SWAZILAND AND ZIMBABWE SUMMIT

It was rather strange to see Swaziland’s capital city Mbabane at the centre of international media attention on Wednesday.

Journalists from print and broadcast media were out in force, and the BBC reported live from Mbabane throughout the day (25 June 2008).

They weren’t interested in Swaziland, of course. The international media rarely are. They were in town to cover the so-called SADC Organ Troika Summit. It sounds like some kind of musical event, but actually it was an international meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) members to discuss the worsening elections crisis in Zimbabwe.

Swaziland’s King Mswati III is deputy chair of the ‘Organ’ and it was in this capacity that that he hosted the summit.

Not surprisingly, the Swaziland media went to town on the summit, emphasising the role the king had in the one-day event. The Swazi Observer on Thursday (26 June 2008) ran a special eight-page supplement on it.

The Times of Swaziland on the same day reported that the king was ‘showered with compliments’ and ‘rave reviews’ and ‘accolades’ for the part he played in the summit.

The same newspaper ran a more sober editorial comment in which the newspaper called the summit a ‘big let-down’. It said African leaders ‘turned their backs on the Zimbabwean people and the African continent’. This was because the summit ‘could only cough out a “suggestion” for a postponement of the elections.’

The comment went on,

‘The fear or soft spot for Mugabe has emerged even stronger with the Troika blasting Tsvangirai for pulling out of the presidential run-off election while Mugabe is let off the hook.

‘It is as if this was not the same election they want postponed in light of the violence and the charged political atmosphere “which appears not to be permissive for holding the run-off election in a manner that would be deemed free and fair,” according to Dr Salomao, the SADC Executive Secretary.’

The irony of King Mswati III, the last autocratic monarch in sub-Saharan Africa and the ruler of non-democratic Swaziland, chairing a meeting to demand ‘free and fair elections’ in Zimbabwe was lost on the media, both in the kingdom itself and internationally.

The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisation (SCCCO) came in for much criticism from progressives in Swaziland after it issued a media statement welcoming ‘the timely intervention of His Majesty King Mswati III’ in hosting the summit.

The statement went on to urge the summit to consider S30 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union which states, ‘Governments which shall come to power through unconstitutional means shall not be allowed to participate in the activities of the Union.’

SCCCO meant Zimbabwe here, but who can truly say that Swaziland’s government was elected by ‘constitutional means’?

Members of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SNN) Internet forum ripped into SCCCO’s statement.

Showing more honesty than the Swazi media, members pointed out the obvious anomaly of having Swaziland’s king pronouncing on democracy in another country, when Swaziland is not itself free.

One member of the forum put it this way, ‘How can Mswati ride on the high horse of “political morality” yet here in Swaziland we are living under an undemocratic dictatorship, when even the most basic principle of freedom - freedom to belong to a political organisation stays banned!

‘Just yesterday Mswati, when talking at his cattle byre, demonised and made a mockery of discerning political convictions of some of the citizens of Swaziland by saying he hoped the people who had attended the meeting had not be wooed by the “spirits of owls” - Mugabe also does not allow any opposition - ask Morgan.

‘Not long ago Swaziland congratulated the then illegitimate government of Kenya that had stolen an election. How can the leaders trust tinkhundla to all of a sudden talk sense on the Zimbabwe elections.’

Another member wrote, ‘I think that members of the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations need to understand Mswati is the problem in Swaziland.

‘The reason why his all of a sudden interest in Zimbabwe is because he wants to divert attention from his own dictatorial regime. It seems like the SCCCO has fallen for this devious ploy. The statement paints a picture of a leader who is so much concerned about democracy and human rights. Nowhere in the statement is any critical reference to the situation in Swaziland.

‘This meeting calls into question the very credibility of SADC and the AU.’

Another member wrote, ‘We are seriously concerned about what is happening in Zimbabwe but not at the expense of the Swaziland situation. The reason I like PUDEMO struggle is that it is consistent. We have said Swaziland is worse than Zimbabwe because the system in Swaziland is the one that causes all problems. We have not changed from that position even now that Zimbabwe is in flames.

The member added, ‘We support the struggle in Zimbabwe fully and it is now desperate that serious decisions and actions are taken to put a stop to these problems but not by Swaziland. Because if Swaziland can take a center stage in solving such critical disputes to me it means we are making a joke of the situation in Zimbabwe because our situation is much worse.

‘Therefore, the SCCCO is misdirected to appreciate efforts by Mswati if they claim to be aware of the Swaziland political situation.’

Not everybody was against the SCCCO. One member wrote, ‘I believe the SCCCO is correct not to seek to take any opportunistic advantage from the situation. SCCCO has been a strong clear voice for the oppressed in Swaziland in the past, and particularly in the recent case of the striking textile workers. It has nothing to apologise for. It does its duty at the proper time. Right now the imperative is to support the struggle on the Zimbabwe front, and to concentrate all available forces on that front.

‘Swaziland is a member in good standing of SADC at the present time. That fact may be of assistance in the future, and all more so if the SADC acquits itself well in relation to the Zimbabwean struggle, and establishes a good precedent thereby.

‘Therefore the mature and correct approach is the one that the SCCCO has taken.

‘Swaziland’s time will come. Remember that on that day, too, you will want to concentrate all available forces on the problem of the day.’

As I write this - the day before the ‘election’ that will confirm Robert Mugabe as president - takes place in Zimbabwe the world waits in trepidation, fearing bloodshed and possible civil war. This is a tragedy. But pretending that Swaziland has moral authority when it comes to despotic regimes will not avert the tragedy.