OPINION TURNING AGAINST SWAZI KING

However much the ruling elite might want to deny it, the fact is that opinion is turning against Swaziland’s King Mswati III.

The more people look at Swaziland the more they can see that it is not a democracy and that King Mswati is an absolute ruler.

The King has been in the spotlight recently because of his role in the South African Development Community (SADC) and the work he and others have been doing to try to get some form of settlement after the Zimbabwean election was stolen by Robert Mugabe.

The Swazi King’s role in all this has come into question because he rules a kingdom that has banned political parties, that has a parliament that is just a rubber stamp for the King’s wishes and where the King himself appoints the Prime Minister. The present Prime Minister Themba Dlamini was appointed by the King even though Dlamini had not been elected to Parliament.

The Times of Swaziland website is increasingly receiving (and publishing) anti-Mswati comments (some of which appear to originate from within Swaziland itself). International opinion is also turning against the King.

Today (18 August 2008) the Mail and Guardian (South Africa) website has a blogpost that in my mind sums up the criticism that King Mswati is getting.

Sentletse Diakanyo writes, ‘I have often wondered whether King Sobhuza II had not sat down his son, King Mswati III, during his formative years and taught him the responsibilities that the monarchy had to its people. Mswati’s early coronation at the tender age of 18 years wrenched him into a premature burden of responsibility; it deprived him of his youth and immediately thrust him into the realm of adulthood and statesmanship.

‘It has become apparent during Mswati’s reign of pillaging the kingdom’s resource that either his father never warned him to the shamefulness of a hand caught in the cookie jar or perchance the young king is only defiant.

‘Mswati’s reign since 1986 in Swaziland has been a tragic affair. More than 40% of a tiny population of just over a million is unemployed and a staggering 70% live below the poverty line; all this while Mswati and his entourage of young wives live an existence of opulent extravagance.

‘Mswati is simply stealing from his people, whom he has subjected to an ignoble and pitiful existence. His people have to contend with dehumanising conditions of abject poverty, often resulting in thousands of half-naked maidens parading themselves and dancing to the drooling monarchy with the hope of marriage to the king extracting them and their family from poverty.’

You can read more of his article by clicking here. It is also possible to add you own comments to the website.