More than half of the new Cabinet ministers in the
Swaziland Government were not elected by the people.
Out of 19 ministers King
Mswati III personally appointed 11 to the House of Assembly or to the Senate.
King Mswati rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch. At national elections held in September the people were only permitted
to elect 55 members of the 65-seat House of Assembly. The King chose the other 10.
Political parties were banned from taking part in the election.
The King also chose 20 of the 30-strong Senate House. The
other 10 were elected by members of the House of Assembly. None were elected by
the people.
Prior to appointing his cabinet, King Mswati demonstrated
his complete control of politics in the kingdom. All the top
parliamentary office holders in Swaziland were filled by people he appointed
and none were elected by the people. They were the Prime
Minister, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the President and Deputy
President of Senate.
The King appointed
six of his own family to the Senate and another six
family and clan members to the House of Assembly.
Following September’s election international observer missions
criticised the lack of democracy in Swaziland. The Commonwealth
Observer Mission in particular called for King Mswati’s political powers to
be revised.
It said, ‘The presence of the monarch in the structure of
everyday political life inevitably associates the institution of the monarchy
with politics, a situation that runs counter to the development that the
re-establishment of the Parliament and the devolution of executive authority
into the hands of elected officials.’
It called for Swaziland’s Constitution to be reviewed.
See also
NO TOP PARLIAMENTARIANS WERE ELECTED
KING APPOINTS SIX OF HIS FAMILY TO SENATE
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