SWAZIS TAKE STAND AGAINST KING

Party for Socialism and Liberation

8 October 2008

Comment

Swazis take a stand against king's political repression

By Eugene Puryear

Struggle against monarchy challenges foreign domination

The September parliamentary elections in Swaziland injected new energy into the political struggle against the country’s absolutist monarchy.

The elections—the first since a new constitution was put in place in 2005—have been widely denounced as a sham. Political parties are outlawed and candidates can only run as independents. Banned parties and organizations are engaged in a struggle against the absolutist monarchy and political repression.

Former South African anti-apartheid activist Jack Govender was laid to rest on Oct. 5. He and a Swazi activist died when their car exploded days earlier under a bridge in Swaziland. Around 1,000 people attended the funeral for Govender, a founding member of the Swaziland Solidarity Network.

The monarchy claims they were "terrorist bombers" and has turned the incident into a pretext to strengthen police deployments, but others are skeptical of the official version. "We reject the notion that they killed themselves," said SSN spokesman Lucky Lukhele. "Between them, they had a lot of experience. We demand answers, and we will leave no stone unturned to seek the truth behind their untimely deaths." (The Times, Oct. 5)

Opposition forces point out that the incident only highlights mass dissatisfaction and frustration with a repressive monarchy that suffocates peaceful and legitimate forms of political expression.

Swaziland, with a population of just over 1 million people, is a tiny, mountainous and landlocked country surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of the last absolute monarchies left on earth, with total power resting in the hands of the royal family. King Mswati III, ruler of the country since 1986, owns 60 percent of the land, with much of the remaining 40 percent controlled by his minions. The royal family plays the leading role in most economic activity.

In sharp contrast to the king’s lavish lifestyle, around 69 percent of the population lives in poverty. Most of those in rural areas are frequently ravaged by natural disaster, which creates widespread hunger. The International Monetary Fund reports that at least 25 percent of the population requires some sort of food assistance.

The majority of Swazis rely on subsistence agriculture to survive. The country has a vigorous sugar export industry, and the export of concentrate used in soft drinks is the country’s main export. King Mswati often travels to Atlanta to meet with top Coca-Cola executives at the company’s headquarters.

Swaziland is a textbook example of neocolonialism. National industry is wholly oriented toward foreign corporations. King Mswati welcomed the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act, claiming it would enrich Swaziland by providing preferential treatment for Swazi products. Instead, with the blessing of the U.S. government, the king opened up the country to corporations from Taiwan. Factories that pay low wages were built, with some workers reportedly making as little as $19 a week.

Those companies market the products in the United States as made in Swaziland. Instead of benefiting the Swazi people, Taiwanese capitalists and U.S. corporations like Wal-Mart make enormous profits off the super-exploitation of the local population.

While foreign corporations reap astronomical profits, little is being done to address the needs of the population. Swaziland has one the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world with 38.6 percent of the population infected. As a result, life expectancy has dropped to 39 years.

The response of the royal family to the crisis has been woefully inadequate. While the first case was documented in 1986, it was not until 1999 that the king declared the epidemic a national emergency. In 2001, he decreed a 5-year period of abstinence for females under the age of 18 as the response to the epidemic that would kill 13,000 people that year.

Swazi people fight back

King Mswati III relies on his own cynical manipulation of "traditional" culture to maintain his rule. This has resulted in acute oppression of Swazi women. The prime minister was quoted by the Inter Press Service News Agency as saying, "Even when women are aggrieved, according to our culture, men have to speak on their behalf."

On Aug. 27, however, around 1,000 Swazi women challenged King Mswati in the capital of Mbabane by protesting the ostentatious lifestyle of the royal family while the average Swazi lives in abject poverty amidst deteriorating social services.

The protest was sparked by an expensive shopping spree in Dubai for the king’s 13 wives. The wives were accompanied by a large retinue and flown in a private jet to the Middle Eastern kingdom to buy items in preparations for the king’s birthday celebration.

Swazi activists highlighted the fact that the trip cost an estimated $4 million, while the average Swazi lives on around 50 cents a day. The protesters marched to the Finance Ministry demanding government action.

On Sept. 3 and 4, anger boiled over again in the largest demonstrations Swaziland has ever seen. Led by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, at least 10,000 people marched in the capital, Mbabane, demanding democratic rights and protesting the upcoming sham elections. Organizers announced a road blockade for Sept. 18—the day before the scheduled elections. In response, the monarchy jailed a number of pro-democracy activists, thwarting the civil disobedience action.

It is absolutely critical that those opposed to imperialism in the United States stand with the Swazi people as they fight foreign oppression. The struggles of small African nations to free themselves from neocolonial bondage are often overlooked. We must do all we can to popularize and support the resistance of the Swazi people in their struggle to pursue development free of reactionary regimes that collaborate with imperialism.

Link http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr001=l5mhjld3u2.app1b&page=NewsArticle&id=10107&news_iv_ctrl=1261

'NEED TO CHANGE POLITICAL SYSTEM'

Weekend Observer

27 September 2008

Political system need to change

Lobamba Lomdzala MP elect Marwick Khumalo says the political system needs to change. In fact, he said the major responsibility of the new government would be to manage transition to a new political dispensation.

“We cannot rub away from the issue of change. Firstly, we need to be honest to ourselves when we do an assessment of this country. Today, in the entire region, Swaziland is only second to Zimbabwe in terms of poor economic growth. If Zimbabwe is No.14, we are No. 13 in terms of economic growth. You ask yourself why is that?

“Today in this country, people want their children to go and join the army as soldiers. Not because it is the good thing to do but because it is one of the few secure jobs available. Those of us who grew up in the middle 70s, had a host of opportunities and in fact, we ran away from being soldiers. People had a choice to go to the mines, sugar-belt and host of other opportunities.

“When you read a book by Botswana’s former President Ketumile Masire, he said in the early 80s Swaziland was far ahead of them in almost all respects, but look where we are today,” he said.

Khumalo said the leadership of this country has the challenge to take the lead and remove it from this quagmire. He said it no longer was a justification to say: “EmaSwati atsi.”

“I have faith in His Majesty King Mswati III to lead the country out of this quagmire we find ourselves in. Let us not rely on what the advisers say. Let me share this with you, in 1963, there was a referendum and Swazis chose a Lion instead of the other thing, which was the political parties.

“The British said, even when you have won the referendum, we have legislated that the first Legislative Council in June 1964 will be under the political parties.

“Despite what Swazis had said about political parties, King Sobhuza II in his wisdom decided to form Imbokodvo National Movement in order to beat the British in their own game. He announced it on April 16, 1964, hardly two months before the legislative council’s election in June.

“He never went back to the Swazis to say since you have rejected political parties, we will not participate, but he took the lead and formed one that would represent the interests of the Swazis,” he said. Khumalo said Imbokodvo won the Legislative Council seats in a landslide victory and so was the 1968 Parliamentary Elections.

“It was only in 1972 that they lost one seat to the opposition.

“The same happened in Tanzania, Julius Nyerere did a referendum between one party versus multi-parties. Tanzanians voted overwhelmingly for a single party, Chama Cha Maphiduzi (CCM). But Nyerere in his wisdom decided against it, saying all Tanzanians will vote for CCM, but if there are those who believe in something different they must be given space and contest as well. So it has been CCM through and through. He said because they are not an island, they live within a community of nations, other political parties will be allowed to contest power against their favoured CCM party.

“The same is happening in Botswana, the ruling party has been in power since independence in 1964,” he said.

Khumalo said that’s what stopped the one time Imbokodvo National Movement to do what it did in the 60s. “I say this because, the more we keep on delaying this question the more things get complicated for ourselves. By the time they decide to do it, they will find that they have no support of the masses.

“To say BakaNgwane want Tinkhundla, you will say that today and tomorrow it is quite another. You cannot bank on the electorate as it changes from time to time depending on the environment,” he said. Khumalo said it is time for the leadership to take the lead.

“We have seen His Majesty the King taking a lead on some of the sensitive issues in the past, what would stop him to do so now? He decided against a Constitutional clause that wanted to impose Christianity as the official religion. The whole country wanted it in the Constitution, but in his wisdom, decided that there shall be freedom of religion in this country.

“We respected that, because we thought he had hindsight of what we don’t know and we respected his call. Even today, this is what has to happen. We have not lost faith in him,” Khumalo said.

… Sive Siyinqaba can beat PUDEMO hands down

Khumalo said by forming Sive Siyinqaba National Movement they have tasted the mood of the Swazi populace.

“I can tell you today, for example, if you can pit us against PUDEMO, we can beat them hands down. What is it that stops the leadership to use that as a basis for their decision.

“This is because people who do not carry any political weight or have any political support on the ground undermine and bad mouth Sive Siyinqaba to be an enemy of the institution, yet it is the same organisation that protects the institution of the Monarch. It is interesting to note that those who bad mouth us, cannot even say a word to the electorate, when political parties are freed, they will be lost in the political system, because they don’t have political support or have courage to face the electorate,” Khumalo who doubles as Sive Siyinqaba’s Secretary General said.

New government must manage transition

The Lobamba Lomdzala MP elect said the principal responsibility of the new government will be to manage the transition from this political dispensation to a new one.

Khumalo said what is a fact is that the country will definitely not remain the same, even if it wants to. “We will have the external pressure to change. Zimbabwe’s problems seem to be getting out of the agenda.

“Don’t undermine the presence of the so many African observer missions during this election. Read carefully their reports, based on those reports our fate will be decided,” he said.

He said Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, after winning the so-called run-off election, went to the African Union Summit in Egypt where he claimed he had won, but the entire African Union leadership showed him all the African Mission Observers that discredited his victory and told him in no uncertain terms to go back home and forge a Unity Government.

“They quoted him the Pan African Parliament report, the SADC and AU Observer Missions reports and said to him all these reports don’t originate from some imperialists somewhere, but Africa, all indicating that the election was not free nor fair. How then does he justify his election,” he said. Khumalo said he is not one excited by multi-party democracy but what he is for is that a person should be free to choose. “A person must say I don’t want to be a member of any political party. I want to stand as an independent. The law should be such that it allows those who want to belong or form political parties. And those who want to run government as political parties should be free to do so.

“Those who want political parties should not suffocate those who want to be independent candidates. The independent candidate should not suppress political parties. The law should be such that all of us are accommodated. As it is right now, the law only accomodates individual representation, yet the Constitution talks of freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and association. Those are the basic tenants for democracy. Where is the law that operationalise the existence of political parties and allow them to be in government? If anything, we will learn very late that political parties will in fact favour them more than they castigate them now.

The majority party, which will be purely conservative in nature, will favour the existing establishment, at least for some few years to come. “Look, as we talk, they are worried about the new Parliament as to what kind of animal it is. They don’t know how we will be and this will be so as long as we keep the current system of governance. Such a system does not allow for predictability – it can be something favourably to them or totally different animal to deal with,” Khumalo stated.

He said because MPs come from different shades, they end up ganging up against government, which is the Executive and shoot down anything they come up with. Khumalo said such a scenario is easily avoided in a multi-party state, because projects are carried out without much noise even though they may look unpopular to some people. “We gang up on issues against cabinet, which is forever on a weak position to convince the majority of the members.

“ If there is a ruling party, things would go smooth and the world would understand us and the economy would improve,” he said.

Khumalo said the other challenge will be to get the country out of the economic abyss it is in.

“All other issues that affect us are interconnected to the poor economic growth. Many people today in government leadership or in the private sector send their children to South Africa not only to acquire better education but also to get IDs in order to work in that country once they have finished schools.

“Why? Because our country is not good enough,” he said.

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/weekend/main.php?id=47203&section=mainweek

HIGH COURT AND POLITCAL PARTIES

Swazi Observer

24 September 2008

Judge talks of political parties, elections

HIGH Court Judge Mbutfo Mamba said to suggest that political parties/unions have no locus standi (legal authority) to stop the national elections because they are not registered as voters is erroneous.

The judge said it puts the cart before the horse, simply because the parties/unions wanted to halt the process and obtain a declarator order that they may participate in the elections.

Justice Mamba said the declaration would open the way for them to register.

"To hold at this stage of the proceedings that they have no locus standi because they are not registered voters would be to hold that they have no right to vote in forthcoming national parliamentary elections," he said.

"And after the elections if they are successful in the main action, they would only be able to exercise their rights in the next national elections after five years.

"This cannot, in my respectful view be just. It would be tantamount to the irreparable harm required to satisfy an order for an interdict.

"The applicants' exclusion from the electoral process perceived or otherwise, is in my respectful view, their direct interest in the matter and this is peculiar to them. Indeed one may ask, if political parties have no locus standi to challenge their exclusion from participating in the parliamentary elections, who has such locus standi?"

During submissions, Attorney General Majahenkhaba Dlamini argued that political parties had no legal authority to stop the elections because they were not registered as voters.

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47119&section=main

ELECTIONS BOARD ROW IN HIGH COURT

Swazi Observer

24 September 2008

Bareless allegations against EBC

By Sabelo Mamba

HIGH Court Judge Mbutfo Mamba said it was insufficient for political parties/unions to merely allege that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is not independent because they have no evidence to the contrary.

Judge Mamba said the contention by the political parties was that there was no evidence to show that EBC is independent.

He observed that this was a conclusion and the facts upon which it was based were not stated.

"This is equivalent to saying the Commission is not independent because it is not independent. It does not say much, does it?” remarked the judge.

The judge was handing down his own verdict of a High Court full bench matter in which the political parties/unions were seeking an order declaring the appointment of the members of the EBC unlawful.

They further sought an order declaring the composition of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) unconstitutional.

Judge Mamba was sitting with Justice Stanley Maphalala and Justice Jacobus Annandale.

The applicants are Peoples United Democratic Movement, Ngwane National Liberatory Congress, Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, Swaziland Federation of Labour and the Swaziland National Association of Teachers.

Cited as respondents are Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Attorney General, Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, Parliament Speaker and Senate President.

Justice Mamba said the rest of the attack was on the individual members of the EBC and relates to the individual qualification.

The judge said there was no requirement anywhere in the constitution that the EBC must as a matter of law, comprise members of all different societal groupings in the country; including those not aligned to any recognised grouping.

"The contention that the independence of the commission can only be guaranteed if the membership of the commission comprises the multiple political and non-political formations in the country, is in my view erroneous," he said.

"To seek a declaratory order of unconstitutionality on the basis that the JSC is not independent, contrary to the law, without laying out why, how or in what respects it is said it is unconstitutional, is in my respectful view, meaningless."

He said it was not necessary for him to consider the further objection relating to whether or not the EBC and JSC have the necessary locus standi (legal authority) to sue and be sued.

Attorney General Majahenkhaba Dlamini assisted by Mndeni Vilakati were appearing for the respondents.

Political parties were represented by Thulani Maseko and Paul Shilubane.

Link http://www.observer.org.sz/main.php?id=47118&section=main