Here’s what democracy means in Swaziland.
We are waiting for King Mswati III to tell us who he has chosen to be the kingdom’s next Prime Minister and who will sit in the Senate. He also gets to choose 10 MPs to go with the 55 who have just been elected.
It is his right to decide who take up these posts – nobody is elected.
Reports are that the King’s ‘advisors’, a rather secretive group called Liqoqo has drawn up a list of people they want to see governing Swaziland. We aren’t allowed to know who is on the list, and we can’t be told the reason why one person has been chosen rather than another.
The MPs who were elected to Parliament last month (September 2008) in Swaziland’s ‘unique democracy’ (political parties banned, no real powers for parliament and all important decisions taken by the King) get to choose 10 members of the Senate (the King chooses the other 20) and stories are circulating around Swaziland of people trying to bribe the new MPs for their favours.
We don’t yet know when the decisions will be announced. King Mswati is on (yet another) foreign trip and we’ll have to wait until he is ready. If the delay he made in announcing the date of the election while he was jet-setting around the globe is anything to go by we shouldn’t be holding our collective breath.
Meanwhile, more reports are emerging about bribery during the recent elections. The Times of Swaziland is so angry about the malpractice it has called many of the new MPs ‘cheats’.
In an editorial comment published yesterday (30 September 2008) the newspaper said, ‘We no longer have an election; we have a selection of those who were able to buy their way into power.’
The Times went on to say that the new MPs will be ripe for bribing. ‘From what we hear, corrupt MPs are there for the taking as they seek to recoup their ‘expenditure’ on the election campaign. None of the MPs we have spoken to wish to come on record for reasons we only see as putting themselves up for the financial rewards on offer. What a shame. Individuals have pledged their first salary, plots and other gains to the MPs. The whole process has simply gone rotten and can best be described as a sham.’
I think the Times is probably right, but I am disappointed that it is only now that it is telling people this. Before the election the Times was among the media outlets in Swaziland that spoke out against a proposed boycott of the elections. Many democrats (myself included) said that the elections were meaningless and we should recognise this and not give them credence by taking part. Media such as the Times did the people of Swaziland a great disservice by leading them to believe the elections were legitimate.
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