EXPOSED: Swaziland News Terrorism in detail

This is detailed proof that Swaziland News and it’s founding editor Zweli Martin Dlamini promote terrorism and effectively obstruct justice in Eswatini.

SWAZILAND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORCES

The Solidarity Forces is a group which is committed to sporadic bombings and killings as a means to “fight for the freedom of Eswatini”. By any definition, they are terrorists in their actions and their words. This group has been active for about a year, and has been collaborating with Swaziland News and its editor Zweli Martin Dlamini since the beginning. This document is to detail exactly how this group is clearly a terrorist group, and how Swaziland News and Zweli Martin Dlamini are collaborating with the group beyond what is ethical or journalistic in standards — let alone what is legal.

Some members of the Solidarity Forces exposed

SWAZILAND NEWS

Swaziland News is an online publication by Zweli Martin “Zwemart” Dlamini. It was founded in 2018 by self-exiled Dlamini. The newspaper primarily reports anything that promotes a negative perception of the Kingdom of Eswatini and the King Mswati III. However, since 2021, the online newspaper has been promoting acts of violence, lawlessness, and terrorism. Here are examples of news articles that have been published by Swaziland News which promote these acts:

EXAMPLES OF SWAZILAND NEWS COLLABORATING WITH TERRORISTS

1. ESWATINI UNREST: Soldier shot and killed solidarity forces at night (link) — February 22 2022.

• This story involves the admission that the editor knows the name of the “Commander” of the “solidarity forces”.
• The story also includes a comment by the “Solidarity Forces” that they will continue with such activity.
• The story also includes the fact that the “Solidarity Forces” admitted to the newspaper that they have a hit list of people they are planning to kill to destabilise the government.

2. Mswati’s Forces invade homes at Kwaluseni, Mbikwakhe in search for Solidarity Forces who Shot Warders (link) — 21 February 2022

• This story includes a direct comment where “Solidarity Forces” admit that they fired shots in a public space with citizens including children.
• The article also clarifies that this is meant to continue.

3. Mswati blasts National Commissioner, questions why police fail to arrest Solidarity Forces — 24 February 2022

• In this article, the “Commander” of the Solidarity Forces once again promises that they will continue to attack the police and take their weapons to use for further violence.

4. Solidarity Forces shot police officers at night, Luve Inkhundla Petrol Bombed — 27 February 2022

• In this article, the “Commander” of Solidarity Forces is quoted as saying “It’s true that we attacked a police van at Mncozini around 12 midnight, we also bombed Luve Inkhundla”
• The article also says “The Commander said whenever they saw a police car at night, they would just open fire and then grab guns adding that the weapons would then be used to arm the citizens for a battle that is coming.”

5. Car belonging to police officer who persecuted a journalist burnt by Solidarity Forces 24 hours after purchase — 5 March 2022

• The writer of the article, editor Zweli Martin Dlamini, says “As a result, the country is slowly turning into a State of lawlessness as citizens in collaboration with the international solidarity forces have resorted to targeting police officers.” An admission that he’s working with the so-called Solidarity Forces.
• The article concludes with yet another threat — “the Commander of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF) warned police officers against shooting and killing civilians adding that they will now attack the police personally.”

5. King Mswati’s Inyatsi Bombed by Solidary Forces again, over E2 million machinery destroyed. — 7 March 2022

• The writer of the article confirms that Swaziland News has a video of the attack, and yet it has never been shared — which implies that they are protecting the identities of the people in the video, which is essentially withholding evidence from the law in an arson case.
• The story also includes an admission by the Solidarity Forces that they coerced and endangered civilians working as security guards that night — the same people they claim to be fighting for. The “Commander” of the terrorist group is quoted as saying “we forced the security guards to bomb the machinery. We were training them how to bomb for the battles that lie ahead”

6. State-owned radio employees attempted to burn station, building. — 12 March 2022

• This article admits that Swaziland News editor knows the identity of the person(s) who willingly endangered a lot of Emaswati working in the radio station.
• The article also goes to quote the arsonist admitting that they will try again — which means that Swaziland News is promoting these actions by not alerting the authorities of the impending threat.

7. SOLIDARITY FORCES: Killed soldier bragged about killing of civilian in a bar. — 14 March 2022

• This brags about an exclusive interview where a member of the Solidarity Forces says “We received information that there was a soldier who was drunk, bragging that he killed civilians and we rushed there to shoot him.”
• The writer of the article, Zweli Martin Dlamini says, “The team of Solidarity Forces said they were ready to target anything or anyone seen to be against civilians”. This is a dangerous support of lawless violence where violence is used on anyone who “seems” to be against civilians.

8. Solidarity Forces Commander issues urgent command, orders all buses to stop operating by 3pm on Tuesday — 15 March 2022

• This article quotes the “Commander” threatening civilians with violence: “After 3pm, I will instruct the forces to monitor these buses and any businessperson who still loves his bus and any commuter who values his or her life must refrain from using a bus after 3pm today. These buses would be stopped along the road anytime at gunpoint and be burnt”
• The writer of the article, Zweli Martin Dlamini says that the name of the “Commander” will not be revealed for ethical reasons — which is ironic considering that the person he is protecting is threatening to harm people for merely riding public buses.
• This article is the only platform where the “command” was issued, which effectively makes Swaziland News public relations officers for the Solidarity Forces.

9. State broadcaster transmission equipment at Ntondozi bombed, ground forces told not to touch MTN — 29 March 2022

• This article quotes the group leader of the people who bombed transmission equipment, bragging about the “exclusive”.
• The story also clarifies that the people who are being protected by Swaziland News are trying to blackout communication by transmission towers in the country, which is a dangerous situation for any country.

10. PRESS STATEMENT: SWAZILAND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORCES — 26 March 2022

• This is actually a press statement published only on Swaziland News which warns the public of fraud related to the Solidarity Forces.
• The statement also says “We therefore appeal to any peace loving and democracy aspiring citizen, both in Swaziland and diaspora, who may have fallen victim to these thieving scheme to alert the Editor of Swaziland news. The Editor of Swaziland News will provide those details to us and we promise to swiftly act to bring such actions to an immediate end.”

Given that the Solidarity Forces is a violent organisation which has killed people and bragged about it, it is not journalism to work with that organisation to punish corruption with violence.

• The statement also says that “For those wishing to contribute, in whatever way, to the activities of SISF, they should alert the Editor of Swaziland News who has contact of the Commander.” This means that Swaziland News actively supports and collaborates with the Solidarity Forces as they continue bombing, burning, shooting in public, as well as killing people.

11. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SOLIDARITY FORCES: Our target is to kill over 200 Police Officers by Freedom Day — 13 March 2022
In this article, the Swaziland News admits that they have had an exclusive arrangement with the Solidarity Forces since they started. They say “The interview was arranged by the Commander who has been speaking to this publication ever since the operation started, he said based on the previous accurate articles and trust developed with this editor, members of the forces agreed to be interviewed.”
In this interview, the Solidarity forces confirm their terroristic intentions and to target a specific individual as part of the 200 police they plan to murder. They say ““Even after Freedom Day, we will rather break the law and commit a crime, that one must die, he killed many civilians. But I don’t see him surviving and he must be amongst the over two hundred(200) and if he survives, we will continue trying even after Freedom Day”
This same article also comes with the admission from its author, Zweli Martin Dlamini, that he met with members of the Solidarity Forces.

12. REPORT ON SWAZILAND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORCES ATTEMPTING TO KILL POLICE STATION COMMANDER — 21 March 2022

In this article, Zweli Dlamini and his Swaziland News publication again displayed that he was working closely with this group known as the Solidarity Forces as he reported that they had carried out an attack on the house of Station Commander Assistant Superintendent Bheka Mabuza whom they attempted to kill.

He even stated in this report that members of the Solidarity Forces had warned relatives, children and girlfriends of police officers not to sleep in the same room with them to avoid being mistakenly killed when they arrived.

In this article, the Commander of the Solidarity Forces is quoted saying this: “We wanted to kill him but we couldn’t find him in the house and because the forces were already inside the house, we tried to burn it as an alternative but we were disturbed by the police that emerged. We want to make it clear that this is an ongoing operation targeting all police officers who killed civilians, that we have failed to get him doesn’t mean we won’t try again.”

This is clearly promoting the activities of the so–called Soladarity Forces that is carrying out terrorist activities within the Kingdom of Eswatini by staging attacks on civillians and police officers.

13. DESIGN LOGO FOR SWAZILAND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FORCES — 29 March 2022

To put a stamp on the fact that he is working with, and promoting the activities of the Solidarity Forces, Zweli Dlamini and Swaziland News published an article where members of the public were invited to design a logo for the group. It was reported in the article that the person whose design would be chosen would win a prize of E5000. In this story, Zweli quoted a spokesperson of the Solidarity Forces assuring the p[ublic thatthey were working tirelessly to speed up their liberation and were carrying bombings to send a message to the Eswatini Monarchy that they werre borning anything that will be interpreted as a direct attack on him.

14. EXCLUSIVE PICTURES OF THE INSIDE OF A HOUSE BEING EVACUATED PRE-BOMBING

https://twitter.com/SwaziNews/status/1509999647351353359
On the above tweet, Swaziland News shows a minor packing up clothes in a house that about to be bombed by Swaziland International Solidarity Forces. They purpot that they have “Inside pictures and exclusive videos in possession of this Swaziland News suggest that relatives of MP Scorpion Nxumalo were given few minutes by bombers to take few clothes and vacate the house that was subsequently bombed.”

This suggests that they have the knowledge of at least one contact who was involved in the bombing. However, as they continuously admit in their coverage of the Solidarity Forces, they know and work with the group which is proud to bomb the country in the name of democracy.

15. Bus Belonging to Mswati’s Sihlangu Semnikati National football team bombed next to the palace — 27 March 2022
This article contains yet another exclusive admission by Swaziland News that they spoke with the Solidarity Forces who confirmed that “It’s true that we have bombed the bus, but we consider these as minor bombings, we have major targets and we will attack more in the coming days,”.

16. Woman takes over top Commanding position within ground forces, urgently looking for more soldiers who tortured Colani Maseko — 20 May 2022
In this story, Zweli admits to knowing the most recent inner workings and directives of the Solidarity Forces. He says that “A woman has been be appointed as one of the Commanders within the ground forces after successfully commanding two operations within 48hours following the torture of Students Union President Colani Khulekani Maseko.”

He goes on to reveal that “The new female Commander based in eSwatini was in charge of two operations at Ngculwini and Mankayane, Dvudvusini where two homes belonging to soldiers were petrol bombed amid abduction of human rights defended by Mswati’s forces.” The name of the female Commander is known to this journalist but cannot be revealed for ethical reasons”

Zweli reports this in support of this form of mob justice, as opposed to due process. ““We are urgently looking for more soldiers who tortured Colani,” the Solidarity Forces Commander is quoted as saying. Zweli also apparently spoke with another senior member of the terrorist group who said ““She promised to deliver results and attack soldiers within 24hours after the torturing of Colani and indeed she delivered.The two operations were just a test to see if she can deliver and indeed, she delivered. She was able to give orders and attacking strategies to the team on her own and produced results”

17. “Ngicela ningangibulali”, torturing soldier pleads with ground forces.

In this article in which the quote in the title translates to “Please don’t kill me”, Zweli again talks to his “sources” in the Terrorist group Solidarity Forces. This story says that a member of the military who was allegedly involved in assaulting a civilian was attacked by Solidarity forces in his home where his children were. He reveals the soldier’s name, and hides the names of the assailants — this in itself is a double standard which shows the intention to de-anonymise the soldier and making him a target to the Solidarity Forces. He knows printing the soldier’s name makes him a target for Solidarity Forces.

He admits to be protecting members of this group, as he says that “According to information in our possession that cannot be shared publicly to protect our sources within the ground forces, after the soldier ran away, the members of the ground forces started the process of spraying the house with bombing chemicals and subsequently set it alight.”

He goes on to detail that “In the middle of the night,the soldier then shouted for help from other community members,a few meters away from his home and that was when the members of the ground forces fired gun shots in the air and disappeared.”

This shows that Dlamini doesn’t find anything wrong with this violent acts and reckless endangerment of the public in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

“The burning of the soldier’s home who allegedly tortured Students President Colani Maseko was confirmed by a very senior member of the Executive Command within the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF) on Wednesday evening.”, says Dlamini, revealing his knowledge of the highest ranking member of the terrorist group.

18. MAHLABATSINI SOLDIER’S SHOOTING:Commander says action will be louder than words — 25 May 2022

In this story, Zweli interviews the Commander of the Solidarity Forces (called Ground Forces in this article). The article follows the shooting of a soldier at Mahlabatsini (New Village) on May 24. “For now, we want to work, we will issue statements later” said the so-called Commander. This is a further entrenchment in the philosophy of “murder all law enforcers” without due process — which Zwemart finds appropriate to protect.

19. King Mswati linked Inyatsi Construction suspends operations amid attacks, Solidarity Forces Commander to intensify operation — 21 June 2022

In this story, Zweli makes unproven incendiary claims to justify the actions of the Solidarity Forces — going against journalistic standards to do so. He opens up the story by saying “ Inyatsi Construction, a company with alleged links to King Mswati has suspended it’s operations amid attacks by the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF).” Even though he says that the links between the company and King Mswati are alleged, he concludes the story with the claim that “Inyatsi Director Michello Shakantu and his business partner Mswati have been intensifying the looting of public resources.”
This story serves to justify the actions of the Solidarity Forces — a terrorist group.

20. Zinhle Mavuso is the police officer who was shot dead — 25 June 2022
“Police in eSwatini are being targeted by ground forces amid killing of civilians by Mswati’s police and soldiers. It is not clear if Mavuso was killed by the ground forces as the Commander declined to comment. “No Nkhosi, I don’t want to comment on this one, this one is just minor. Just wait for big news,” said the female Commander of the Ground Forces.”
This story shows that Zweli understands that anti-anarchists are being targeted with violence in the Kingdom. It also shows that he protects those who are targeting others with violence. This is especially concerning given that he deanonymises (doxes) anyone who has opposing views to his — as shown by this Swaziland News facebook post.

21. ESWATINI UNREST: Prince Sicalo’s army helicopter petrol-bombed by Solidarity Forces at airport — 26 June 2022
The support and protection of terrorism in this particular article speaks for itself. It says, “The Executive Command of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF) has confirmed the burning of an army helicopter that was allegedly used by Defense Ministry Principal Secretary(PS) Prince Sicalo in the shooting and killing of civilians during June 2021 massacre. Speaking to this Swaziland News, the Spokesperson of the Solidarity Forces confirmed the burning of the army helicopter on Sunday morning at the Matsapha airport. “We can confirm that an army helicopter was successfully petrol bombed this morning(Sunday). Actually, we were targeting two helicopters but we managed to burn one,the other one did not catch the fire. We can also confirm that an operation was conducted in Manzini this weekend where police officers were shot,” said the Spokesperson who was speaking or commenting on behalf of the highest Command of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF).”

In the same article, the reporter says as true information which he already admits in another part to be “alleged”. This is all in service of justifying the actions of the terrorist group the Solidarity Forces — actions including targeting people for assasinations.

22. SHOT POLICE OFFICER REVEALED: 8150 Constable Sibusiso Matsebula — 27 June 2022

In this story, Zweli Dlamini interviews the organisation which claims to be perpetrating the ongoing targeting of individuals who are pro-government Eswatini. “We can confirm that a traffic police officer was shot dead at Mathangeni,Matsapha during one of our operations. He was driving a police vehicle,the passenger was shot but survived”, says the spokesperson of the Solidarity Forces when talking to Swaziland News. This is another proof that Swaziland News and its editor actively protect the group while fully understanding their activities.

23. Police Officer Isaac Makhathu allegedly tried to hand me over to cops — Solidarity Forces member — 30 June 2022
In this article, Swaziland News interviews a member of the Solidarity Forces who admits to the crimes of terror, and further threatens to shoot someone trying to peacefully intervene. ““I know Makhantu, we go to the same church but I might find myself shooting him if he continues to negotiate that we meet. For me, the liberation of the Swazis is very important than my relationship with him.

Makhantu started contacting me after the arrest of two members of the Solidarity Forces and he thinks I am stupid and cannot see that he was trying to get me arrested. We will soon intensify our operation and we don’t want people to stand on our way, he must just stop sending messages to me otherwise he will be in trouble,”. This is the typical messaging against anyone who opposes the actions of the Solidarity Forces. This is terrorism. This is especially the case because he knows that by revealing the police officer’s name (in the title no less) is an invitation for Solidarity Forces to target him. This standard does not apply to the Solidarity Forces member who is left anonymous.

24. ESWATINI UNREST: Another police officer shot at KaPhunga amid killing of civillians by Mswati’s forces — 4 July 2022
“Another police officer has been shot allegedly, by members of the pro-democracy Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF) that defends civilians from ‘blood thirsty’ King Mswati’s security forces.” This is how this story starts, by making claims that cop-killers are somehow defending the civillians. This is how Swaziland News justifies protecting the terrorist organisation Solidarity Forces.

The article goes on to say “The shooting of the police officer whose name cannot be revealed for now for ethical reasons, was confirmed by an senior member of the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces(SISF) Executive Command.” This is a continuing correspondence between cop-killers and a newspaper — how is it not criminal? It is worth noting that the slain officer remains anonymous here “for ethical reasons”, even though many officers and others viewed to be against the Solidarity Forces have had their names printed by Swaziland News, along with their views.

25. House belonging to a police officer burnt in Manzini — 5 July 2022
This story shows that Swaziland News will protect the Solidarity Forces even when the Solidarity Forces admit to have no control over the violence and reckless endangerment committed by their own members. The article states that “Reached for comments,the female Commander of the pro-democracy Ground Forces said she was not aware of this operation. “I am not aware of this particular operation, I’m still waiting for a report from the forces who are on the ground,” she said.
The so-called Commander admits that they don’t know the level of violence and public endangerment being committed by their own people.

26. PUDEMO International Relations Officer Arrested by Simunye Desk Office Nhlanhla Nkomonye — 6 July 2022

In this story, Swaziland News deanonymises (doxes) a police officer to make the arrest of a certain individual seem personal, knowingly risking the officer’s life in the process. The way the story is reported, with the officer’s picture as the cover page, is intended to incite action against him. His place of work is also included in the title of the article. This is not journalistic in the sense that an arrest should be reported in reference to the police as an institution — not mentioning names of officers who were present. This is especially endangerment given that Swaziland News knows that doing such has led to people being targeted before.

In summary, Swaziland News promotes violence in the kingdom of Eswatini by encouraging it and reporting about it in a condoning as well as doxing manner. Swaziland News also protects people who are actively committing crimes, endangering civilians, and threatening to engage in more violence to promote lawlessness. This is not ethical journalism, let alone legal. The nearly daily correspondence between the Editor of the Swaziland News and the Commander of the Solidarity Forces crosses many ethical, as well as legal lines. The result of this relationship is that Swaziland News is effectively an exclusive public relations platform for a group that is proud to use threats, bombs, and murder in the name of democracy.

EXAMPLES OF ZWELI MARTIN DLAMINI PROMOTING VIOLENCE, HARM, MISINFORMATION, AND TERRORISM

EXPLICITLY CALLING FOR ARSON AND BOMBING IN THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI (VIDEO LINK)

During a live Facebook video broadcast, Zweli Martin Dlamini called for people to burn and bomb structures in the country. He explicitly said that the dialogue should be disregarded, and that the UN should find that pro-democracy advocates have killed a number of people by the time they come in to mediate. Throughout the video, he continuously calls for the “braiing” (barbecuing) the country, especially anything related to government.
During this video, Zwemart also de-anonymized a certain individual who was attacked and had their business burnt the following day. These arson attacks are continuing and Zwemart is happy to report on them as they give him incendiary news to draw more viewers with.
This particular video is a clear call for violence in the form of terrorism by Zweli Martin Dlamini, outside of his responsibility as an editor or a journalist.

This is only a sample of the many violent criminal activities which Zwemart has been engaged in. Read the Hidden Side or Swaziland News for more — including supporting mass-shooting in a crowd including minors, and openly admitting to hiring criminals to terrorise a journalist in Eswatini.

Swaziland News Violates Facebook Policy

Facebook has a policy against ‘Dangerous Individuals and Organisations’ and it is our belief and firm conviction, based on the above evidence, that Swaziland News and its Editor Zweli Martin Dlamini are promoting a dangerous organisation and the individuals associated with it. This is based on Facebook categorising of such groups, individuals and their behaviour as follows:

Policy Rationale

In an effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm, we do not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on Facebook. We assess these entities based on their behavior both online and offline, most significantly, their ties to violence. Under this policy, we designate individuals, organizations, and networks of people. These designations are divided into three tiers that indicate the level of content enforcement, with Tier 1 resulting in the most extensive enforcement because we believe these entities have the most direct ties to offline harm.

Tier 1 focuses on entities that engage in serious offline harms — including organizing or advocating for violence against civilians, repeatedly dehumanizing or advocating for harm against people based on protected characteristics, or engaging in systematic criminal operations. Tier 1 entities include terrorist, hate, and criminal organizations. We remove praise, substantive support, and representation of Tier 1 entities as well as their leaders, founders, or prominent members. Tier 1 includes hate organizations; criminal organizations, including those designated by the United States government as Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficking Kingpins (SDNTKs); and terrorist organizations, including entities and individuals designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). We remove praise, substantive support, and representation of Tier 1 entities as well as their leaders, founders, or prominent members.

In addition, we do not allow content that praises, substantively supports, or represents events that Facebook designates as violating violent events — including terrorist attacks, hate events, multiple-victim violence or attempted multiple-victim violence, multiple murders, or hate crimes. Nor do we allow praise, substantive support, or representation of the perpetrator(s) of such attacks. We also remove content that praises, substantively supports or represents ideologies that promote hate, such as nazism and white supremacy.

Tier 2 focuses on entities that engage in violence against state or military actors but do not generally target civilians — what we call “Violent Non-State Actors.” We remove all substantive support and representation of these entities, their leaders, and their prominent members. We remove any praise of these groups’ violent activities.

Tier 3 focuses on entities that may repeatedly engage in violations of our Hate Speech or Dangerous Organizations policies on-or-off the platform or demonstrate strong intent to engage in offline violence in the near future, but have not necessarily engaged in violence to date or advocated for violence against others based on their protected characteristics. This includes Militarized Social Movements, Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks, and individuals and groups banned for promoting hatred. Tier 3 entities may not have a presence or coordinate on our platforms.

Given these, Swaziland News should not be on Facebook anymore.