FREE SWAZI GOVERNMENT IN WAITING

Swazi dissident Mfomfo Nkhambule has formed his own cabinet of ministers to oppose the undemocratic government of Swaziland.

Nkhambule, who is under threat of banishment from his homeland or a spell in jail for criticising Swaziland’s King Mswati III, said he wanted to topple the present government.

In what will surely be seen as a smack in the face for Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister and his government of ministers which was formed unconstitutionally, Nkhambule has gathered 16 members of the Inhlava Forum political party to create a government in waiting.

Nkhambule, a former Swazi Government cabinet minister and present chair of Inhlava, said he wanted to force a change in the Swaziland Constitution to allow for a new democratic parliament.

At present, all political parties are banned and parliament is in effect controlled by King Mswati, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa.

In an interview in the Times of Swaziland published today (16 March 2009), Nkhambule said Inhlava would topple the government ‘gradually’.

‘We will first have a structure of a cabinet within the organisation. People will have to monitor our progress, and when they gain confidence with our way of governance – we will then take over.’

He declined to name the 16 people who would form the new cabinet.

According to the Times, when asked what would happen to King Mswati when they took over, Nkhambule said the king could be given certain powers, but most would rest on the government of the day.

‘He will not be stripped of his title as he will remain the king, but play a different role,’ he said.

Writing in his regular Monday column in the Times today, Nkhambule continued to criticise the role of King Mswati in Swaziland.

He wrote, ‘Do not forget that whoever gets appointed into Parliament or elected into Parliament is appointed primarily to serve the interests of the king and those who are close to the king. There is nobody in Parliament to serve the interests of the majority because there is no majority in Swaziland.

‘The Parliament is His Majesty’s Parliament and so is the judiciary and the cabinet. Do not expect any MP to see anything wrong with what is done by those that are in the corridors of power.’

He added, ‘Those that have eyes to see and brains to think big, know that the present political set-up is not in any way meant to address any of our concerns but those of the king.’

The latest move from Nkhambule may be seen as an act of treason in Swaziland. Already he has been hauled before Swaziland Police’s Intelligence Unit and threatened with 20 years in jail if he continued to write newspaper articles that were critical of the king.

It has been said that if he did not do as the police said he would face torture.Nkhambule has also been told he will be expelled from his local traditional regiment if he continues to advocate for democracy.

Last month (February 2009), Nkhambule said his family had been threatened by ‘certain people with links to the country’s authorities’.

CAMPAIGN ON SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty International and the International Bar Association are to launch a campaign to highlight the lack of human rights in Swaziland.

The two organisations want Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) amended or repealed so that it is in line with accepted human rights laws.

The campaign which will focus on Swaziland’s international trading partners is set to start next month (April 2009).

The campaign follows the publication in January of a damning criticism of the STA, published jointly by Amnesty and the International Bar Association.

According to the Times Sunday today (15 March 2009), a document is circulating within Amnesty that includes a timetable for action.

The Times Sunday reports that Amnesty will ‘provide solidarity to civil society organisations in Swaziland that are under threat’.

According to the report, April will be a month of ‘global focus’ on Swaziland as called for by Southern Africa trade unions.

On 12 April there will be a Southern Africa Solidarity Conference in Swaziland organised by Southern African trade unions.

The campaign will also use World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, 2009 and Africa Day on 25 May to draw attention to the lack of human rights in the kingdom.

Amnesty says countries, trading blocs and political unions should campaign about the impact the STA is having on human rights. Amnesty will also raise its concerns directly with the government of Swaziland and its diplomatic representatives abroad.

According to the Times Sunday, the campaign follows a much publicised outcry against the legislation, and subsequent arrests. The organisations that protested include Lawyers for Human Rights, the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) as well as the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and its regional counterparts.

Their concerns were raised during a series of meetings held in Swaziland and in South Africa, a memorable one being a march staged in Sandton, South Africa during a meeting for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) heads of state. SFTU and the SUDF were well represented during the march that also included members of South African political parties under the ruling tripartite alliance.

For more details of the campaign, click here.

SWAZILAND PM AND POLITICS PURGE

Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini has falsely claimed that the Swazi Constitution allows him to unleash a witch-hunt against civil servants who support freedom and democracy.

Dlamini has been widely criticised for announcing this week that civil servants who engage in politics that do not support the government will be sacked from their jobs.

Now, in an attempt to justify his actions, Dlamini has claimed that he has the Swaziland Constitution on his side.

In a statement Dlamini said, banning civil servants from engaging in politics did not conflict with the constitution and he cited Section 25 (iii) (c) in his defence.

But S25 (iii) (c) actually reads as follows, ‘Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the law in question makes provision (c) that imposes reasonable restrictions upon public officers, except so far as that provision or, as the case may be, the thing done under the authority of the law is shown not to be reasonably justifiably in a democratic society.’

It’s a bit long-winded, but what it is saying is that in some circumstances restrictions can on ‘public officers’ but NOT if the restrictions are unreasonable in a democratic society.

Not allowing civil servants to participate in politics is not ‘reasonable’ in a democratic society.

No democracy that I know of forbids ‘public officers’ to participate in politics. Let’s remember that the PM is attacking civil servants (including ordinary police officers) most of whom have pretty mundane jobs pushing paper around. There is even talk that school teachers would be restricted under Swaziland’s new rule.

If all ‘public officers’ were counted there would hardly be an employed person in Swaziland who would be allowed to speak up.

Dlamini has no love of the constitution. He was himself illegally appointed Prime Minister last year and he runs a government that was formed unconstitutionally.

His latest statement on the constitution says two things to me. Either he is deliberately misleading the Swazi people by citing S25 (iii) (c) in his defence of the political purge, in which case he is simply a lying politician; or he just doesn’t understand the constitution.

SWAZILAND POLITICAL PURGE STARTS

The witch-hunt against civil servants in Swaziland who support freedom and democracy has started.

Barnabas Dlamini, the illegally-appointed Prime Minister of Swaziland, has announced the Swazi police have been instructed to find out how a former journalist who was critical of the government is now a police officer.

Dlamini told the Swazi House of Assembly that this put in question the effectiveness of the police’s ‘vetting’ procedure when recruiting.

According to the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, Dlamini was responding to questions from members of parliament. They wanted to know why a critic of the government was allowed to join the police force.

Dlamini told the House, ‘though we may not claim that the vetting exercise is 100 percent foolproof, I wish to assure the Committee that the intelligence Service does all in line with its specialty and capacity, to ensure that undesirable elements are not recruited into the police service. However, the issue will be looked into to determine if all processes were followed.’

Dlamini announced on Monday (9 March 2009) that his government (which is unconstitutionally constructed) is drafting a charter that will compel civil servants who are considered by the Swaziland ruling elite to be ‘political’ would be given the chance to recant and if they didn’t they would be sacked from their jobs.

This is the latest move by Dlamini to silence dissent in Swaziland, which has the last absolute monarchy in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year he introduced the Suppression of Terrorism Act, which is widely seen as a law to curb freedom of speech and association. He has also branded four political entities as ‘terrorists’ and members and supporters can face up to 25 years in jail.

Protests against the political purging have already begun in Swaziland, led by trade unions, banned political parties and the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, the Times of Swaziland.

FURY AT SWAZI CIVIL SERVANTS PURGE

Opposition is growing after the announcement from Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister that he and his unconstitutionally-formed government are to start a witch-hunt against civil servants who speak out in favour of democracy.

Dlamini told the Swazi House of Assembly that civil servants who are considered by the Swaziland ruling elite to be ‘political’ would be given the chance to recant and if they didn’t they would be sacked from their jobs.

Dlamini, who has a long history of disregarding the rule of law in Swaziland, gave no details of how ‘political’ civil servants would be identified and what processes would be put in place to determine guilt or innocence.

But Dlamini’s move is not supposed to be rational, or even legal: he just wants to silence any and all opposition.

The Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions Jan Sithhole accused Dlamini of violating the Swazi constitution and the rule of law.

He said, ‘What is very concerning is that protection of the constitution should be one of the core business of parliament and the office of the Prime Minister as head of government.

He added, Section 25 (i) of the constitution allows for freedom of assembly and association. Sithole also pointed out the inconsistencies of the Swazi Government which has signed international conventions on human rights.

The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), a political entity branded ‘terrorists’ by Barnabas Dlamini last year, said in a statement that the Swazi Government has already identified targets ‘and the Intelligence Branch will be used to hunt down and identify more targets’. The statement said members and supporters of PUDEMO were prime targets in the clampdown.

PUDEMO said, ‘The offensive will not only end in the public sector, but will be extended to the private sector, especially because the king and government hold shares in many of the leading companies and parastatals.

‘Comrades will now be rendered unemployable in the country. Job opportunities will now be reserved as a reward for the passive and those who are pro-status quo. Employers will be forced to either toe the line or lose business.’

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, in an editorial comment today (11 March 2009), said the Suppression of Terrorism Act had become the supreme law in Swaziland over-riding the kingdom’s constitution.

It called for a Human Rights Commission to be formed to protect the constitution and criticised members of parliament who are failing to bring cabinet ministers to account.

‘Meanwhile, government will stop at nothing to trample on every right that it sees as posing a threat to its existence,’ the newspaper said.

Some areas of civil society see the government’s new repressive dictate as a move towards dictatorship.

Vusi Sibi, a political columnist in the Times, remains optimistic that democrats will eventually win through.

He wrote today, ‘In fact what the government is plotting is not different to the bloody purges dictatorships across the globe routinely unleashed to whip the people into conformity. But as history has taught us, such unbridled abuse of political power did not permanently enthrone these dictatorships as legitimate governing regimes.

‘A good majority of these dictatorships eventually collapsed from the unstoppable overbearing weight of democratic winds of change.’