I wrote too soon yesterday (27 June 2008) when I said that the international media had missed the irony of Swaziland lecturing Zimbabwe about ‘free and fair’ elations.
Readers have pointed out at least two articles that make the case against Swaziland. (Thank you for pointing these out. I’m glad someone’s paying attention).
One of the articles was from ABC Television in the United States.
It states, ‘Leaders of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), whose Security Troika, consisting of the presidents from Angola, Swaziland and Tanzania, met for an emergency session on Zimbabwe this week in Swaziland. But many of the elected leaders who make up the AU and SADC did not earn their powerful roles in free or fair elections themselves.’
It added, ‘Swaziland itself, where the meeting on the crisis in Zimbabwe is taking place, doesn’t have any presidential elections at all. It is a monarchy where the Presidency belongs to the king, passed down hereditarily, and who also appoints the Prime Minister and runs the army.’
It went on, ‘It is rare for African leaders to criticize one another at all. Partly because of the legacy of colonial rule, but also because criticizing other leaders leaves their own leadership vulnerable to scrutiny.’
Closer to home, Terry Bell, writing in Business Report from South Africa, said this about Swaziland,
‘A voting system does exist. All voting for nominated individuals is public. It is monitored by chiefs and headmen who have the power of patronage and are appointed by the king. Mswati appoints the government, controls the judiciary and exercises veto rights over all laws passed.
‘As Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) spokesperson Patrick Craven notes: “It is bitterly ironic that a conference to discuss democratic elections in Zimbabwe should be hosted by an autocratic monarch who stages elections that are no more free and fair than those staged by [Zimbabwe President Robert] Mugabe.”
‘Unions and other pro-democracy forces in the mountain kingdom now hope the Zimbabwe issue will focus attention on democratic rights throughout the region.
‘That Swaziland is a member in good standing of a regional body professing to promote freedom of association and parliamentary democracy is seen as hypocrisy within the labour movement. It is one of the reasons that Cosatu has staged protest blockades of the Swazi border in the past.’
The international media rarely report on Swaziland so many supporters of the status quo in the undemocratic kingdom thought that having King Mswati III as chair of the SADC summit would show him to the world as a statesman and leader. The Times of Swaziland on Thursday (26 June 2008) reported that the king was ‘showered with compliments’ and ‘rave reviews’ and ‘accolades’ for the part he played in the summit.
However, once the limelight was turned on Swaziland it took no time at all to see the warts under the makeup.
The spotlight has now moved away from Swaziland onto Zimbabwe itself where the fraudulent election of ‘President’ Mugabe took place yesterday.
Let’s hope that the international media return to Swaziland when the kingdom’s own election takes place later this year to show to the world what a sham they are.
Who knows, by Christmas we might even have another SADC summit, this time chaired by Mugabe, which declares Swaziland’s poll to be ‘free and fair’.
See also
SWAZILAND AND ZIMBABWE SUMMIT
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