Swazi+debate+is+fired+up,+Michael+Schmidt,+Saturday+Star

Saturday Star, Johannesburg, December 02, 2006 //Edition 1//
=Swazi debate is fired up=

//Story on plot to overthrow king has resulted in a huge response, writes// **Michael Schmidt**

Swaziland was in an uproar this week, with MPs demanding the cabinet be axed - and a former prime minister calling for the monarchy to be "assisted" towards democracy.

This in the wake of last week's Saturday Star article on an alleged guerrilla army plotting to overthrow King Mswati III.

This week, although the outlawed People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) trashed claims that it was training a secret "Swaziland Liberation" force on South African soil, the Young Communist League (YCL), admitted that it was giving political education to Swazi exiles, and said it backed Pudemo's right to achieve democracy in Swaziland "by any means necessary".

Last week's story, based on interviews with a Swaziland Liberation defector, Pudemo president Mario Masuku, YCL district head Godfrey Sibiya - and Pudemo's own draft Road Map Towards a New and Democratic Swaziland - said the alleged force was being trained in the Nkomazi district of Mpumalanga.

Masuku denied that Pudemo was using or planning to use South Africa as a springboard to launch an insurgency in Swaziland - but hinted that Pudemo's acknowledged defensive "combat" strategy may become more aggressive in its pursuit of the aim to "eradicate the tinkundla [tribal] system and replace it with a democratic formation".

Our source claimed that "commanders" were giving small groups of Swazi exiles paramilitary training at Driekoppies, Kamhlushwa and Nanzi in Nkomazi.

Sibiya admitted that the YCL was providing political education for radical Swazi refugees at the Tonga View Primary School in Nkomazi, but stressed: "I'm not aware of any Swaziland liberation army."

On Monday, the Swazi Observer, which is owned by the king, reprinted the Saturday Star story. Chief editor Musa Ndlangamandla commented that "the whole country is on fire as a result of your story".

Later that day, Swaziland's parliament - a party-less advisory body of MPs partly appointed by the king - was the scene of an impassioned debate about the story.

According to the independently owned Times of Swaziland, MP Mfofo Nkhambule, the former minister of health and social welfare, called for the entire cabinet of Themba Dlamini to resign and "go play with their children at home" for having failed to detect the threat posed by the alleged guerrilla training. He was backed by a majority of MPs, who demanded an audience with the king on the crisis.

On Tuesday, YCL national secretary Buti Manamela claimed the Saturday Star's reportage relied "on baseless theories, fiction and dreamt facts that raise tensions and emotions, let alone unnecessary hopes for the people of Swaziland that their freedom is imminent".

The Saturday Star's source never, as Manamela suggested, said that the YCL was involved in military training of young Swazis - only that it provided them with political instruction.

Manamela went on to say that the YCL "can confirm that there is some form of practical solidarity that we are involved with young people who are exiled into South Africa by the oppressive Swazi regime. We, however, cannot disclose the details of such solidarity…”

"We can also confirm that we are involved in political education and training for these exiles, jointly with the youth wing of Frelimo (Mozambique - our source perhaps mistakenly identified them as being from Renamo).

"This has been going on for some time and has nothing to do with military training Â… We will, however, not hesitate to support any form of action that either Swayoco (Pudemo's youth wing) or Pudemo takes to remove the regime and install a representative government of the people, including military action and training. This for us is important as we consider the attainment of freedom as a necessity 'by any means'."

Pudemo deputy president Dr Jabulane Matsebula used even stronger terms in his condemnation of our story, claiming it was "gutter journalism" and arguing that it merely echoed previous "fabricated stories of armed insurrection plans linked to Pudemo and its youth wing, Swayoco".

At no stage did the Saturday Star state the dissident's claims of a nascent guerrilla force were proven, but did suggest that elements within Pudemo were clearly pushing for a more robust resistance.

Matsebula claimed that this newspaper's report played into the Swaziland government's hands, giving it the "smoking gun" it needed to prop up its weak treason case, due to resume later this month, against 16 Pudemo and Swayoco members accused of a bombing campaign a year ago.

He warned that our story could be used as an excuse for a violent government crackdown over Christmas.

But former unionist turned Prime Minister Obed Dlamini, currently chief parliamentary whip, warned the government against using violence against dissenting voices but rather engage them in genuine negotiations - a key Pudemo demand.

According to the Times of Swaziland, Dlamini said: "It is fundamental that cabinet establish a committee to urgently advise Their Majesties on the paramount importance of having democracy in Swaziland."


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3572504**

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