The businessman’s murder that
Victor Gamedze was one of the most powerful men in Swaziland. But his death raises more questions than answers
It was a warm Sunday evening on January 14, still light, when Victor Gamedze pulled into the petrol station that was about to become the scene of his murder. The 52-year-old telecoms tycoon had just watched his beloved Mbabane Swallows, a team he owned and had built into a local footballing powerhouse, beat rivals Manzini Wanderers. It was the last victory he would see.
Two bullets to the side of the head brought a bloody end to the life of a man who had climbed his way to the top of Swazi society — and, in doing so, illuminated the rot at the heart of Swaziland’s royal regime.
Who was Victor Gamedze? Who was behind his murder? And what does his death mean for Africa’s last absolute monarchy?
When you begin digging into the life of Gamedze, a picture emerges of a controversial figure with power — or, more significantly, with access to power. He was a self-made man who worked hard, struck deals and got things done. A businessperson and sports administrator who won friends just as effectively as he made enemies. A man with considerable wealth who could stroll into the royal palace and talk shop with King Mswati III.
So great was his influence that he would regularly visit the offices of the country’s two daily newspapers to discuss how best his public image should be portrayed. His many detractors called this censorship, claiming he had captured the media. His defenders say he was shrewd, suggesting this was just Gamedze working Swaziland’s system to his advantage. A feudal system, it must be said, that is as opaque as it is nepotistic.
Gamedze wasn’t born into Swazi royalty but he did marry into it. His wife, and now widow, Princess Lungile, is a granddaughter of the former king. In Swaziland, Gamedze was often referred to as King Mswati III’s “brother-in-law”.
Swaziland’s royal family is a sprawling and secretive entity but it is well established that Gamedze was close to Mswati. But, as several Swazi commentators said, you can be close to a king but never a friend.
That said, Gamedze was clearly doing something right. At the time of his death, he was a member of the king’s board of trustees, the body that looks after the private and public financial interests of the monarchy.
The king “was probably making money via Victor Gamedze, as he does with most big companies in Swaziland”, says Richard Rooney, a close observer of the country who has been writing the Swazi Media Commentary blog since 2007.
Over the years, Gamedze had also become synonymous with Swaziland football. Besides owning and running Mbabane Swallows, he was the chairperson of the Premier League of Swaziland and vice-president of the National Football Association.
Not bad, all things considered, for a kid from Kalanga, a small village on the outskirts of Siteki in Swaziland’s far-flung eastern region, a stone’s throw from Mozambique and a long way from the bustle of Mbabane, the capital.
When you said the name “Victor” in Swaziland, people knew who you were talking about. When considering his life, what emerges is a dubious and talented man of national recognition who won state tenders, built companies and brought people together through sport — but divided them in opinion.
“It depends on how you knew him,” says John Sicelo Vilane, head of the Media Workers’ Union of Swaziland. “If you happened to know him on the good side then it’s a loss, however, if you knew him on the bad side then it’s some kind of relief.”
This view was echoed by several Swazis.
“The death has divided the country,” said a source speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals. “Some are mourning and some are in a celebratory mood.”
Ackel Zwane, the head of investigations for the daily Swazi Observer newspaper, which is owned by the king, says Gamedze’s death is “a definite loss” for the country.
Zwane, also the Manzini bureau chief for the newspaper, describes Gamedze as a “renowned sports administrator” and tells of how the tycoon was “building inroads in becoming one of Swaziland’s private sector employers” by establishing the country’s second mobile telecommunications company, Swazi Mobile.
Zwane is well aware of Gamedze’s less than salubrious reputation but notes “his personality touched many Swazis through his philanthropy” and “many small and medium enterprises owe their existence to Victor’s assistance”.
Bheki Makhubu, editor of the Nation magazine, thinks Gamedze’s power may have been overstated but doesn’t doubt the effect he had on the country’s business culture.
“I do believe that he had stolen our innocence and had deepened the culture of corruption, cutting corners, [going for] quick-fix solutions without much regard for the law,” says Makhubu, who spent 470 days in jail in 2014 and 2015 after exposing judicial corruption.
Death threats all round
In recent times, much talk about Gamedze revolved around his new company, Swazi Mobile, which is now competing with MTN Swaziland, the local subsidiary of a global telecommunications company, for mobile and data customers. MTN Swaziland previously had a monopoly on them in the country.
Swazi Mobile was “established through corrupt means”, says Zweli Martin Dlamini, 35, a newspaper editor who doubles as a private investigator who fled to South Africa in mid-December 2017. Swazi Mobile “won a cellphone licence, beating other international players in the industry, despite having no experience in the industry”, says Dlamini, who was the editor of Swaziland Shopping, a weekly tabloid that was shut down by the government at the end of last year.
Swaziland Shopping covered the Swazi Mobile deal extensively but it was another story that got Dlamini into serious trouble. In mid-December, he was about to publish a frontpage scoop. The page was ready to go to the printers in Nelspruit, and the headline ran: “Victor Gamedze’s plot to kill King Mswati: Powerful businessman ordered ICT ministry to urgently close this newspaper to prevent this story from reaching public domain”.
But before the paper could be published, Swaziland Shopping was shut down — and, according to the editor, an angry Gamedze phoned Dlamini and issued him with a death threat. It was this threat that forced Dlamini to flee.
Did Dlamini really have information that Gamedze was plotting to kill the monarch? And could this be why Gamedze was killed?
“That article at the time when the newspaper was closed, I was investigating that matter but I had some information — even though I cannot disclose to you the nature of the evidence — but I had some information, that’s what I can tell you,” says Dlamini.
He says the tip-off was more like “intelligence information” and the evidence he had was “very, very true”. Moreover, he says Gamedze “wasn’t [acting] alone”. The connected businessperson was plotting to kill the king with “his mafia”, Dlamini claims.
The smell of mafia around Gamedze was not an invention of Dlamini, even if his newspaper did push the perception that Gamedze was operating his mini-empire as a mafioso might.
“Gamedze dominated in every aspect of Swazi society,” says an analyst who requested anonymity. “He was indeed a person of influence in Swaziland, just like the Guptas are in South Africa.”
The speculation runs deeper, suggesting that Gamedze was competing with other “mafia” figures.
“But, of course, he was executed mafia style, which then raises fears that there might be a mafia now operating in Swaziland and in charge of businesses,” the analyst says.
Other observers are not so sure. They say it is fanciful that Gamedze would want to kill the king, given the assumed financial relationship between the men. If this is true, then why did Swaziland Shopping attempt to publish the story?
Several sources confirmed a perception existed in the kingdom