One Cabinet Minister told me that,Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo is hardly in the office and when asked; he always justifies that he is working from home where there’s a TV as he must always monitor news and what is being reported about the country and Government so he can respond on an informed perspective.
But Nxumalo is always at loggerheads with the Prime Minister and according to the Minister, when Russell Dlamini was appointed, Government officials rushed to greet him however, the Government Spokesperson snubbed the PM until Russell asked why he did not meet him.
Both Nxumalo and Russell Dlamini are arrogant and like to be treated as Very Important Persons(VIPs) hence I wasn’t surprised when the Minister narrated this story of an alleged clash in political egos.
The Government Spokesperson is alleged to have said; “Bengsabuka kutsi banengi labeta kuwe Mhlonishwa NdvunaNkhulu batokuvusela batotetfula, bengitsi ngisetawuta ngitokuvusela nami nasoncono kuba busy”.
When the Mpumalanga High Court issued an order which Government thought was in favour of Cabinet and the entire Government, Nxumalo celebrated thinking that was a victory.
I then clarified that, no Government official will ever receive three(3) days before responding to questionnaires because this publication has Advocates who are able to interpret court orders, legal battles remain the game of lawyers and Advocates.
Deputy Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli was then assigned to respond to this Swaziland News, he was referred to as the “Acting Government Spokesperson” while Nxumalo was still in Office because Nxumalo was afraid of the embarrassment of being seen responding to this publication after he blew a trumpet saying he will never respond.
In politics, you never say never, if Alpheous Nxumalo can know all the people who support this publication with information in Cabinet and even within the royal family, maybe he can collapse.
We wouldn’t have accessed sensitive State information and even electronic recordings of a Prime Minister if we were working in isolation, Alpheous Nxumalo failed to defend Government thinking before he retires, this publication would have long been buried.
It’s true that,Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini is facing his own troubles amid corruption allegations but Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo must not parade himself as if,he is still relevant in Cabinet, the press statement released on Monday was not even written by him but his name was only used to communicate an official statement, in principle, we can say “it was released by him”.
Nxumalo cannot defend the Prime Minister because he lost relevance by disregarding his core mandate to defend Government and went on to attack a journalist and an online publication that is widely followed.
That he chooses to even respond to articles published by this publication indirectly means for the duration of his employment contract, he has been struggling to bury the Swaziland News and will leave office while the independent media is still standing.
Government previously responded to Swaziland News articles officially, today the Office of the Government Spokesperson is responding, tomorrow “the same Office is refusing to respond” and all this, demonstrates the confusion that Alpheous Nxumalo landed himself-in.
Even if we can publish highly sensitive articles about Mswati, his Spokesperson Percy Simelane never involve emotions but “addresses the issue through an appropriate response because he understands that, there’s no way you can stop the Swaziland News from publishing even if you can keep quiet, we will publish”.
It is therefore, Alpheous Nxumalo who weakened the PM, the Government Spokesperson was supposed to advise the Prime Minister that avoiding to respond does not stop the publication of articles.
As a result, Russell Mmiso found himself ‘without a Spokesperson’ because all we normally do, we send questions on his cellphone and then publish if he doesn’t respond and he will do nothing about that because as a Prime Minister,he must account to the public.
Russell Dlamini is allegedly corrupt to the core and there’s no way a Prime Minister can bully Cabinet Ministers to push a corrupt and then demonstrate arrogance towards the media when questioned.
As for Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, he must know that as a journalist, I have electronic recordings of the Prime Minister where he was engaging in corruption, the recordings we released were just a quarter(1/4) of what is in possession of this publication.
This means Alpheous Nxumalo will soon release more press statements trying to defend a corrupt arrogant Prime Minister, at the end, he will leave Office after weakening the PM.
As a leader of Government, once you have a weak but prideful Spokesperson, you are likely to have all your weaknesses exposed because the person who must defend you thinks he is doing a favour when responding to journalists.
But as journalists, we lose absolutely nothing if one decide not to respond to allegations, the dissemination of news will not be stopped by arrogant politicians.
Russell Dlamini deprived himself an opportunity to respond thinking that, we will be intimidated, you cannot steal public funds and expect journalists to worship you.
That vague statement released on Monday, trying to address articles published by the Swaziland News is another confusion by the Office of the Government Spokesperson, we will continue to hold His Excellency the Right Honorable Prime Minister accountable.
You can’t sabotage a Cabinet Minister tasked with addressing the shortage of drugs in public hospitals and then call that a “normal disagreement”, it’s a normal disagreement while members of the public dying in public hospitals?.
What a shame!!!.
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini.