MANZINI— Civil society on Saturday (18 July 2009) called for the repeal of the country’s constitution in favour of a new inclusive supreme law.
The members of civil society who come from various organisations in the country said the current cabinet should be dissolved and an interim government set up to pave way for a multi-party system of governance, under the new constitution.
At their social dialogue held at the Bosco Skills Centre in Manzini, they first assembled in groups and discussed specific and various topics in their interests.
Representatives of the groups were mandated to report back to the close to 1 000 people who attended the event, which Musa Hlophe, the co-ordinator of the coalition for concerned civic organisations (SCCCO) described as a process that would go a long way in addressing the ills of Swazi society.
The event cost more or less E100 000 on food, hiring the hall, getting equipment, transport and others, disclosed Hlophe in an interview with the Times SUNDAY.
Meanwhile, the enthusiastic gathering, which included workers from the two main federations, the SFTU and SFL, together with churches, political parties, youth, educators, informal traders, ex-miners and teachers, charged the current constitution lacked a wider stakeholder input.
They said it was also a pity that government defied its own crafted constitution. The director of ceremonies was secretary general of the Council of Swaziland Churches Khangezile Dlamini.
The representative of the group that looked into good governance, S’phasha Dlamini, said impediments that infringed on their fundamental right to hold consultative meetings with rural and urban dwellers should be abolished.
“We resolved that the constitution that we have should be repealed because it does not represent our interests,” charged Dlamini who is a secondary school teacher and secretary general of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).
Zamokuhle Lukhele who represented the youth said young men felt political prisoners should be released from prison unconditionally. He did not mention the names of the political prisoners but the crowd, mainly from the section of the youth roared: ‘Release Mario Masuku’.
Also facing charges related to sedition is Thulani Maseko, an attorney and coordinator of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) who is currently out on bail. Maseko was present and chaired the group that discussed good governance.
The civil society called for equal opportunities and respect of the rule of law. They charged that every Swazi should have a title deed for the land on which he or she had set up a structure; rural or urban land. They said chiefs had powers to evict them and they were unable to get loans from banks because they did not have collateral, hence the land could serve as a tangible security for the bank loan.
They vowed to fight privatization, which they described as an entry point for corruption, nepotism and mass retrenchments. They suggested that government should buy food for donations from local farmers, saying it was disappointing to see government and international agencies donating food to Swazis that has been purchased from foreign farmers.
Secretary General of the SFTU Jan Sithole pitied the defiance of the constitution by government.
He said free education should have been introduced this year but government went against a court decision to grant this right to children this year as stipulated in the constitution.
Sithole said the recommendations would be reduced to a declaration and petition that would be presented to government. It was the feeling of the gathering that the recommendations were made known to the public and government.
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