KING MSWATI BAN MANDELA PRAYERS

About 30 armed police raided the Lutheran Church in Manzini, Swaziland’s main business city, and stopped people attending a prayer service to mark the life of Mandela. We at the Swazi Vigil were shocked by the reaction of Mswati towards one of Africas Greatest Son Madiba., Such behaviour fired us to go and share our condolences with the South Africans outside the South Africa House in London. Led by the baritone voice of Sandile Ndlangamadla we sang “..asimbonanga ..u .. Mandela thina lapha khona....”

Late on Wandile Ndlangamandla, the Swazi Vigil spokesperson had this to say ‘We are alarmed at this wanton disregard for human rights and failure to honour the memory of Nelson Mandela. We condemn this in the most strongest of terms. It is an insult to what Nelson Mandela stood for and clearly shows that the Swazi regime cannot hide its disgust for anything resembling democracy.

Police storm cinema that revealed Swaziland King’s riches

Cinema-goers have been forced out of a theatre to stop them finding out how King Mswati III can afford private jets and palaces shaped “like cakes from outer space”. Brandishing batons and teargas, riot police in Swaziland threatened to beat anyone who was not out in five minutes, prompting a stampede for the door. They then interrogated the owner of the building for three hours and took away his licence before closing down the cinema in Manzini.

Aids orphans starve as African king blows £300m

Care for 100,000 of Swaziland’s most vulnerable children is close to collapse while the monarch splashes out on an unused international airport

The king of Swaziland whose impoverished country is on the brink of bankruptcy has spent £300m on a lavish international airport condemned as a “folly” . A financial crisis coupled with the huge drain on his exchequer caused by the airport has forced King Mswati III, one of the world’s last absolute monarchs, to make savage cuts in spending on schools and orphans.

Last week his government failed to pay more than £6.3m in grants promised to children orphaned by Aids. Most schools have been shut because of a lack of funds. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the crisis has reached a “critical stage” and that orphan care is on the brink of collapse.

WANDILE NDLANGAMANDLA