The Libellous Drivel of the Nation Magazine

Swazi Solidarity Network

12 May 2011

press release

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) wishes to reply to the petty and personal but very ignorant attack on the organisation’s spokes person by the owner and editor of the Swazi Nation Magazine, Bheki Makhubu.

Makhubu’s attack is completely libellous, publishing unresearched articles is second nature to him. The first thing that requires clarification on that narcissistic petty article that he wrote is the issue of donor funds because it attacks the integrity of our organisation.

SSN, unlike other organizations, is not funded by donors. It’s very unique structure enables it to function using funds from its affiliate organisations only.

This information is freely available on our online website and any serious journalist would take the time to read through these documents before telling blatant lies to the Swazi public. Ironically, telling lies is the very same thing that he accuses our organisation of.

What our spokesperson, Lucky Lukhele, said on that radio programme that the magazine editor is alluding to was a fact based analysis and any logical thinking person would have no problem comprehending it.

The monarchy has been given more than enough time to pre-empt discussions on handing power back to the people of Swaziland. This is how it would have ensured its survival as an institution. Moreover, it would have prevented it from having any blood on its hands as a result of desperately attempting to cling on to power against an ever increasing tide of marginalised masses.

If people are forced to a position of having to take this matter into their own hands by militant ways as we have observed in recent years then they will not be compromising. They will be there to take over, not to elevate a brutal and murderous institution into a deity.

That Swazis are already embracing the possibility of a nation without the king is an old story. There are countless debates on newspapers and cyberspace written by ordinary Swazis calling for a Republic.

To even imagine that Swazis cannot fathom themselves living in the kind of society that more than eighty percent of the world’s population live in is to present them as being intellectually stunted and devoid of political imagination. This is the most paternalistic train of thought that ever crossed anyone’s mind.

There are many Swazis who hold the view that the time for a Democratic of Swaziland is the best solution for the country. They articulate this view through their social networks like Facebook because it is the one media tool that remains uncensored. Recently their debates have even spilled over to the national dailies. This leaves us questioning whether the Nation Editor even bothers to read newspapers.

Publications like magazines have the advantage of having time to read and listen to the media from all over the country and then reflecting on it over time before presenting an analysis of it.

That the magazine misses the views of those advocating for a Republic suggests that it is either slacking in its job or it has taken a political stand and wants to present a one dimensional image of progressive thought in the country. Either scenario would be ironic for someone who accuses progressive formations of failing in their mission to liberate the country.

It is pretty interesting to note that Mr. Makhubu totally ignores the false statements that were uttered by the Minister of Foreign affairs, Lutfo Dlamini, on South African radio and chooses instead to insult our spokesperson for his accurate analysis. He further portrays him as contesting for leadership. Such a petty personal diatribe is unbecoming of a national magazine.

When a national magazine fails to inform its readers of factual occurrences in their country and cannot even spark debate, it becomes nothing but a corporate billboard, it’s only raison d’etre being to provide advertising space for the country’s myriad of companies most of which are owned by the very monarchy that Mr. Makhubu has found a sudden love for, more than a decade after it unceremoniously led to his downfall as the editor of the most widely read newspaper in the country.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network continues to affirm its founding principles of providing all necessary assistance to democracy seeking Swazis in their wide range of political beliefs. Such petty personal and totally unconstructive criticism like that by Mr Makhubu are not going to demoralise that mission, instead they galvanise us into further action as they clearly indicate that the Swazi struggle has very limited friends in the Swazi media.

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