IS THIS XENOPHOBIA?
Crackdown on illegal aliens may be legitimate, but it has uncomfortable echoes because of Swaziland’s record on human rights and the rule of law
Long ago I vowed not to visit Swaziland under its present system of government. This is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, with an appalling record on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and its exploitation of the poor to finance the lavish lifestyle of the royal family reflects this.
But there are people who head to Swaziland from halfway around the world and “fall in love” with the place — so much so that, if the country’s specialised counterterrorism and organised crime unit is to be believed, they actually forge the royal signature on their citizenship application documents.
Dilawar Hussain is being investigated for exactly this offence. He is one of four Swazi “citizens”, originally from Pakistan, suspected of fraud, forgery and breaches of immigration and citizenship laws. While three of the group have been given bail, the high court in Mbabane recently ordered Hussain to stay in custody pending trial.
Hussain’s story is that when he arrived in Swaziland in February 2003 it was love at first sight. Wanting to become a “permanent citizen”, he discovered that he needed to khonta, or participate in the traditional process of swearing allegiance to a Swazi chief.
He was correct. According to the Swaziland government website, requirements for citizenship applications include a “khonta letter from [a] chief and [a] resident’s permit or khonta certificate”.
But the police say that the khonta certificates of Hussain and the other three are forgeries, and that he is a flight risk who should not be given bail. Some of those being investigated by the police have already disappeared, believed to have left the country. They could help Hussain do likewise if he were to be let out of prison.
The police say Hussain has at least seven passports of various kinds — the implication being that he was up to no good and could easily leave the country. There is also evidence that he had bribed a home affairs official to issue him with a Swazi passport in 2015.
In his submission, Hussain says that as part of his love affair with Swaziland, he has set up operations in the country, one of which, Mali Investments, involves a R1m wholesale furniture business. His children attend local schools, and he has given up his Pakistani citizenship as he is now committed to Swaziland only.
What is actually going on here? Perhaps Hussain and others like him are Swaziland’s equivalent of the Gupta family, targeting a country they believe is ripe for exploitation, then establishing government contacts that may later prove useful, initially engaging in low-level fraud and corruption, but with an eye on a far bigger future prize.
Significant bribes
Or maybe the real exploiters are greedy Swazi officials: government investigators discovered that businesspeople travelling to Europe and the US on “Asian” passports experienced such difficulties that they were willing to pay significant bribes for Swazi travel documents.
Or perhaps there is xenophobia at work. For example, Swazi media reports from 2012 indicate that government officials were going after hundreds of “Asian” businesspeople who “exploited loopholes” in legislation and corruption on the board responsible for considering citizenship applications. One report from that time quoted the then home affairs minister, controversial Chief Prince Gcokoma, as saying most of those being investigated were “Asian” people who “owned shops in towns, hamlets and prime space in the city”. They had begun to “encroach into rural areas” where they were running grocery stores.
“We want to weed them out,” he declared.
Swaziland’s judiciary is not universally respected for its impartiality and against all this background you have to ask: when Hussain’s matter comes to court, will he get a fair trial? Or will that depend on who hears the case?
Swazi media reports from 2012 indicate that officials were going after ‘Asian’ businesspeople