James Hall Sacking Swaziland’s most powerful and feared traditional leader, Dibanisa Mavuso, for a poaching violation after a career of seriously abusing the powers of his office may seem like the FBI finally collaring Al Capone for tax evasion. The palace never reacted when the country’s traditional prime minister sent police to round up government officials, labour leaders and others who incurred his displeasure.
But royal sources say King Mswati was incensed when Mavuso was exposed as a participant in a poaching conspiracy that nearly wrecked the annual warriors’ hunt, a highlight of Swaziland’s cultural calendar. Mavuso was indlulenkhuluyesive, the “headman of the country”, in his capacity as governor of the royal village, Ludzidzini. He was the Queen Mother’s chief councillor and had a major say in who would be chosen for Cabinet posts, judicial appointments and other government jobs that are decided jointly by the Queen Mother and her son, King Mswati. The poaching conspiracy was “massive”, according to Big Game Parks of Swaziland director Ted Reilly. Mavuso led a party of 20 hunters into Hlane Royal Game Reserve, where warriors awaited the start of the hunt, and was caught by rangers in the middle of the night with three impala. Though poaching is a serious non-bailable offence in Swaziland, the police turned him over to a traditional tribunal, which fined him a cow. Reilly’s rangers then set up roadblocks, and retrieved the carcasses of 61 kudu, impala, duiker and other animals out of an estimated 400 that were poached. The use of the royal hunt as cover for poaching had been going on for years, according to Reilly. By custom, all hunt trophies caught by warriors, using clubs and spears, are to be presented to the king for distribution to all participants. “The poachers kept their animals, and told the king they could not bring him anything because there was no game to hunt in the park. They said the rangers and I sold all the animals to foreigners. It nearly wrecked the great cultural pageant, and had a deleterious effect on the rangers who risk their lives protecting game from poachers.”
In retaliation for his sacking at the weekend, Mavuso detained three local journalists for four hours after they went to his farm for comment. Thanking his ancestors for delivering to him his enemies for whom he blamed for his downfall, Mavuso prepared a black magic rite and released the trio only after they signed a pledge to pay him R150 000 in damages he felt his reputation incurred from critical press reports. If they did not return with the money, Mavuso told them, his magic would draw them irresistibly back to him.