Swaziland man jailed for making photocopy of royal scandal article

JOHANNESBURG, Wednesday

Police in Swaziland have arrested a man for making photocopies of a newspaper article that detailed a royal sex scandal today.

The Times of Swaziland said 31-year-old Sibusiso Mhlanga was arrested by a plain-clothes police officer who overheard him requesting photocopies of an article from South African newspaper the City Press.

The pro-democracy Swaziland Solidarity Network said the article was one of a series of recent reports about an alleged love affair between the country’s justice minister and one of King Mswati III’s wives.

Police confirmed Mr Mhlanga’s arrest and said he had been charged with copyright violation, The Times reported.
Mr Mhlanga told the paper police had raided his house to find the original article.

“I told the officers that I had got the paper in a rubbish bin while cleaning,” he said.

“But the officers were not satisfied and they took me to my house... where I was raided, but they found nothing.”

The Times said Mr Mhlanga is a member of the banned Swaziland Youth Congress.

Political organisations have been outlawed since 1973 in the small southern African country, which is known for the lavish lifestyles of the 42-year-old king and his 13 wives.

Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba, a childhood friend of the king, resigned last week amid allegations that he had been involved in a love affair with Queen Nothando Dube, Mswati’s 12th wife.

A palace source told AFP that Mr Mamba could be expelled from the impoverished kingdom, while Queen Dube could be confined to her parents’ home. Both could also be fined a herd of cattle, the source said.

Meanwhile, the City Press appears to have been unofficially banned in Swaziland for covering the royal sex scandal.

Swaziland security forces were apparently instructed to buy all copies of the City Press that ran the story over the past two weeks, while at least one person was arrested for making copies of the story.

“There were reports that people could not get the paper last weekend in Swaziland, and our sources...also called on Tuesday asking if we know that we have been banned,” said City Press executive editor Japhet Ncube on Wednesday.

“Our lawyers are looking into this issue and steps will probably be taken if it’s true, otherwise there is no official report on this.”
Spokesperson for the Swaziland chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Swaziland), Mike Motsa, said there was no law the Swaziland authorities could use to ban City Press or any other paper.

“Yes, there are rumours that City Press has been banned from circulation in the kingdom, but I don’t think there is any truth to that. If it is true, we will condemn this and call for the unbanning of the paper based on the fact that there is no legislation calling for banning of newspapers that report negatively about the royal family,” said Motsa on Wednesday.

Sex scandal

Motsa said the only way authorities could stop the circulation of City Press in Swaziland, was by buying all the newspapers when they hit the streets.

According to spokesperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), Lucky Lukhele, a 31-year-old man from Manzini was arrested for making photocopies of the story.

He said the man, Sibusiso Mhlanga, was a member of the banned Swaziland Youth Congress, and was arrested on August 1 on the day the first story about the sex scandal ran in the City Press.

“He was found with copies of the story, which he had made from a regular photocopying machine. Police told him the newspaper had been banned in the country and therefore he was not allowed to duplicate it,” said Mr Lukhele.

He claimed that Mhlanga was questioned as to where he’d got the copy of the paper and why he was making copies of the story.
He said police also interrogated Mhlanga to find out the whereabouts of exiled members of the People’s United Democratic Movement, which is also a banned organisation in the kingdom.

In the end, he was charged under copyright laws.

Meanwhile, the man accused of having sex with Inkosikati LaDube, Ndumiso Mamba, has since resigned as minister of justice and constitutional affairs.

Mr Lukhele has urged Swazi citizens to treat Mamba as an ordinary citizen who has committed no crime.

Ordinary citizen

He said the SSN was investigating unconfirmed reports that Mr Mamba had been rearrested and handed over to the army for interrogation, as a punitive measure.

“While we are in the process of confirming if these reports are true, we urge all comrades to treat Mamba as the ordinary citizen who has committed no crime,” said Mr Lukhele. (AFP)