By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Prince Sicalo,the Principal Secretary(PS) in the Ministry of Defense and State Security allegedly employed Channel S journalist Kimberly Mavuso as a soldier and, subsequently deployed him back to the media to spy political activists and Cabinet Ministers.

Mavuso recently passed-out and went back to the newsroom at Channel S as a newsreader, he is among soldiers who were deployed in the media including Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services(EBIS) and Eswatini TV among others.

Information sourced from the Army Data System at Nokwane suggests that, Mavuso is not the first one to be deployed in the media as a spy or State Intelligence agent, between 1996 and 1999,Makepeace Maseko who was based at Mdzimba Central Intelligence Army Base, was working for Eswatini TV.

The list of State spies is being analysed by this Swaziland News and others will be exposed in due course with evidence substantiating that, they are not journalists but soldiers.

But this week, Kimberly Mavuso who was allegedly assisted by Defense Principal Secretary Prince Sicalo to secure the job in the army, was nominated by journalists to serve as an Executive member of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists(SNAJ).

It has been disclosed that, he was strategically nominated to monitor the affairs of the association of journalists and report back to the Army Intelligence Unit at Nokwane Headquarters.

The strategic planting of spies in the media is common even in Zimbabwe where security officers are deployed to work as journalists to enable them to interact with the people and in the process, spy the unsuspecting opposition while pretending to be conducting interviews.

When asked by this Swaziland News on Thursday evening to clarify if “he is a soldier or a journalist”, Mavuso denied being employed as a soldier.

“I am a journalist not a soldier, I’ve never been a soldier,” he said.

But this Swaziland News will be publishing a series of evidence linking Mavuso to the army, despite working for Channel S, he is getting paid by Government as a soldier.

The alleged State Intelligence spy is normally deployed to interview Cabinet Ministers, Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini and other high profile people, he then compile an intelligence report and send to the Army Headquarters at Nokwane.

It is has been disclosed that, as a State Intelligence spy, “one of his assignments is to monitor the performance of Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini and the tension within Cabinet”.

Efforts to reach Defense Principal Prince Sicalo proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

Despite being a soldier, Mavuso was hoping to be elected to the Executive Committee of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists(SNAJ) so that, he can hold a powerful position in the media and be in a central and better position to monitor the affairs of the country including spying journalists and those in power.

http://www.swazilandnews.co.za/fundza.php?nguyiphi=8292