IS SWAZILAND GUN TOTING OR GUN RUNNING?

IS SWAZILAND PREPARING FOR A WAR? … AND IF SO, AGAINST WHO?

According to the times of Swaziland (online), dated 27-06-2013, a huge cargo plane landed at Matsapha International airport to deliver new weaponry that has been purchased by Swaziland Defence Force (USDF). According to sources from within the security forces, the times of Swaziland was able to ascertain that the cargo included firearms and other military hardware. It is said that the cargo arrived at around 3PM and was met by a heavy security detail consisting of the army and the police force. The arrival of the plane was said to be top secret.



Members of the Swaziland police and correctional services
unleashing fury on a protester in Manzini Swaziland

Due to Swaziland’s modest aviation industry apparently the ‘huge’ plane drew the attention of members of the public and the airport staff. The plane gazers were prevented by the soldiers from getting any closer to what is a rare sight in Swaziland. Journalists were ordered to leave the premises and warned against snapping any mementos with their cameras.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Sobantu Dlamini confirmed that the plane had come to deliver security equipment for the army, but profusely refused to offer further specifics on the equipment citing security reasons and further refused to give the name of the country where the equipment originated.

Not so long ago three of Swaziland’s chiefs of the three security arms, which is the correctional services, the police and the army, received two state of the art custom fitted BMWs each. These are the leaders that are called upon to quash dissent whenever the people of Swaziland take to the streets to protest against the repressive Swazi regime. Not to insinuate that high ranking officials should not be suited with fitting transportation but knowing the laws of give and take of the Swazi regime, it becomes very concerning when the henchmen get pampered.


It took teachers more than a month of marching and protesting on the streets to be denied a 4.5% salary increase. Just after snubbing the teachers, the government of Swaziland gave junior police officers a whopping 30% increase on their salaries. Not to discourage decent pay for the Swazis in navy blue, it is very concerning when the baton wielder, and the trigger puller is given what seems to be an incentive to further the brutality on a repressed people.

Swaziland is a country at peace with all its neighbours and due to its size geographically and economically there doesn’t seem to be any chance that it would one day be cocky enough to challenge one of its much stronger neighbours to a fight. It then defeats reason why this tiny kingdom would year on year increasingly spend a reasonable chunk of its budget for security purposes. Swaziland’s overspending on security comes at the expense of an already ailing education sector and an underfunded health sector where at times hospitals run for lengthy periods without basic medication. As the last absolute monarchy in Africa, the aspect of stupidity can be ruled out for such a seemingly wasteful spending.

Why is Mswati 111’s regime spending so much on security when it is not at war with any country?

To watch the brutality and the cruelty that the Swazi regime visits on members of banned  political parties and civic organisations when protesting against its repression, would then be to find the reason for the Swazi regime’s obsession with security  of which at times borders paranoia.

Some Career political analysts have ruled out the possibility of a war anytime soon in Swaziland as they seem to lack confidence in the resilience of the Swazi activist, citing overindulgence in intellectualism on the part of the activist and zero indulgence in the actual mass mobilisation. It is unclear as to where the career analyst harvests such 'reliable' information as to arrive to such a confident conclusion considering that it is the Swazi regime that has access and control to the information.

Regardless of the integrity of the academic analyst’s analysis or the intellectualism and practicality of the Swazi activist, one thing is crystal clear, and that the Swazi regime has identified a threat, real or not real, and that sooner than later Swaziland will be either involved in a war or a genocide, and the relentless fortification of its artillery is proof enough.

 Politics of the Swazi regime have time and again proved that when it gives an incentive, it has already put in place mechanisms for the incentive to be earned. The junior police that is given a 30% salary increase out of the blue, and is on a daily basis taught how to prey on protesters like the lion cub being taught by the lioness that other animals are not playthings but food, will one day have to earn the 30%, either out of gratitude or out of having finally reached the ultimate killer’s instinct. Sooner rather than later the security chiefs, Lieutenant General Sobantu Dlamini of the army, Commissioner Isaac Magagula of the police, and Commissioner Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase of the prisons, will have to pay for the BMWs that they have already been paying and continue to pay with all the torture and the deaths that are perpetrated on their watch. Of late the incentives seem be growing by leaps and bounds, and that can only mean that the ‘ask’ from the regime is growing more cruel.