Swaziland’s new members of parliament got down on their knees
before King Mswati III to pledge their allegiance to him and one by one made a
speech praising him.
This is the ritual at the start of the new parliament in
Swaziland, where the king rules as an absolute monarch.
Each MP is required to make a speech lasting no longer
than three minutes in which he or she is expected to tell the king how much
they love and respect him.
The two daily newspapers in Swaziland had extensive
coverage of the ritual on Friday (1 November 2013). Both the Swazi Observer, which is in effect owed
by the king, and the Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, gave extensive coverage to
the speech of newly-elected MP Jan Sithole.
Sithole is the leader of a relatively new political party
in Swaziland called the Swaziland Democratic Party (SWADEPA). All political
parties were banned from taking part in Swaziland’s national election on 20
September 2013, but Sithole stood as an individual, even though his political affiliations
were well-known.
SWADEPA wants political reform in Swaziland, including an
un-banning of political parties and greater freedom of speech and of assembly.
The Times
of Swaziland reported Sithole ‘pledged
support’ to the king in a five-minute speech in the ceremony at Lozitha Palace.
The newspaper reported Sithole said his party respected the king and praised him
for introducing a new constitution into Swaziland in 2005.
The Swazi Observer reported Sithole said he was not
going to dump his party now that he was MP.
The Observer
also reported that many of the new MPs and senators praised the king for
reappointing Barnabas Dlamini, as Prime Minister. Dlamini has a controversial
record as a serial human rights violator in Swaziland.
See also
‘PM INCOMPETENT, UNTRUSTWORTHY, VAIN’
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