I can only react with astonishment at the news that observers from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have declared Swaziland’s elections to have been ‘free and fair’.
With countless cases of alleged bribery and other election malpractice being reported daily SADC has issued a report stating the poll reflected the ‘will of the people of Swaziland’.
According to the Botswana Press Agency, the 60 members of the SADC observer mission go on to congratulate the people of Swaziland for ‘the lesson of civility, good behaviour and mutual tolerance’.
SADC goes on, ‘ both electoral officials and voters behaved in a civic way that characterised the true African spirit’. I wonder what SADC means by ‘the true African spirit’ when the Swazi elections seem to have been characterised by bribery, cheating and in some cases alleged intimidation. There are a number of cases pending at the Swazi High Court where winning MPs are being challenged by their opponents.
SADC does at least recognise that the elections didn’t go smoothly. It recommends to improve the electoral system in the future, the period between the primary and the secondary elections should be extended ‘to ensure the conclusion of possible court cases before the final stage’.
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