By Alec Lushaba
Special Investigative Report: Part 2
The Eswatini Financial Times (EFT) can reveal a series of meetings held by foreign funders, activists and pro-democracy forces in three countries to plan for the second wave of political unrest, referred to as the Eswatini Winter Revolution.
The protests are planned for June this year. The series of engagements are contained in a classified report whose provenance EFT has firmly established and whose verifiable claims have been corroborated through investigations.
A signing ceremony at Centurion, South Africa
The meeting outlined a commitment to assist the instigators of the unrest in unseating His Majesty King Mswati III by violent means. It also detailed a push for charges against him in international courts. On January 19, 2022, a contract was signed between a South African-based self-exiled Liswati man known to the publication and a right-wing South African NGO.
The classified report revealed that the right-wing South African NGO has interests in Eswatini’s mining and sugar plantations and is keen on securing 2000 hectares of arable land in return for lending its support which was namely to build a legal challenge in South Africa against His Majesty.
A signing ceremony to seal this partnership took place at the headquarters of the right-wing South African NGO in Centurion.
A meeting in Kigali, Rwanda
What has been revealed so far regarding the massive funding for the Eswatini Winter Revolution plan is that a private American equity investment firm with over 50 billion United States dollars (approximately E770 billion) worth of assets has stepped up as a major sponsor. It will complement the resources committed by other donors revealed in our previous edition.
The report revealed that the acquisition of key Eswatini national resources was a driving motive of the leading sponsors and instigators of the planned political unrest in the Kingdom. Information at the publication’s disposal indicates the equity firm was represented at a meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda, on February 02 2022, at the 4-star Hôtel des Mille Collines. The Rwandan meeting was also joined by a renowned businessman who claimed to have a map showing three gold deposits near Mbuluzi game park, along the Mlawula River.
A stopover in Lusaka, Zambia
The meeting in Rwanda had been initially slated for Mauritius, but the venue was changed when the top brass of a USA-based NGO with offices in various African countries decided they wanted to also meet with a one-time Rwandan presidential candidate and opposition leader whom they sponsored.
The change of venue was communicated to several parties, including the South African based self-exiled Liswati man who, on January 23 2022, received a money transfer of US$180 000 (approximately E2.8m) in Johannesburg. The funds were allegedly to facilitate the hiring of a private jet to take the coordinators of the planned political unrest to Rwanda via Zambia. The stopover in Zambia was to pick up a regional Deputy Director of the USA-based NGO.
Transactions made from and in South Africa
On February 02, a payment of E425 000 from a Holdings company known to the EFT was made to the South African based self-exiled Liswati man. As reported in our previous publication about the so-called Eswatini Winter Revolution plans, the dossier reveals that on February 22, 1150 HD spy cameras were purchased from Hong Kong at the cost of E451 978.75 and delivery was scheduled for February 25. The report reveals that over 500 000 t-shirts would be printed in Randburg, Johannesburg and would be ready by May 01.
Several rounds of meetings convened in South Africa
On February 11 2022, a meeting was held at Melrose Arch from 2pm where 7 NGOs were represented. The meeting agenda was titled ‘Overthrowing Mswati – Way Forward and Plan of Action’. Then on February 16, 12 NGOs were represented at a meeting where the plan was on ‘Voting (Dialogue Yes/No)’. The next meeting was held on Sunday, February 20 2022, where the agenda was ‘Action Plan Eswatini Winter Revolution Launch’, revealing that the political unrest would be launched on June 01 2022. On February 27 2022, a meeting was held at Westwood Villa (Boksburg), where the top agenda item was ‘Update on the mass mobilization for the winter revolution’.
On February 28 2022, a meeting was held at Waterkloof Glen. A black former opposition leader of South Africa’s second-largest political party reported that he had mobilized South African activists who would cross into Eswatini to help during the planned June 2022 protests. On March 01 2022, a meeting was held at Apogee Boutique Hotel. The earlier-referenced USA-based NGO brought in Arab Spring leaders and activists from Bahrain, Egypt and Libya to help plan for the Eswatini Winter Revolution.
The outsourced activists were booked at the Apogee Boutique Hotel in Waterkloof, opposite the Waterkloof base, believing that they would be in South Africa until the launch of the Eswatini Winter Revolution, and they would also provide virtual training of civil society actors from February 04 2022. On March 03 2022, a meeting was held at the same hotel where the agenda was on ‘Training logistics’ and the South African based self-exiled Liswati man submitted the names of 11 human rights and political activists to undergo training. This was to ensure they could later be deployed to different Kingdom areas in preparation for the Eswatini Winter Revolution.
A watershed meeting in Quatre Bornes, Mauritius
From 11 to April 13 2022, a 3-day strategic meeting was held at a property in Ebene Cybercity, where attendees discussed the Eswatini Winter Revolution strategy, including Bahrain and Libyan activists and an Egyptian journalist as representatives of two international NGOs and Serbian nationals. The earlier mentioned South African based self-exiled Liswati man was also present. There was a strategy presentation that was given outlining, in detail, how the Eswatini Winter Revolution plan was to be carried out, notably:
• Having protesters invading and threatening to burn police stations
• Blocking main roads and deploying 1000 metal spikes that have been procured to incapacitate police vehicles
• Disrupting power supply by vandalizing transformers to plunge the country into darkness
• Targeting the royal residence and instigating protesters to camp outside the royal residence
• Camping at all land borders to prevent traffic from entering or exiting the country
• Preparing petrol bombs and targeting key infrastructure
• Camping at and invading Parliament and all government buildings
• Equipping a military wing known as the ‘international solidarity forces’ and planting them amongst the crowds
• Organizing journalists from global mainstream media and flying them into South Africa with the support of the earlier-mentioned USA-based NGO
• Making the South African based self-exiled Liswati man the ‘face’ of the protests, getting him a security detail, and paying Arab Spring leaders to be the technical advisors that will tell him what to do and what not to do.
A parting of ways in Cape Town, South Africa
A meeting was held on Saturday, April 23 2022, at The Forum | Embassy, where one of the international NGOs that was represented at the Mauritius meeting announced that it wished to part ways with the Eswatini Winter Revolution planners. The international NGO claimed its employee had not been authorized to be at the meeting and that, as an organization, they would not support a regime change agenda. It wanted to dissociate from a human rights report previously endorsed at the Mauritius meeting.
Despite denials by several subjects that were verifiably involved in funding or sponsoring the Eswatini Winter Revolution, the evidence seen by this publication and independently verified by primary witnesses paints a different picture. It remains unclear if the Eswatini Winter Revolution plan will still proceed, given the enormous investment in time, money, and personnel, that various foreign powers and foreign economic interests have poured into crafting the reported plan.
UN, AU must act decisively – Percy
King’s Office Director Communications and Information Percy Simelane has called upon the United Nations and African Union to deal decisively with elements which are hellbent on causing anarchy in the Kingdom of Eswatini. “We want to believe mother organs such as the United Nations and African Union have to come out of their slumber and whip into line Member States that have become springboards for dismantling peace and stability in other countries such as Eswatini.”
He said people should realize that the right to replace peace with anarchy does not exist. “We shall continue to expect responsible sovereignty from all member states of the AU and the UN. We take the threats of destabilising Eswatini by power and mineral sharks with the seriousness they deserve. If need be, we shall defend our country until the last atom of our strength from all assigned commandos. When we do, the world won’t miss it. We shall act on the intelligence we already have, and the wolves in sheepskin shall be unmasked,” Simelane warned.
