King Sobhuza II of Swaziland may have torn up the
country’s constitution, banned political parties and started
to rule as an absolute monarch in 1973 because he feared people were
becoming educated and would mount a serious threat to his power, a secret CIA
report suggests.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in
a report
called Africa Review, marked
‘secret’ and dated 19 January 1979 evaluates the time between Swaziland gaining
its independence from Great Britain in 1968 and King Sobhuza’s Proclamation
on 12 April 1973 that allowed him to rule as an absolute monarch.
In 1968 Swaziland had what the CIA called a
‘British-imposed’ constitution with a formal ‘Western style’ parliament working
alongside the Swazi National Council (SNC), ‘a group of chiefs and headmen
dominated by the King’.
It added, ‘The veneer provided by the British-imposed
constitution and parliamentary form of government left the King a great deal of
room for exercising political power but it also left room for a substantial
degree of political manoeuvring by non-traditional oriented political parties.
‘King Sobhuza staked his prestige on the formation of
his own political party [the Imbkodvo National Movement] and won an
overwhelming victory, sweeping 24 seats, during the country’s first
post-independence election in 1967. During the next election in 1973, however,
Sobhuza’s party lost three of the 24 parliamentary seats [to the Ngwane
National Liberatory Congress] and the King dissolved Parliament, suspended the
Constitution, and assumed power by decree.’
The CIA report added, ‘Most of the vote against
Sobhuza’s party in 1973 came from an area that contained the capital city
[Mbabane], much of the country’s developed industry, the civil servants, and
almost half of Swaziland’s urban population.
‘While many observers did not feel that the loss of
three parliamentary seats represented a serious threat to the King and his
party, the King probably interpreted the vote as the initial stages of the
breakdown of tribal authority.’
The CIA report that was published in 1979, six years
after the King’s Proclamation, stated, ‘As the Swazi people and the economy
become more sophisticated, Sobhuza’s autocratic style is being viewed as an
anachronism by growing numbers of educated Swaziland.’
A confidential
cable (later declassified) from the US Embassy in Swaziland to the
State Department in Washington dated 13 April 1973, the day after King
Sobhuza’s proclamation, read in part, ‘King Sobhuza stated he had taken drastic
action to prevent breakdown of law and order and to reverse process of
disharmony, bitterness and division which existed in country. Prince Sifuba
[head of the Swazi National Council], on behalf Swazi nation, had stated that
nation wished King to know it had never been so divided as at present. King
laid blame for present “very serious situation” in country directly to
constitution which introduced “undesirable political activities” into country
bringing bitterness and threats to peace, law and order.’
It added, ‘Extent of action surprised Western
observers who perceive no serious threat to law and order. Non-Swazis and even
some Swazis profess belief King yielded to pressures and over-reacted to
insignificant opposition.’
The cable said the King repealed the Swaziland
constitution, dismissed parliament and assumed personal control of the country
as King-in-Council. ‘He took the action after an unanimous resolution of both
houses of parliament stating present constitution was unworkable and appealing
to King to find ways and means to resolve present “constitutional crisis” with
members placing themselves entirely at disposal of King-in-Council.’
He added, ‘King took extreme measure of assuming
personal rule and issued series of decrees giving him wide-ranging powers,
including that of preventive detention. Royal Proclamation stated that King was
decreeing preventive detention powers for six- month period.
‘But there was no repeat
no other mention of time for which King proposes hold personal rule nor was
there any announcement of plans for drawing up new constitution or substituting
revised parliamentary system.’
In the event a new constitution did not come into
effect until 2006, more than 30 years after the Royal Proclamation, and it
confirmed the King (now Sobhuza’s son Mswati III) as an absolute monarch.
Political parties remain banned and the people are only allowed to elect 59
members of the House of Assembly; the King appoints another 10. None of the 30
members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the people. The King chooses the
Prime Minister and members of the government.
The cable listed what he called some ‘fairly tame’
activities that had taken place in the previous months that traditionalists and
monarchists said was disruptive. They included brief work stoppages at the
Havelock and Ngwenya mines; some civil servants requested a meeting of all
civil servants in December 1972 because they were dissatisfied with wage
increases; modernization and proliferation of commerce and industry in
Swaziland had led to attempts to organize unions; students had voiced
complaints and grievances and there had been growing pressure in the rural
areas for different rules for land tenure which, the cable said, implied a
reduction in the real power of the local chief.
It added that the tactics of the opposition NNLC party
were, ‘Basically negative, involving direct criticism of the predominance of
the Dlamini clan in Swaziland. There is also some evidence that very recently
NNLC members were initiating and spreading rumors that prominent figures,
including the Prime Minister, were directly involved in ritual murders.’
It added, ‘Accusations that members of his family and
clan had practiced ritual murder and cannibalism shocked and disgusted him.’
See also
The Day Democracy Died in Swaziland
Swazi
History Repeats Itself
