During a breakfast meeting with members of the Editors Forum, State journalist Welcome Dlamini asked Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini if Government was working with South Africa in making sure that Swazis allegedly hiding in SA whom he accused of instigating violence were brought to book.
As a former member of the Swaziland Editors Forum National Executive Committee(NEC),I am aware that State controlled journalists are forced to forward questions to the Prime Minister before any breakfast meeting.
This is done through the office of the Government Spokesperson and the purpose is to avoid or prevent State journalists from asking sensitive questions that might expose the Government.
Furthermore, I have documented proof suggesting that Attorney General(AG) Sifiso Khumalo, Foreign Affairs Minister Thulie Dladla, Justice Minister Pholile and other high ranking Government officials have been trying their luck with the South African Government to have me extradited to eSwatini.
In fact the extradition attempt to have me grabbed from South Africa to eSwatini was started in 2020, at the time, State controlled journalists were excited, writing articles saying by June 2020, I would be behind bars in eSwatini.
But let me remind Welcome Dlamini and other State journalists who have been supporting Mswati’s Government when persecuting me that they are not dealing with a toddler here but another journalist who knows almost all the dirty tricks of this regime.
Umbutfo Welcome Dlamini’s question, like all questions from the State controlled journalists was allegedly forwarded to Cabinet before the breakfast meeting and it was strategically intended to intimidate me so that I could live in fear of an extradition.
Furthermore, it should be noted that Welcome Dlamini was posing questions to the Prime Minister who doubles as a Minister of the Police who allegedly killed civilians.
But because the State journalist is an enemy of the people and a darling of the regime, he opted to assist the Government in intimidating the voices of the masses through an extradition instead of demanding accountability or an investigation into the ongoing killing of civilians.
An extradition cannot be influenced by a mere opinion of a low minded captured journalist, it comes after a long legal process and the accused is afforded an opportunity to assembly his legal team and defend himself in court.
Perhaps, let me bring to the attention of this regime and all those working towards making sure that we are arrested in South Africa and extradited so that we could be killed in prison that securing an extradition is not as easy as selecting Liphovela as Mswati does to vulnerable young girls.
An extradition application goes through various legal processes, its even more easier to oppose it if the person, in this case King Mswati, or the Government seeking it has a track record of killing people.
The tendency of using the captured media to mislead and intimidate the people as if an extradition is easy like drinking Buganu or ‘abducting’ Liphovela to be Mswati’s wife is misguided, South Africa is a democratic country that subscribes to the principles of the rule of law.
It would be historic and more easier to defend an extradition application filed by Mswati because there is enough evidence that the King is an alleged serial killer.
As mentioned in one of my previous articles, when police officers and soldiers kill civilians, State journalists like Welcome defend the King, only to accuse human rights defenders of instigating violence.
It should be noted that this country is in the midst of a political unrest, citizens are being killed, therefore strong language is normal in the midst of a war.
In light of the aforementioned, let me once again remind those who expect us to romance Mswati and his regime while our relatives are being killed that they must just back-off.
King Mswati