ALLEGED AUDIO CAUSES UPROAR

MBABANE – A voice recording of people purportedly plotting to murder SNUS President Colani Maseko, and frame SWAYOCO President Sakhile ‘Aw’viva’ Nxumalo for it, has caused an uproar in social and political circles.
People who took the recording at face value concluded that the army had a case to answer for the alleged rogue methods of investigation that could potentially sustain the political unrest. Besides being President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, Maseko is also a SWAYOCO member, which affiliates to the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). SWAYOCO stands for Swaziland Youth Congress.

In the controversial recording, a voice of a man alleged to be a top army general is heard analysing, in a presumed conversation with others, that the army would send text messages from Maseko’s phone to Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko (before he was killed) as well as to Bishop Mpendulo Nkambule, asking for their protection from Nxumalo and other PUDEMO members.

Conspiring

The alleged plot was that he would report Nxumalo for allegedly conspiring to do harm to him on allegations that he had sabotaged the work of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SIFS). The meeting is presumed to have been held before Thulani was shot dead. The voice recording surfaced at a time when there were global calls for an independent investigation into the murder of Thulani.

The Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF), of which Thulani was Chairperson, yesterday said it was appalled by the contents of the leaked recording. MSF’s Sikelela Dlamini said his organisation had received the recording and the reports but was yet to meet and deliberate on the issue given its far reaching implications.

Resolutions

“We are advocating for peaceful resolutions and believe that all issues have to be resolved through dialogue. It is sad that while we are calling for that, suddenly there are reports, such as these, that have emerged attributing such atrocities to law enforcement agencies,” he added. Dlamini said the implications were that emaSwati were not free in their country.

Meanwhile, social media users said the recording undermined the investigations that had been made by the country’s security forces leading to the arrest of political activists who were charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.
Others said from the recording, interesting leads could be drawn on the death of the Human Rights Lawyer Maseko.
A shocked Facebooker commented: “Let the Members of Parliament take this matter to debate it in the House because it’s a matter of national security. If they are useful, let them speak on this one.”  

Many other social media users called for the verification of the authenticity of the voice clip prior to it being used in any other way. “It would be quite unfortunate if such a clip is legit, but there must be some form of verification prior to it being assumed to be authentic. Otherwise, the contents are appalling,” another said. Another called for the army to clear its name by providing proof that the voice of the person was not one of their own.“I certainly don’t have an idea how you will go about doing that, you need to clear your name,” said a social media user.

Meanwhile, the Swazis First Democratic First (SFDF) said the leaked audio was confirmation that the security agents were behind the assassination of activists. The party’s Secretary General Gift Dlamini said the recording had also thrown into doubt utterances by Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini, that there was no political stalemate in the country.

“Lamentably, violence breeds violence and the consequences are always dire for both sides,” he said. Dlamini said the ruling regime must make up its mind and dialogue with the mass democratic movement (MDM) as represented in the MSF, Political Parties Assembly (PPA) and other groupings that are currently in the diaspora. He said this should put an end to “what President Jacob Zuma referred to as ‘a Dlamini killing a Dlamini’.” He warned that the political stalemate would not go away by itself, but that the regime and the MDM needed to heed former President Zuma’s advice and go to the round table as a matter of urgency.

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