The Hidden Side - Eswatini (2025)

27/01/2024

Thulani Maseko's Murder: Stop with the double standards

By The Hidden Side - Eswatini

The fact that it has been a year since lawyer Thulani Maseko was shot to death has revealed many double standards of local and international politicians.

For those who do not know, Thulani Maseko was killed while he was still the chairperson of the Multistakeholder Forum (MSF), which is a conglomeration of different political parties in Eswatini who are calling for an end to the Kingdom of Eswatini in the name of democracy. He was also a member of the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), where he was campaigning to replace Mlungisi Makhanya as President of the party because he felt that Mlungisi was publicly supporting violence and assasination of police officers and soldiers in Eswatini, as well as bombing homes of public servants as well as public infrastructure - at least fourteen people died this way, and Mlungisi was publicly in support of it, despite claiming no involvement.

Thulani's death was clearly an assasination. However, unlike the assasination of the public servants, no organisation claimed to have carried out the hit. What happened was that, with ZERO evidence, there was a coordinated Public Relations response from all political organisations who are members of the MSF, supported by the "online newspapers" they fund, to blame the assasination on Government, if not squarely on the feet of His Majesty King Mswati III.

The response of the international community was to believe this coordinated misinformation effort because Thulani was an internationally recognised name. They harped on the opportunity to call, and even demand, that the Eswatini Government should conduct an investigation into his murder. Just because people who hate the government are telling you the government did it with ZERO proof?

There are a number of problems with this situation. There is a lack of evidence to support the accusation made by MSF members. Without proof, it is unfair to blame the government for the assasination when there is ZERO precedent of such happening in Eswatini - verify this yourself if you think this is an exaggeration. .

Second, MSF members supporting the assasination of public servants is unjustified. It is never right to take violent or harmful actions against someone else, even if you feel that they have wronged you - as they claim that it is a retaliation for people who were harmed on the June 2021 social unrest in Eswatini. Finally, the entire situation is destructive to the relationships between the two sides - the pro-Kingdom of Eswatini side, and the anti-Kingdom of Eswatini side. It is impossible to build trust or work together effectively when there is such deep animosity and distrust - which introduces unnecessary social strains as everyone on either side is a liSwati who must wake up and collaborate with other Emaswati to build a meaningful life.

The lack of trust between the two teams could lead to further problems down the line. For example, if members of the MSF continue to accuse Government of wrongdoing without evidence, Government may become defensive - as was the case when Government spokesperson had to remind Maseko's widow that publicly claiming that Government killed her husband with zero evidence is playing with the illegal. This cycle of hostility could escalate, making it impossible to resolve any disputes or disagreements in a productive way. Ultimately, this could have serious consequences for the overall country. It is therefore important to address the root cause of the problem and not make unfounded accusations.

Unfortunately, the fact that it has been a year showed us that some people actually celebrate Maseko's death. They were eager to use to garner more likes on social media, remind funders of the "dangerous Eswatini Government", and seem like they care the most about justice, while doing nothing significant about real-world problems close to their homes. The hypocrisy to care about one case way more than the rest and jumping to conclusions about it should tell us what these people really wish for - they would actually love it if the Government assasinated Thulani, because
1. They would make more social media posts finally showing the world that they were right.
2. They would make more money with the attention from that story: "online newspapers" would get more clicks, political parties in the MSF would get more sympathy and attention from their funders, the white saviours could tell their people back home that "see, we do fight for oppressed Africans who are all killed by their Governments.

Alas, the truth is more interesting and harder for them to swallow. However, for anyone not afraid to see the Hidden Side of Eswatini, the truth has always been there since Thulani was assasinated.

Here is a reminder from the Prime Minister of Eswatini that African countries have dignity, rule of law, and intelligence.

"When Chief Mahloma was brutally murdered by the so called ‘solidarity forces’ in November 2022, no one amongst international organizations and human rights advocates advocated for the Chief or even condemned his killing. Likewise, Police who were at work manning traffic and two warders were killed with no condemnation of this barbaric act of killing innocent lives by international human rights organizations.

We, therefore, take exceptional view to commentary by these biased so called human rights watchers.To this end, Government wishes to take this opportunity to caution these individuals and human rights organizations to desist from their malicious campaigns to tarnish the name and reputation of His Majesty the King.Decisive action will be taken against these people and the relevant institutions shall be approached in order for this matter to be addressed once and for all."

https://medium.com//thulani-masekos-murder-stop-with-the-double-standards-fbfd48c2001e

The fact that it has been a year since lawyer Thulani Maseko was shot to death has revealed many double standards of local and…

23/01/2024

https://medium.com//wanted-zwemart-mlungisi-makhanya-sicelo-mngometulu-c1b4df89d679

By The Hidden Side

05/01/2024

"PUDEMO is not our party" - Emaswati

By The Hidden Side - Eswatini

The people of Eswatini vote with their words and actions as to what kind of country they want, and they do not want to be represented by PUDEMO.

This was very clear when Swaziland News tried to sell their usual propaganda to the public by claiming that PUDEMO is the main political party in Eswatini.

Swaziland News editor, Zweli Martin Dlamini who is a PUDEMO member, okayed the publishing of an article titled "Eswatini's main and largest political party PUDEMO declares 2024 as the year of revolution". The article was nothing but a puff piece promoting PUDEMO president Mlungisi Makhanya's statement - this propaganda was very easy to see because the whole article is 205 words, and 152 of those words were just a direct quote from the PUDEMO president.

The author of the article only wrote 49 of the 205 words, and even there she is just repeating what the PUDEMO president said. This propagandistic parroting of PUDEMO rhetoric has become so dumb and clear that the people of Eswatini were very resounding in their repudiation of PUDEMO as speaking for them.

The article begins by saying "Eswatini's largest and main political party, the People's United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) has declared…" Almost everyone who cared to comment on the article seems to have been lost in that first sentence, as nearly all the comments were decrying the "main" and "largest" part of that claim about PUDEMO. People denied this representation in many different ways, from pointing out that PUDEMO does nothing for the citizens of Eswatini, that there is no way to prove the claim of "largest", and that "Eswatini's main political party" is just an outrageous way to promote your own political organisation while pretending to be a journalist.

Click on the link below to see some of the comments from Emaswati.

It is encouraging to see Emaswati speak up against disinformation and anti-Eswatini propaganda in such large numbers, as standing up for the truth and national values is a very strong foundation for a successful nation.

The people of Eswatini vote with their words and actions as to what kind of country they want, and they do not want to be represented by…

03/01/2024

THE FIGHT AGAINST PEACE IN ESWATINI BY FESBC AND FRIENDS

By The Hidden Side - Eswatini

There is a concerted effort to destabilise the lives of the people of Kingdom of Eswatini by powerful business interests in the name of “Human Rights” - and Emaswati need to be exceptionally wise in this period of turnaround.

Whilst The Hidden Side has extensively covered the case of the murder of Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko, there continue to be deliberate misinformation about who killed him. For those who do no to know, Thulani Maseko was a member of People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and he was challenging PUDEMO President Mlungisi Makhanya for leadership of the party because they did not see eye to eye pertaining to terrorism activities supported by PUDEMO under Makhanya’s leadership.

Maseko did not live to see the election day. In a video streamed on facebook a, a self-exiled member of the PUDEMO-backed terrorist group, the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces (SISF), revealed that it was Mlungisi who allegedly had Thulani Maseko killed, among other people whom he had killed.

The rest is documented history.

The plot to destabilise Eswatini has thickened because the involvement of some members of the business community is being revealed, and this is why Emaswati need to be especially wise as they listen to people who claim to be fighting for their human rights through preparing for violence. The people who survive a civil war are never the normal people, as they get killed, displaced, used as human shields or slave soldiers. Only the rich people get to escape in their 4 X 4’s to their secondary homes in other countries (where they already have connections to start life afresh). So, as a normal LiSwati interested in peace and development, why should you listen to millionaires who are arming themselves for civil war to fight for “your human rights”?

This is a pertinent question, as the leadership of the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) has caused a rift in the private sector by overreaching in its mandate to talk about politics and declaring that they are arming themselves in preparation for an unspecified conflict.

Naturally, this signal of a threat from the leaders of the country’s second largest organisation of private businesses has been taken seriously by Government - which is great news.

Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini revealed that the leadership of the FESBC was called to a meeting by Government to better understand their concerns. This is how civilised organisations with good faith intentions operate - they directly address the concerns to get to the bottom of them without the need to threaten violence and destabilisation. This is what Emaswati should be wary of as they digest information from so-called “comrades” as well as from the Government of Eswatini which is widely available and communicative on social media - even the Prime Minister has his own page.

For Emaswati to protect their peace, they first need to protect their peace of mind by having the right information about who has their best interests at heart. This requires the wisdom to see that reality is simple - there are people who want to develop this country very quickly within the democratic Tinkhundla system, as acknowledged and championed by His Majesty King Mswati III at the 2023 Sibaya People’s Parliament - and then there are people who want to destablise the country for their own unknown interests, using “human rights” as an excuse.

One side allows everyone to participate in local and national dialogues, while the other side kills and bombs people who are considered pro-Tinkhundla. One side acknowledges that there is poverty and challenges within the country’s health and education system, and works every day in solving those challenges, while the other side claims that there will be utopia if they take over and no one will suffer (which has NEVER happened ANYWHERE in the world, EVER!)

As Emaswati have seen - all the sides are freely expressing themselves in newspapers and online, and it is up to us to figure out theHidden Side of truth for each argument and vote with our actions for a peaceful and first-world Eswatini. May the wisdom of Somhlolo be with us.

There is a concerted effort to destabilise the lives of the people of Kingdom of Eswatini by powerful business interests in the name of…

01/06/2023

ESWATINI IS CLOSER TO FINDING WHO KILLED LAWYER THULANI MASEKO
ONE BY ONE –
The above phrase could best describe the events happening in the Kingdom of Eswatini with regard to the fight against terrorism, as the net on terrorist groups is closing on them.

The arrest of Thabo Kunene, a self-confessed killer and leader for the terrorist group Swaziland International Solidary Forces (SISF), has left many Emaswati in a celebratory mode while some individuals are wetting their pants in fear that law enforcers will soon visit their households to investigate their participation in terrorism activities.

Thabo Kunene is viewed as a major breakthrough towards countering terrorism in Eswatini, given reports that PUDEMO and its allies is planning an underground attack to destabilise the upcoming National Elections. Sources within PUDEMO camps have leaked information that the proscribed political party is organising an attack against Emaswati who will participate in the upcoming national elections.

It is said Kunene was the key person in leading the planned attack against voters, hence his arrest has become a doomsday for PUDEMO’s strategy to disrupt the elections.

In fact, the insiders have pointed out that the division between PUDEMO members has caused so many cracks that every member is now suspected to be a spy. Just recently, Mandla Hlatjwako, another disgruntled PPUDEMO senior member who lost in the race for the party’s presidency, went to Facebook and fired a broadside salvo at the organisation, making it clear to even lunatics walking down Macobolwane Street that things were falling apart in PUDEMO's camp because of its leadership. He was singing the same tune that might have sparked the division that lead to the gruesome assassination of Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko.
Onlookers now believe Kunene’s arrest was a setup by Zweli Martin Dlamini (Zwemart), the terrorist editor of proscribed online publication Swaziland News, and PUDEMO President Mlungisi Makhanya, since the three were no longer on good terms due to unpaid monies.

With the organisation under the leadership of its hostile President Mlungisi Makhanya, the strategy was to force liberation using violence, assassinations, kidnappings, and arson attacks against Emaswati.

That is when Thabo Kunene got convinced that this strategy will work for him and his allies as a means to make money. Little did he know that the two million Emalangeni (Rands) promised to him by Mlungisi and the ‘fake’ journalist Zweli Martin Dlamini was just hogwash.

Kunene was involved in the training of the guerrilla movement and received ‘confused and unemployed’ youth to join him for training in SA where they were promised money for every mission they embarked on, which entailed assassinating innocent people, including security officers and prominent public figures.

On the other hand, terrorist Zwemart would publish videos sent to him by the SISF immediately after they had killed someone, as evidence of a successful operation. The collaboration between Zwemart and Kunene looked well organised and Swaziland News soon gained more following because it became the first online publication to post where and when the solidarity forces would strike, torture, or shoot its targeted individuals.

It was clear to all and sundry that Zwemart was in constant communication with the SISF Commander, who also did some interviews with him.

Many gullible followers also celebrated this short-lived strategy, thinking the commander was in charge of the country.
They forgot one thing, that Emaswati pray. They pray for Their Majesties and the country at large. God answers prayers.
Most of the killers (solidarity members) are now behind bars. The kingpin has joined them too.

The arrest of Thabo Kunene has brought much celebrations to many Emaswati, especially because they will find answers regarding the 14 people that were killed by the SISF in the name of liberating the country. FOURTEEN people are in the grave because of Kunene and his solidarity forces. He confessed this number in a video after he was captured on Wednesday by a traditional healer in South Africa.

With Kunene now behind bars, Emaswati and the international community will get answers on the following questions:

Who killed Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko. Whether you like it or not, Kunene has the answers.

Kunene carries the answers on who killed Muzi Mmema, the former SWALIMO Member.

Kunene also knows the whereabouts of the two warders who escaped with State ammunition

Kunene also has the answers on who was funding their operation from which they managed to kill 14 people in Eswatini.

Kunene knows the role played by self-exiled former MP Mduduzi Magawugawu Simelane. Remember Simelane left for overseas after he was wanted dead by Kunene over failed payment for killings in the country.

Kunene has answers on the list of businesspeople that visited their training camp in SA to give the food, operation plan

Kunene has answers on all the senior police officers that constantly leaked information to SISF

Kunene knows all the people close to the King that worked against the system

Kunene knows how much Zwemart and Mlungisi promised to pay him for his guerrilla mission

Kunene knows all the crimes that were committed by the SISF, including gun movements, arsonist attacks, and shootings.
Kunene knows the role played by businessman Bheki Mabuza and lawyer Sicelo Mngomezulu

The Hidden Side will in due course update you on who Kunene has fingered as he is currently assisting the police with information. Eswatini is not a company or a banana State, but a country that is well led. The net is closing in on the perpetrators of violence.

ONE BY ONE –

01/06/2023

Solidarity Forces ‘Commander’ CAPTURED

Eswatini’s “freedom fighting” group called the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces has been terrorising Emaswati since 2021. It seems that all the murders, arsons, assaults, and threats of public acts of violence will have to be answered for one way or another by the man who has been claiming to be the commander of the Solidarity Forces — Thabo Kunene.

Kunene was caught red-handed in South Africa in the process of robbing from a South African businessman yesterday. The businessman, one Andile Nkomonye, filmed Thabo and his accomplices after they had been caught and had their hands tied. In the video, Thabo and his crew are being asked who they are and what they are doing. Thabo tries to explain that they are “freedom fighters” for Eswatini, because there was nothing else he could say that would sound better than that. Nonetheless, crime is crime, so the businessman obviously did not release Kunene and his crew.

This capture of the so-called commander of the Solidarity Forces has been inevitable, since Kunene has been living a life of crime before since he was “commander”. Kunene was a corrupt police officer who left the force after his story became known among his superiors — primarily that he was often working with robbers to help them evade arrest so that he could get a cut from the proceeds of robberies.

Kunene was hired by Mlungisi Makhanya, the real commander of the Solidarity Forces, to train a handful of men in working with guns, from his experience in the force. He was assigned the commander and eventually revealed himself in public after some of his compatriots were captured and began revealing the truth.

It is important to be very aware of who Thabo Kunene is and what motivates him — selfish gain. This is what led to the violent ends of Thulani Maseko and a number of other Emaswati — Thabo was only looking to make money for himself, as most people in “the struggle” are doing.

Justice will take its course, as anything Hidden will eventually be revealed. Thabo will speak the truth to save his own skin, for he is nobody’s martyr. Let’s watch the space…

Eswatini’s “freedom fighting” group called the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces has been terrorising Emaswati since 2021. It seems…

25/05/2023

The BIG problem with Swaziland News Doxxing Emaswati

According to the International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication, doxxing is the intentional revelation of a person’s private information online without their consent, often with malicious intent. This includes the sharing of phone numbers, home addresses, identification numbers and essentially any sensitive and previously private information such as personal photos that could make the victim identifiable and potentially exposed to further harassment, humiliation and real-life threats including stalking and unwanted encounters in person.

This is a standard practise at Swaziland News, and it is a dangerous problem that needs to be addressed. This week, the online tabloid’s editor Zweli Zwemart Dlamini published a “letter to the editor” which puts the life of a person in mortal danger.

The letter claims to be from someone who overheard a police officer confessing to kiling 7 people during the social unrest of 2021 in the country. The problem with this “letter to the editor” is:

The person who makes these claims says they ovearheard the police officer talking on the phone to his girlfriend about how he shot people during the unrest. Already, the story is hear-say and there’s no corroboration whatsover. As such, it is EXTREMELY irresponsible and unethical for Swaziland News to publish this, as people tend to believe it as fact if you call yourself a “news source” as Swaziland News does.

Revealing personal information is shared about the police officer who is being accused of admitting that he killed 7 people during the unrest. His last name, his current location of employment, and the name of his immediate superior. In a country where a terrorist group has been killing law enforcement officers in retaliation to alleged state-sponsored killings, what Zwemart has done is to knowingly put a target on the officer’s back. And because of what? Hearsay!?
The doxxing practise at Swaziland News is an ethical issue which breaks all journalistic standards, and this is not the first time Zwemart has doxxed someone with the goal of directing violence towards the person he is doxxing. He has previously doxxed police officers and members of the public.

Read all about it in the article attached below:
https://medium.com//exposed-swaziland-news-terrorism-in-detail-735cc7a746ce

Emaswati must wisen up, just because it is on Facebook does not make information true. It is unfortunate to note that the spirit of promoting violence still persists within Swaziland News. Emaswati who care about protecting the public discourse space must flag and report such articles on Facebook.

https://medium.com//the-big-problem-with-swaziland-news-doxxing-emaswati-d3a9071f4bd2

People get killed.

25/05/2023

“It amounts to hate speech” — Zwemart about his own story

Swaziland News Editor Zweli ‘Zwemart’ Dlamini has finally admitted that his work amounts to hate speech. Even though he only admitted this about one of his stories on the tabloid Swaziland News, the admission should apply to more of his stories.

Here is what Zwemart published in the middle of the night:

--
TO OUR VALUED READERS: United Eswatini Diaspora(UED) Convenor Bongnkosi IB Dlamini is hereby retracting his statement about the killing of police officers children in retaliation to the ongoing State killings.

As the the editor, I also admit that he sent me a message and I quoted it thinking that he was commenting as we were talking about an article. He has just clarified that he was talking to me in confidence not for public consumption. The article is hereby retracted entirely as it amounts to hate speech.

We apologize.

Thank you

Swaziland News editor.
--

Zwemart had published an article quoting IB Dlamini saying that the killing of children is justified, as long as they are children on of police officers. The only reason Zwemart took the article down was because IB requested him to — he did not take down the article because he saw it to be wrong.

Zwemart actually thinks it is a good thing to interview people who say “we will kill police officers and members of the army, and their families should stay away from them if they want to be safe”. He has published such an article in the past, where he interviewed members of the terrorist group Solidarity Forces who openly claimed certain terror attacks and assassinations in Eswatini.

Below is a list of all the articles which are similar to the one which Zwemart retracted and called hate speech:

https://medium.com//exposed-swaziland-news-terrorism-in-detail-735cc7a746ce

Zwemart does not have a problem with people telling him that they plan hundreds of police officers. He does not have problem when they send him photos and videos of homes being bombed, people being abducted before they are killed, and he does not have a problem when they call him to tell him that they have killed another person because they belong to a certain group. Zwemart does not have a problem with hate speech. The only reason we even have his admission is that IB Dlamini wanted the article based on his evil comments to be removed from the public domain.

A lot of the Swaziland News readers labeled Zwemart as unintelligent and too eager to get attention when they responded to his statement retracting the story. They see through him, and they see that he just publishes the most scandalous information he can get his hands on, without any understandable editorial process.

It is high time Emaswati wise up to the fact that Swaziland News is a donor-funded tabloid which profits from controversy, especially if it is anti-Eswatini. It is also high time international organisations recognise this fact and hold Swaziland News accountable for all the promotion of hate and violence they have participated in in the last two years.

https://medium.com//it-amounts-to-hate-speech-zwemart-about-his-own-story-34cfd4a07bb7

Swaziland News Editor Zweli ‘Zwemart’ Dlamini has finally admitted that his work amounts to hate speech. Even though he only admitted this…

26/04/2023

Zwemart outs Mlungisi Makhanya as leader of Solidarity Forces, again
While Lying about Minister of Finance

Swaziland News editor Zweli 'Zwemart' Dlamini has once again revealed Mlungisi Makhanya to be the actual leader of the Solidarity Forces. Zwemart was interviewing people who admitted to had been involved with the underground forces, and one of them admitted that they were working for Mlungisi Makhanya, the president of the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).

Zwemart was interviewing the Solidarity Forces affiliated people because he was trying to claim that the Minister of Finance in Eswatini has hired assassins to kill Mlungisi Makhanya. Zwemart's story was that some people affiliated with the terrorist group Solidarity Forces had been released from jail so that they can orchestrate the assassination of Makhanya. He claimed that they had been paid by the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg.

However, as Zwemart interviewed the parties involved in his conspiracy theory, the only thing that was clearly admitted by one of the interviewees was that the Solidarity Forces members were working for Makhanya. No one in the audios and calls stitched together by Zwemart ever mentions the Minister of Finance - NOT ONE PERSON. This does not stop Zwemart from spinning multiple articles accusing the Minister of Finance for hiring assassins to kill Makhanya. However, the 'electronic evidence' Zwemart presents, in the form of audio messages and calls stitched together, has one of the Solidarity Forces affiliated persons admit that the Solidarity Forces were working for Mlungisi. The people mentioned in the audio include people who have been killed or arrested while conducting murderous terrorism activities. These are people who are confirmed by their colleague to have been working for Makhanya. This confession comes at 11 minutes twenty seconds into the video.

It has been a week since Zwemart published the story, and there has been ZERO evidence to support his conspiracy theory that the Minister of Finance has paid for Makhanya's assassination. We won't bore you with the details of the theory because, quite frankly, it makes no sense. In the week since the publication of the audio, no one has pointed out that Zwemart's sources have confessed that Makhanya is who is in charge of the Solidarity Forces.

This is not the first time Zwemart has exposed Makhanya as the leader of the Solidarity Forces. Read the following story to see how Zwemart originally outed Makhanya as the Commander of the Solidarity Forces: https://medium.com//zwemart-exposes-mlungisi-makhanya-as-commander-of-solidarity-forces-5bfc150152cb

https://medium.com//zwemart-exposes-mlungisi-makhanya-as-leader-of-solidarity-forces-again-eaf6a4bf5287

While Lying about Minister of Finance

The Hidden Side - Eswatini

27/01/2024

23/01/2024

05/01/2024

03/01/2024

01/06/2023

01/06/2023

25/05/2023

25/05/2023

26/04/2023

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share