Swaziland’s Attorney-General Majahenkhaba Dlamini has
said there is no need to annul a 1973
Royal Decree that bans all political parties and puts all legislative,
executive and judicial power in the hands of the King.
Dlamini was reacting to a newspaper
report in Swaziland that traditionalists stopped the decree being repealed
when Swaziland’s Constitution came into force in 2006. He said the Constitution
in effect annulled the Royal Decree.
‘Why do they [prodemocracy campaigners] want us to revoke
the decree through a gazette? What if we don’t want to do that?’ the newspaper
reported him saying.
According to the Times
Sunday, an independent newspaper
in Swaziland, ‘influential traditionalists’ feared Swaziland ‘could become a
republic if this law was repealed’.
The newspaper said preparations to abandon the Royal
Decree in 2005 were far advanced and a gazette had been drawn up.
The newspaper quoted one of the traditionalists, Brigadier
General Fonono Dube, who was a member of Liqoqo, an advisory council to the
King, saying, ‘There was no way we could have revoked a law that establishes
the country. We couldn’t have allowed the authorities of the country to annul
the decree because that would have turned the country into a republic. We don’t
need a president in Swaziland. We need the King.’
The Times
reported, ‘The argument by the traditionalists to keep the decree in the
statutes was that it was the “heart” of the country and its repeal was
tantamount to killing the whole country, – the whole government machinery, thus
depriving authorities of powers to govern the kingdom.’
The Royal Decree came into force in 1973 after King
Sobhuza objected to his subjects electing members of a political party that was
not under his control. He tore up the kingdom’s constitution that had been in place
since Swaziland gained independence from Britain in 1968.
In
his decree, King Sobhuza announced, ‘I have assumed supreme power in the
Kingdom of Swaziland and that all Legislative, Executive and Judicial
power is vested in myself.’
He added, ‘The Constitution is indeed the cause of
growing unrest, insecurity, dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in
our country and an impediment to free and progressive development in all
spheres of life.’
He also said, ‘All political parties and similar bodies
that cultivate and bring about disturbances and ill-feelings within the Nations
are hereby dissolved and prohibited.’
He said, ‘Any person who forms or attempts or conspires
to form a political party or who organises or participates in any way in any
meeting, procession or demonstration in contravention of this decree shall be
guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to imprisonment not exceeding
six months.’
The Royal Decree was never abolished and today King
Sobhuza’s son, King Mswati III, rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch. Political parties remain banned and the King choses all members
of the government and the judiciary. He also chooses 10 members of the House of
Assembly, allowing his subjects to select the other 55 members. No members of
the Swazi Senate are elected by the people.
National elections were held in September 2013, but the
full results of the voting
have never been revealed publicly.
In April 2013, on the 40th anniversary of the Royal Decree, armed police and state security forces in Swaziland broke up a series of events, including meetings, prayers and a rally, which had been called to debate the political situation in the kingdom.
In April 2013, on the 40th anniversary of the Royal Decree, armed police and state security forces in Swaziland broke up a series of events, including meetings, prayers and a rally, which had been called to debate the political situation in the kingdom.
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