King Mswati rules
Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. His newspaper has been
making concerted efforts recently to mislead its readers that the King and his
undemocratic regime has support from outside the kingdom when it does not.
Last week it claimed
that US President Barack Obama had backed the King’s statement that he would
personally rid Swaziland of AIDS by 2022. No such support had been given.
In the latest
misinformation the Observer reported
that civil rights groups in South Africa were advocating for a change in the
republic’s electoral system, ‘to incorporate a constituency-based method’.
The Observer added, ‘This is the same system of government practised in
Swaziland and described in the kingdom’s constitution.’ In Swaziland the system
of government is called tinkhundla.
In Swaziland political
parties are banned from taking part in elections. Only
55 members in the 65-seat House of Assembly are elected by the people. King
Mswati appoints the other 10. None of the kingdom’s 30 senators are elected by
the people. The King chooses the government.
At Swaziland’s most recent national election in
September 2013, international observers reported the poll was not fair. The Commonwealth
and the African
Union separately called for the Swazi Constitution to be rewritten.
Nobody in South Africa is advocating that this
system. Nonetheless, the Observer
quoted Swaziland Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane
wishing the South Africans well, ‘as they push for the electoral reform’.
The newspaper reported
Simelane saying, “The destiny of South Africa is in the hands of its people. Unless
asked to assist, we shall not interfere nor influence their decision with a
comment save to wish them all the best in whatever they want.”
Unlike in Swaziland,
where people who wish to discuss the kingdom’s electoral system are harassed
and arrested, in South Africa political debate is allowed.
At present in South
Africa there are open discussions taking place about the suitability of the
present system of proportional representation. Some people are saying that a
system where people are elected to represent a single area or constituency
might be better.
Nobody in the debate is
advocating that political parties should not take part in elections, or that
the head of state should personally select members of parliament or the
government, as is the case in Swaziland.
See also
FALSE CLAIM OF OBAMA SUPPORT FOR KING
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