As the constitutional crisis in Swaziland enters its
second week Themba Masuku the kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister has said he will ignore
the constitution and only resign if ‘the people’ tell him to go.
Last Wednesday (3 October 2012) the Swazi House of
Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister and his Cabinet
with a majority greater than three-fifths of the House. According to the
Constitution, the PM had three days to quit or be sacked by the King.
So far, Barnabas Dlamini, the Prime Minister, has stated
clearly he has no intention of resigning and King Mwsati III, sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, has made no move to sack the government.
Now, Masuku, who has been acting PM this week while Dlamini
has been on an official visit to Uganda, has told the Times of Swaziland the government should only resign if the people want it.
‘I’m of the view that if there is any information on the
ground that the public really wants us out, we have to know the basis of it. It
will have to be proven scientifically. It doesn’t have to be something coined
by the media and then be taken at face value to represent the aspirations of
the people,’ he told the newspaper.
He added, ‘Gauging public feeling on this is rather
complex and not readily comprehensible. At Sandleni, where I come from I
haven’t so far picked this negative public feeling about my work. So which
public are we talking about?’
He said this even though S68 (5) and S134 (5) (b) of the Constitution
state clearly that if there is a three-fifths majority in the House of Assembly
in a no-confidence vote, the Government must go.
But, Masuku told reporters he would not respect this vote.
‘We can’t just go because there are voices in Parliament calling for our heads,’
he said.
Meanwhile, the kingdom is still waiting for word from
King Mswati. It was reported earlier this week that he had taken advice from Swazi
traditionalists in the kingdom on what move he should make.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that they had been trying to
find reasons why the vote could be declared void. In particular, they want to find
mitigating circumstances why the Prime Minister should not be blamed for the
actions of his government.
It is also reported informally that members of the House
of Assembly are being pressured by supporters of the King to take the
no-confidence vote again and decide differently this time.
BUSINESS TURNS AGAINST GOVERNMENT
KING TO DECIDE ON GOVT’S FUTURE
NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE IS LEGAL
SWAZI PM HAS FORM AS LAWBREAKER
PM VOWS TO DEFY CONSTITUTION
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