King Mswati III
misled his subjects when he told them this year’s national election was an
opportunity for them to shape the kingdom’s future.
King Mswati, who
rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, said in a speech at the opening of the Swazi Parliament on Friday (15 February 2013), ‘Elections are a
vital tool through which citizens exercise the right to be heard and freely
choose their own representatives in the government of the country.’
In fact, the
people of Swaziland do not get a chance to elect a government because all
political parties are banned. The present Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini was
not elected by the people, but directly appointed by the king.
This was also
the case with all the previous prime ministers of Swaziland since 1973 when the
king’s father Sobhuza II abolished the parliament that was in place since independence
in 1968 and began to rule by decree.
Most cabinet ministers,
including Majozi Sithole, the Swazi Finance Minister for more than 10 years and
the man who has overseen a decade of economic ruin in the kingdom, are not
elected by the people, but appointed by the king. Even if the Swazi voters
wanted to get rid of their government, they have no way of doing so legally.
In his speech the
king went on to tell his subjects, ‘This year will mark yet another opportunity
for every eligible Swazi to meaningfully and dutifully go to the polls so as to
be part of shaping the political and socio-economic dispensation of the Kingdom
of eswatini [Swaziland].’
But, the
election is not meaningful. There are two chambers of parliament, the
House of Assembly and the Senate. Of the 65 members of the House, 10 are chosen
by King Mswati and 55 are elected by the people. In the Senate, King Mswati
chooses 20 of the 30 places. The other 10 are chosen by members of the House of
Assembly. None are elected by the people.
Despite the claims that ordinary Swazi have
representation in parliament, King Mswati is in complete control of his
kingdom. Last August, at the Sibaya People’s Parliament (where people turn up
at a cattle byre and voice their opinions on topics of concern to them)
speakers overwhelmingly called on the government to resign, citing its
inability to control an economy spiralling out of control as a major reason.
In October 2012, the House of Assembly passed a vote of
no-confidence in the Prime Minister and cabinet. In such circumstances the
constitution requires the monarch to sack the government (he has no discretion
in the matter), but King Mswati ignored this and put pressure on the House to
re-run the vote, this time ensuring that it did not have the required majority
to pass. Members of the House did as they were told and the government
continued in office.
Elections are held every five years in Swaziland. At the
last vote in 2008, the Commonwealth Election Team, which has global experience monitoring
national elections, declared that the voting was so badly flawed Swaziland
needed to rewrite its constitution, if it ever wanted to ‘ensure that Swaziland’s commitment to
political pluralism is unequivocal’.
In a report on
the elections it said, ‘It is widely accepted internationally that democracy
includes the right of individuals to associate with and support the political
party of their choice.’
It added, ‘Yet in practice this right currently does not
exist.”
The European Union declined even to send a delegation to
monitor the election, declaring that it could not be free and fair if political
parties were banned. In 2008 Peter Beck Christiansen, the EU Ambassador to
Swaziland, told a press conference there were, ‘shortcomings in the kingdom’s
democracy’.
Prodemocracy advocates have called for a boycott of this
year’s election. The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the best-known
of the banned political parties, has called on international election observers
to snub invitations to monitor the election.
Mario Masuku, President of PUDEMO, told Voice of America radio earlier this month, ‘We are calling on countries not to respect the
outcome of these elections and we want the international poll observers to
boycott the election because no election shall be free in the absence of
political parties.’
King Mswati has
yet to set the date of the election.
See also
SWAZI ELECTION
WILL BE A FRAUD
CALL FOR OBSERVER BOYCOTT OF ELECTION
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