BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Government accommodates people with dissenting voices in the country.
This was said by Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo yesterday when speaking to South Africa’s Television Station, Newsroom Afrika. Nxumalo was responding to question posed by the television station, based on an interview it had with Swaziland News Editor Zweli Martin Dlamini.
During the interview, which was played by Newsroom Afrika when having a conversation with Nxumalo, Dlamini told Newsroom Afrika that Eswatini Government used the Suppression of Terrorism Act to clamp down on people (including journalists) who had dissenting voices against the Government.
Dlamini further said terrorism was an international problem which every country in the world was fighting, after being advised by the United Nations (UN). The UN, Dlamini said, encouraged countries to put legislations in place to fight terrorism. However, some countries, such as Eswatini, used the terrorism legislations to clamp down on dissenting voices.
Nxumalo responded to that interview by saying it was fortunate that Dlamini was the one saying terrorism fight was required by the UN. So he could not conveniently say the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008 was used to silence dissenting voices. “There are many people of dissenting voices in this country, who do not only agree with the system of governance in place, but also do not agree with the manner in which our Government takes decisions,” Nxumalo said.
Nxumalo further said: “We are accommodating everyone in the country because Emaswati think differently. Emaswati are intellectuals and that is why many of those plying their trade outside the country are holding high ranking offices.” He said such people could not be bottled and made to think alike. Nxumalo viewed Dlamini’s sentiments as not true, but an unjustified excuse for doing what he termed as terrorism.
The Governemnt mouthpiece told Newsroom Afrika that the terrorism was the reason why they approached the Mpumalanga High Court in South Africa, in an effort to get Dlamini to answer on his alleged involvement in terrorism acts, which resulted in many people dying in the country, especially during the 2021 unrest. Nxumalo said Dlamini had committed acts he described as terrorist, through the Swaziland News publication, which he also described as a terrorist publication.
Nxumalo alleged that Dlamini perpetrated acts which led to the murder of security officers, chiefs and other Emaswati in the country. Nxumalo also alleged that Dlamini was also promising to reward those who would murder Emaswati. He also accused Dlamini of making allegations against the authorities in the country, which he said were very seditious. Nxumalo said the parties were supposed to appear in court on February 13, but that could not happen, as Dlamini had no legal representative. The matter had to be postponed to February 26 this year.
