union movement has, time and again, denounced the incessant violations of trade union rights under the king’s harsh rule.

To date, political parties remain forbidden, in spite of the adoption of a new Constitution in 2005, which in itself is still highly ineffective in preserving fundamental democratic rights, including trade union rights. Trade union activities are systematically labelled as political and then severely repressed. This sadly culminated in the death of Sipho Jele, a trade union activist who was arrested for wearing a T-shirt from a political party at a 2010 May Day celebration, and who subsequently died in police custody in suspicious circumstances.

On numerous occasions, the Swazi government has been called to account for this state of affairs in international bodies, such as the International Labour Organisation’s Committee on the Application of Standards (ILO CAS). This Committee has exposed the Swazi government, for a number of years in a row now, for serious breaches of workers’ rights as enshrined in ILO Convention 87 (on Freedom of Association). It is one of the rare cases in which the workers find an ally in the employers’ federations, who are equally fed up with the undemocratic arbitrariness of the regime.

In spite of all the circumstances, our Swazi trade union colleagues have upheld the struggle for fundamental workers’ rights. Through the admirable and internationally recognised work of the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL) and the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the workers of Swaziland have had a voice and representatives who took their interests to heart. In a development which was closely followed and warmly encouraged by the international trade union movement, the SFTU and the SFL, together with the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), undertook to merge into one unified, strong national trade union centre: the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). This new organisation, with an estimated membership of 50,000, held its first congress on 9-11 March 2012.

However, the serious failure by the Swazi regime to implement Convention 87 has now come to a new all-time low: it decided to repeal TUCOSWA’s registration. This was communicated to them by the Attorney General, who wrote to TUCOSWA to say that he would advise the Labour Commissioner to withdraw it.

In a meeting with the Labour Commissioner on Thursday 5 April, which was adjourned due to a number of fundamental disagreements, it was confirmed to our TUCOSWA colleagues that the organisation would be deregistered. The Labour Commissioner repeated the argument of the Attorney General, ie that there are no provisions in Swazi law that regulate the merging of different trade union organisations, and that the law had therefore to be amended before TUCOSWA could be registered as a trade union (sic). She actually went as far as to say that the law doesn’t even contain provisions on the registration of national federations, which by implication now also threatens the Swazi employers’ federation.

While the government has in recent years done some efforts to convince the ILO of its goodwill, e.g. by accepting ILO missions on Swazi territory as well as ILO assistance to amend its legislation, this is yet another illustration of how serious it really is about implementing Convention 87. The ITUC is appalled by this latest disruption of the Swazi trade union movement and by its cynical argumentation, which it protests and denounces in the strongest possible terms. We demand that the deregistration of TUCOSWA to be immediately and unconditionally repealed, and for the Swazi government to stop interfering in internal union affairs and to respect Convention 87, which it has ratified.

Thursday 12 April 2012 will mark the 39th anniversary of the Tinkhundla. We can no longer stand by and watch the rights of our fellow workers in Swaziland being trampled on day after day. The ITUC thinks it is time the regime understands that it can’t get away with everything. The international community must convey the message to the government of Swaziland that the country will have to unambiguously choose the path of democracy, and provide the basic conditions for the full respect of the fundamental rights of its people.

Traditionally, 12 April will also be marked by actions from civil society organisations, who seize the occasion to demand for the establishment of a fully-fledged democracy. We fear, however, that Swaziland will once again be the scene of disproportionate repression and police violence. To avoid another dramatic outcome like on May Day 2010, when a trade union activist was killed, we urge the Swazi government to refrain from this kind of excessive violence, and respects the right of workers to peacefully gather and demonstrate.

Swaziland has closed down its only labour union, which had threatened to lead a protest against Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, federation leader Mduduzi Gina said Thursday.

“Yes, we have been de-registered,” the secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) told AFP.

“We have convened a meeting with the minister [of labour] on the matter.”

TUCOSWA had threatened to bring the small mountain kingdom’s economy to a standstill during protests planned for next week.

The fledgling federation was formed last month when the country’s two biggest labour movements joined forces.

The Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL) and the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) had deregistered in anticipation of the merger.

The king, who turns 44 on April 19, has faced growing criticism and unprecedented public protests since last year due to a financial crisis that has pushed the kingdom to the brink of bankruptcy while he is accused of lavish spending.

Pro-democracy activist Wandile Dludlu said authorities were trying to sabotage next week’s protests since the two labour organisations that merged no longer exist.

“This is a crackdown on the pro-democracy forces as a means to weaken the forces for change in light of the upcoming April 12 protests,” said Dludlu, who coordinates the umbrella Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) organisation.

The protests would go ahead despite the setbacks, he said.

More than 3 000 students took to the streets at the end of March when Mswati cancelled scholarships.

Pro-democracy groups commemorate April 12 since the late King Sobhuza II, Mswati’s father, banned political parties on that date in 1973.

Mswati is rated by Forbes magazine as among the world’s 15 richest monarchs, with a personal fortune of more than $100 million. He has 13 wives, each with her own palace.

But 60% of his subjects live on less than two dollars a day in one of the world’s poorest countries, which is bordered on three sides by the continent’s economic powerhouse South Africa.