Forholdene i det lille land mellem Sydafrika og Mozambique, der er Afrikas sidste enevældige monarki, spidser til op mod næste valg senere i år og kritikere vil mærke “lovens vrede” – avis vil ikke trykke indlæg fra demokrati-forkæmpere.
Opponents of Swaziland’s national poll this year could face a charge of treason and the death penalty, a senior election official said according to the latest edition of Swaziland Newsletter Friday.
Many prodemocracy groups and individuals are campaigning for a boycott of the election because political parties are banned in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and the parliament has no real powers.
Mzwandile Fakudze, deputy chair of the Elections Boundaries Commission (EBC), told the Swazi Observer, that those who seek to stand in the way of elections, which is tantamount to (svarer til) treason, will face the wrath of the law. He was supported by EBC chair Prince Gija.
People convicted of treason in Swaziland face the death penalty.
Fakudze said the betrayal of one’s own country by waging war against it or by consciously (bevidst) opposing or purposely acting to aid its enemies, amounted to the crime of treason.
The Observer defined treason as ‘the violation by a subject of allegiance to the state’.
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Principal Secretary Thembinkosi Mamba told the newspaper in terms of the law, whoever threatened to cause a disarray (uorden /opvigleri) towards the state and where his / her intentions caused one to believe that there would be such a disarray, they would have to answer to the courts why they should not be charged with the crime of treason.
Kongen vil angiveligt ændre grundloven
Meanwhile it was reported that King Mswati III wants the kingdom’s constitution amended (ændret) so that things “he has done illegally in the past become legal will surprise no one who observes the way he operates”.
In particular, the king illegally appointed Barnabas Dlamini Prime Minister in 2008. The constitution states the PM must be a member of the Swazi Senate, but Dlamini was not.
The Times Sunday newspaper in Swaziland reported the amendments would ‘incorporate, among other things; prerogatives of His Majesty the King, which were mistakenly omitted’.
Prince Guduza, Speaker in the House of Assembly, told the newspaper there were moves afoot to amend the constitution, but he would not be drawn on which parts.
Observers of Swaziland’s recent history “know that the constitution of 2005 is not worth the paper it is written on. The king chooses to ignore it whenever he wishes”.
The most recent example of this happened in October 2012 when the House of Assembly passed a vote of no-confidence in the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. According to the constitution the king was obliged (forpligtet) to sack (afskedige) the government (he had no discretion in the matter).
However, King Mswati ignored the vote. Instead, through his traditional structures he put pressure on the House to re-run the vote, this time ensuring it did not pass and the government survived.
In July 2008, the European Union declined an invitation to monitor the Swaziland national election because, it said, it was clear the kingdom was not a democracy. Later, it suggested a wholesale review of the constitution was in order.
In November 2008, a Commonwealth Expert Team, which had monitored the election called for a review because the elections were not credible since political parties were banned in Swaziland.
One of its main conclusions was that the ‘position and powers’ of some ‘stakeholders’ in Swaziland, ‘including the Monarchy’ are in effect ‘actually placed above the constitution and its principles’.
Ingen plads til kritiske indlæg
Meanwhile, the managing director of the Swazi Observer group Alpheous Nxumalo has told his newspaper’s readers that he will not allow prodemocracy voices to be published.
This comes at the end of a year when editors at the newspaper, in effect owned by King Mswati III, were suspended from duty after claims from bosses they had not been following the original mandate of the newspaper.
Nxumalo, writing in the Observer on Friday (11 January 2013), said democracy activists were trying to ‘subvert the national institutions such as the monarchy and the government in order to advance the agenda of radicalising the Swazi nation’.
He said that media had been used ‘to attack the government and other subordinates institutions with impunities. This has all been done in the name of freedom of press. I submit that media freedom should not be an instrument for subversive manipulation of society.’
He added, ‘I will not submit to a mandate in contradiction with the mandate of the Swazi monarchy and its subsidiary institutions.’
Kilde: Swaziland Newsletter No. 285 – 18 January 2013
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Africa Contact, Denmark (www.afrika.dk) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland – free of charge.
