Africa-Press – Eswatini. By Zweli Martin Dlamini
When the Civil Service Commission(CSC) announced the renewal of Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo’s contract, some State journalists were visibly happy saying “Alpheous is back to fight terrorism and propaganda by online platforms”, there was absolutely no interrogation with regards to the serious rape charges and how his contract was renewed with a criminal matter pending in court.
In journalism or public relations, credibility and public trust determines one success and despite receiving huge support from Labadzala and the CSC, Alpheous Nxumalo decided to undermine his own reputation by allegedly raping children and went as far as challenging the Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence(SODV) Act saying it’s part of our culture to have sex with children.
State journalists tried to sanitize Alpheous Nxumalo, I decided to release the second audio where Nxumalo was giving me a “go ahead to write the story” knowing that State journalists will attempt to assist him deny the allegations and clean-up the mess.
Nxumalo vowed that, he will never speak to me because I am a terrorist but he decided to call and accuse me of colluding with Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini to discuss his rape case pending in court.
The Prime Minister is not discussing the rape case outside the courts but, it’s Nxumalo who signed a controversial contract with the CSC and subsequently boosted that, he was back despite facing rape charges, this resulted to his rape case dominating the public discourse and the Prime Minister demonstrated leadership and rejected him.
Any person who fully understands public administration and who respects emaSwati and this country could have politely declined the contract saying “ngeke kulunge ngikhulumele live lakaNgwane as a Government Spokesperson ngisengcolile, ngisabhekene nemacala ekugagadlela”.
But State journalists who attended his press conference closed their eyes and imaginary conclude that it’s dark in the evening, the issue here is about a man who wants to continue holding public office while allegedly raping children.
Well, if being a Government Spokesperson is about fighting terrorism as Nxumalo and some within the media stupidly alluded, the Civil Service Commission(CSC) must consider employing another credible Liswati who will close his/her zip and then fight terrorism, Alpheous Nxumalo is an alleged addicted rapist.
Even if King Mswati wanted him back as a Government Spokesperson, his credibility and reputation has been undermined by his alleged sexual misconduct particularly, against children.
State journalists were very disappointed because if that story was not substantiated with the electronic evidence, Alpheous Nxumalo could have easily called a press conference and denied ever speaking to a ‘terrorist’.
But as they always say, “expirience is the best teacher”, when writing a story that is hard to believe, you always cover all the loopholes before publishing it particularly, in a country where the State controlled media always close its eyes in broad daylight and then conclude its dark in the evening.
Even before publishing the story, I knew how the public will react and that Alpheous Nxumalo will then seek the assistance of the State controlled media to try and discredit the story unfortunately for him, the evidence was overwhelming and State journalists had no alternative but, to close their eyes in broad daylight and imaginary conclude it’s dark in the evening.
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