Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
27 August 2008
Hard on the heels of the signing of the Gender Protocol at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit, Swazi women have challenged King Mswati III on the monarchy's lavish lifestyle in the face of abject poverty and disease.
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South African government is the main backer of the king and his irresponsible lifestyle!
I bet King swati must run for his life if ever the South African government decided to withdraw its support to a feudal government.
Women in Southern Africa and NGOs should first shame Mbeki and his government.
Mbeki is doing the same thing in Zimbabwe propping up the illegitimate rule of criminal Mugabe.
When will pressure be exerted against the SA governemnt to stop backing feudal kings, criminal murderous leaders?
We shouldn’t let these lavish celebrations hide the very real human rights abuses that are taking place in Swaziland. The King rules by decree, political parties are banned and the parliament has no powers. The King selects the Prime Minister. This week police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at marchers protesting for democracy. While the King has a wealth estimated at 200 million US dollars, seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than one US dollar a day. Six in ten people rely on international food aid and four in ten are said to be moving from hunger to starvation. Swaziland also has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. For more information on human rights issues in Swaziland visit my blog at www.swazimedia.blogspot.com
Lord have mercy. Throughout Afroca, fools, murderers, thieves, turturers, rapist and visionless idiots are ruling Africa against the will of the people. I wonder if this idiot called Jim Gama has a brain at all.
We have all these idiots parading as African leaders; no wonder why Africa is not progressing. Majority of your people are sick, hungry and lack education, but you chose to spend huge sum of money on the wives of a premitive self centered king, who has no clue about the will of the people. And yet you see no problem with this.
Jim Gama, the so called traditional prime minister has the audacity to tell the brave progresive women of Swaziland to address their greivances only through men in conformity with Swazi's culture. My question to you, idiot premitive Gama, what is culture if it's useless to the people? Culture and traditions shouldn't be static, because society is not static. We should always modify culture and traditions vis-avis the changing world to meet the needs of the people, else we become extinct. Swazi's do not live in a vacuum.
He sent his wives to U.A.E for shopping: U.A.E. is not what it is by accident, but rather an implemented dream of a wise King who respects his people,and takes their advise seriously.
Swazis women should move with full speed to get rid of these visionless parasites parading as leaders. They've no vision nor any ideas to move the nation foward. They only want to live good and enrich themselves at the expense of the people. Good leaders should always work to enrich the nation and the people instead of themselves. Swazi men have no balls to stand up to this visionless parasitic dictator. These brave women have leadership qualities and should be supported to lead Swaziland out of it's primitive mode.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!