Swaziland elections watchdog calls for widescale investigation into allegation of vote buying in Senate

An elections support network in Swaziland (eSwatini) has called allegations of bribery around a Senate election ‘shocking’ and is demanding widescale investigations.

The eSwatini Election Support Network (EESN) wants investigations by the police, the Elections and Boundary Commission, the Human Rights and Integrity Commission and the Anticorruption Commission.

It made its call after Ngomuyayona Gamedze, a candidate for  the vacant seat in the Swaziland Senate, withdrew from the race and said he had been asked to pay bribes to secure votes.

A seat became vacant after the death of Senator Mike Temple last year. Gamedze, a former deputy Senate president, was one of five candidates.

In Swaziland the people do not elect the 30 members of the Senate; 20 are appointed by absolute monarch King Mswati III and the others are elected by members of the House of Assembly.

Tjengisile Shabangu, EESN Chairperson, said in a statement published on Facebook, ‘These allegations are shocking. When money becomes a determinant factor to being elected into public office, it perpetuates the inequality gap especially amongst women and other vulnerable groups to participate fairly in the electoral process. This undermines fair participation and transparency of an election. It also undermines electing people of calibre to perform representation and oversight roles in Parliament.’

Shabangu called ‘for critical organs of government to conduct intensive investigations into the credibility and fairness of elections and the applicability of electoral laws for reforms where there is need’.

Shabangu added, ‘The allegations that Members of Parliament demanded to be paid because they also spent lots of money points to a political system that is already not in the best interest of the nation but is in pursuit of personal gain. People elected into public office must show effectiveness in representing national interests as well as be critical of the country’s governance structures.’

Shabangu said, ‘These allegations affirm the EESN observation in its 2018 elections report that the elections were marred with malpractices especially using money to buy favour from the electorate.’

Separately, Sifiso Mabuza, one of the three remaining candidates in the election, complained that police had visited tenants at flats that he rents out and questioned them about him. 

The Times of eSwatini reported, ‘Mabuza said he felt harassed as the police officers also questioned his wife about him and they also went around calling pastors, his former teachers to the extent of asking how far he had gone with his education.’

In Swaziland, police vet candidates for senate elections to see if they qualify for elections. 

According to the Senate (Elections) Act, 2013, for candidates to qualify for nominations they need to be registered voters, have no criminal record as well as be in compliance with eSwatini Revenue Authority (SRA) regulations.  Candidates who entered and lost the last national elections also do not qualify for the nominations.  Candidates who have contract engagements with government would be disqualified if they fail to declare them. Also, candidates who are members of the armed forces do not qualify for nominations.

The election was supposed to take place last Monday (27 July 2020) but was delayed because of the vetting process.

See also

Candidate withdraws as bribery allegation hits another Swaziland Senate election

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/07/candidate-withdraws-as-bribery.html

Swaziland King appoints eight of his family to Senate amid reports of widespread vote buying elsewhere

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/swaziland-king-appoints-eight-of-his.html

ANTI-TERROR ACT IN SPOTLIGHT AGAIN

A trade union leader in Swaziland whose house was raided by 30 armed police officers has been charged with sedition after they allegedly found pamphlets from banned organisations.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), which is also banned in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and political parties are not allowed to contest elections, reported, that Sifiso Mabuza, the Deputy Secretary of Siteki Branch of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), appeared at Siteki Magistrates Court on Wednesday (12 November 2014) and was remanded back into custody until 24 November 2014.

The Swazi Observer newspaper, which is in effect owned by King Mswati, reported Mabuza was charged with contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA).

The newspaper said Mabuza was charged with supporting the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), which it described as ‘terrorists groups’. The charge said Mabuza was in possession of 87 pamphlets of SWAYOCO, and 71 pamphlets of PUDEMO.

PUDEMO is one of a number of organizations that are making a legal challenge to the STA to have it declared unconstitutional. The case is expected to be heard in Swaziland High Court in December 2014.

In the past people have been charged under the STA for a number of alleged crimes, including carrying banners displaying the names of banned organisations, wearing berets or T-shirts with slogans written on them, and praising individuals who have stood up for democracy.

The STA was introduced in November 2008 following an attempted bombing of the Lozitha Bridge, near one of the King’s 13 palaces in September that year.  

Shortly after the STA came into force Amnesty International and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBA-HRI) called for its immediate repeal or amendment.

More recently in June 2014, the United States withdrew preferential trade rights from Swaziland because, among other things, it had not amended the STA.

In 2009, Amnesty and IBA-HRI said a number of provisions in this Act were ‘sweeping and imprecise’.

They said in a statement that the Swazi Government warned of heavy penalties for ‘associating’ with certain groups, which had been declared to be terrorist ‘entities’ under the law. They said this was ‘contributing to an atmosphere of uncertainty and of intimidation amongst a wide range of civil society organizations’.

The statement read, ‘Amnesty International and the IBA-HRI are gravely concerned that key provisions in this anti-terrorism law are inherently repressive, breach Swaziland’s obligations under international and regional human rights law and are already leading to the violation of the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.’

The statement also said the offences under the STA were ‘defined with such over-breadth and imprecision that they place excessive restrictions on a wide range of human rights – such as freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly – without adhering to the requirements of demonstrable proportionality and necessity.’

See also

POLICE INTIMIDATION CONTINUES

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/11/police-intimidation-continues.html

POLICE INTIMIDATION CONTINUES

Swaziland Police are once again harassing progressives in the kingdom. The latest victim is Sifiso Mabuza, Deputy Secretary of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Siteki top branch.

About 30 armed police raided his home claiming they were looking for explosives. They found none.

Mabuza told local media the police questioned him about his union activities and threatened him.

Swaziland has a history of attacking workers’ rights. It has banned the workers’ federation, the Trades Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), broken up its meeting and harassed and arrested its leaders.

In September 2013, Swazi state police arrested all members of an international panel of experts who were due to meet to debate the role of trade unions in Swaziland. The meeting due to take place in Manzini was to be chaired by Jay Naidoo, founding General Secretary of COSATU and former Minister of Communications for South Africa.

In May 2013, in its annual report on Swaziland, Amnesty International reported, rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly continued to be violated in the kingdom. There were also ‘arbitrary arrests and excessive force used to crush political protests,’ the report stated, and ‘torture and other ill-treatment remained a persistent concern’ in Swaziland.

Amnesty noted that in May 2012 the African Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution ‘expressing alarm’ at the Swazi Government’s failure to implement previous decisions and recommendations of the Commission relating to the rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly.

These violations included the use by police of, ‘rubber bullets, tear gas and batons to break up demonstrations and gatherings viewed as illegal’.

In April 2013, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) reported that recently Swaziland police and state security forces had shown ‘increasingly violent and abusive behaviour’ that was leading to the ‘militarization’ of the kingdom.

OSISA told the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) meeting in The Gambia, ‘There are also reliable reports of a general militarization of the country through the deployment of the Swazi army, police and correctional services to clamp down on any peaceful protest action by labour or civil society organisations ahead of the country’s undemocratic elections.’

In April 2013, the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC), two organiastions campaigning for democracy in the kingdom, in a joint statement said police in Swaziland were now a ‘private militia’ with the sole purpose of serving the Royal regime. This was after about 80 armed officers broke up a public meeting to discuss the lack of democracy in the kingdom.

‘ATTEMPTED MURDER’ OF ACTIVIST

A leader of the democracy protests in Swaziland is in critical condition in hospital after being hit by a car, which activists say was an act of attempted murder.

Sifiso Mabuza, Deputy President of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), ‘was hit by a car mysteriously as he was preparing to board a bus to Mbabane where protest actions organised by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) were due to take place,’ according to the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN).

Mabuza had previously been arrested by police ahead of the banned protests scheduled to be held across the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharn Africa’s last absolute monarch.

In a statement released yesterday (12 April 2012), SSN said, ‘His close colleagues have revealed that Mabuza was warned by the police last night after releasing him that he should not participate in today’s protests. While the police were busy rounding up other leaders of the mass movement.

‘Mabuza headed to Siteki town in the morning to board a bus to Manzini, where he would board another one to Mbabane. As he was standing along the perimeters of the bus rank a car came from nowhere and hit him. He was taken to Mbabane hospital where he currently is in critical condition.’

It called it a ‘clear attempted murder by state agents’.

See also

STATE CRUSHES DEMOCRACY PROTEST

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/state-crushes-democracy-protest.html

FOUR YOUTH LEADERS RE-ARRESTED

Police have rearrested the four youth leaders who were initially detained at a roadblock on Sunday and kept for two days. Together with them is the President of the Swaziland National Association of Civil Servants, Quinton Dlamini, the Swaziland Solidarity Network reports.

The four youth leaders are:

1. Maxwell Dlamini: The President of the Swaziland National Union Of Students.

2. Themba Mabuza: An organiser for the Swaziland United Democratic Front.

3. Sonkhe Dube: Executive member of SWAYOCO

4. Sifiso Mabuza: SWAYOCO member

Information on the ground is that the protests are continuing with renewed fervour. The action has now shifted from Manzini to Mbabane, the capital.

RELEASE YOUTH DETAINEES UNHARMED

Africa Contact Press Release,

12 April 2011

We demand that the Swazi regime release detained democracy advocates abducted by police unharmed, says Africa Contact in a Press Release today.

Swaziland's brutal regime is presently holding an undisclosed number of democracy advocates incommunicado and we fear they are being tortured. We strongly urge Swaziland's government to ensure their immediate release. We also urge the international community, including governments, NGOs and all others who believe in the rule of law, to put pressure on Swaziland to release them, and the news media everywhere to draw attention to this injustice, says Danish solidarity movement, Africa Contact, who has worked with several of these organizations for many years.

Amongst those detained are several members of Africa Contact's partner organizations, including Maxwell Dlamini, President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, and Themba Mazuba, National Organizing Secretary of the Swaziland United Democratic Front. Both were arrested on April 10 together with several other members of the democratic movement at a roadblock in Sidvwashini near Swaziland's capital Mbabane, coming back from neighboring South Africa, where they had attended a meeting on preparations of today’s demonstrations.

The whereabouts of Maxwell and Themba and the other detainees is not known at this time, even though lawyers representing them have sought relentlessly for them since their abduction. Their mobile phones have been switched of, even though they had agreed to be in constant communication with members of the democratic movement, usually an indication of police misconduct or mistreatment.

Police and security forces have been clamping down on the perceived organizers of the expected demonstrations later today, April 12, for days now, as well as holding the entire country hostage to innumerable road blocks and more or less random searches, and allegations of torture of those who they bring in for questioning already started to appear days ago.

On many previous occasions, where members of the Swazi democracy movement have been held incommunicado by the police and/or by security forces, there have been numerous credible accusations, backed up by e.g. Amnesty International, of police beating and torturing detainees by e.g. suffocating them with plastic bags. Pius Vilakati, a former student leader in Swaziland who is now living in exile in South Africa, told South African newspapers of his torture at the hands of Swazi police recently, and in the case of PUDEMO member Sipho Jele last year, the police have even been known to murder democracy advocates, wittingly or unwittingly.

As for tomorrow's demonstrations, called by a majority of the democracy-seeking organizations in Swaziland, including the unions, the students' organizations and the Swaziland United Democratic Front, Africa Contact also urges the international community to demand that the Swazi regime refrains from ”crushing the protests,” as Swaziland's Prime Minister, Barnabas Dlamini said they would, and instead allow them to peacefully air their legitimate demands for democracy and socio-economical justice.

Swaziland's constitution declares all members of political parties to be terrorists and its controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act defines terrorism very vaguely, thus in effect allowing virtually anybody to be locked up for any behavior not to the liking of the regime. This gives the police and security forces a virtual carte blanche to apprehend and mistreat whoever they see fit, and the only protection that ordinary Swazis have against such police abuse is the pressure applied by the international community, as well as by constant new coverage of its wrongdoings.