Swaziland Newsletter Extra

Published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark)

LETTER FROM NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY TO PRIME MINISTER OF SWAZILAND

"Government has to be reminded that no authority has monopoly over the
use of force, and for the country to avoid violent confrontation;
genuine dialogue on all issues of concern is a tried and tested and the
most preferred method of conflict resolution...."

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Believing that those that govern do so on the basis of the genuine will
and the mandate of the governed;

Aware that silence in the face of oppression, exploitation, servitude
and corruption, makes the silent party equally guilty in the same manner
as the perpetrator of injustice;

Acknowledging that taxation without participation is tantamount to
tyranny and that such tyranny is unacceptable in any civilized society;

Conscious of the fact that fundamental rights and freedoms such as the
right to life, the right to self determination, the right to land, the
right to health, the right to education, the right to association and
assembly, the right to freedom of speech and expression as well as
access to information amongst others are inalienable, inviolable, and
inseparable, God-given and non-negotiable, such cannot be rationed at
the whim of the governing;

Appreciating that Swaziland is not only a member but signatory to many
credible international organisations and has signed and ratified many of
the regional and international human rights instruments. To mention but
a few, the kingdom is a member of the following organizations:

- The African Union member and bound by the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' rights, the African Union Constitutive Act, Declarations,
resolutions and all African Union Decisions as well as the New
Partnership for Africa, Development (NEPAD);

- The Commonwealth and also bound by the Harare Declaration of 1990;

- The United Nations and bound by the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPTR);

- The SADC Treaty and signatory to most treaties including the Charter
of Fundamental social Rights and the electoral protocol and guidelines
thereof;

- The ILO as such bound by its Constitution, Core Labour Conventions,
Declarations and Resolutions;

In light of the knowledge and fact that government is aware that
ratification of an international treaty compels the ratifying or signing
Member State to ensure compliance thereto both in law and in practice,
and that violation of those ratified treaties constitute defiance and
attracts direct criticism and/or need for intervention by other Member
States, and that the offending Member State cannot hide behind the
umbrella of sovereignty anymore, these human rights instruments are not
meant for the benefit of government, but the citizens of the country;

Considering that the tax payer has a bona fide right to question and
demand delivery of good governance, effective, affordable, accessible
and fully fledghed public health care system, effective affordable and
accessible education, a non discriminatory scholarship awarding systems
as well as a reasonable social security system to cater for the elderly
and disabled people of our nation;

Recognising that the best vehicle to deal with all the above concerns is
none other than an enabling environment for a genuine national dialogue
without fear of victimization and intimidation, but guaranteeing
tolerance towards people and institutions holding dissenting views and
coming from different beliefs and persuasions;

Mindful of the fact that on numerous occasions, civil society groups
have consistently and tirelessly made efforts to engage government to
dialogue on a number of issues of crucial public interest without success;

Recalling that over time the response has been a deafening silence or
use of brute force meted out by the armed forces against innocent,
unarmed, defenseless and peaceful demonstrators the result of which has
been that those issues remained unresolved and unaddressed, but
effectively creating an ever widening trust gap and elevating the level
of tension between the government and the citizens, particularly those
who continue to pester government for genuine constitutional reform;

Now therefore, without a choice of ours, but driven by the failure of
government to deliver on its obligations to the citizens and motivated
by the love for our country and people we have resolved to expressly
demand delivery from your government on the following concerns, which
are not new but both cross-cutting and diverse in nature, we find
ourselves having no better alternative, but to petition you and the
government in the following manner:

1. Deficiencies in the 2005 Constitution of Swaziland

The Constitution Swaziland Act 001 of 2005 is illegitimate. This is due
to lack of genuine and effective citizen participation during the
process of its making and the environment which continues to be hostile
to people and organisations with dissenting views, yet it is generally
accepted that in order for a constitution to be legitimate, credible and
enjoy popular support it must be a product of consensus of all major
stakeholders and must not be controlled by those in government. From
beginning to end, the process of the making of the Swaziland
Constitution and its purported adoption was a government project as
opposed to being an all inclusive people-driven process.

- The Constitution lack the fundamental of being a supreme law of the
land in that the executive is clearly far above the law

- The right to land is not guaranteed in that citizens do not enjoy
security of land tenure, land still being held by the King in trust
which has turned to be a worthless concept as the people have virtually
become squatters in their own country.

- The right to education is not guaranteed.

- The right to health is not protected despite that the level of
HIV/AIDS and other related diseases are rife in Swaziland

- The right to due process of the law

- Lack separation of powers

- Fundamental rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights are overly limited


2. Rule of Law

Since your Government came into office, it has been singing the tune
that it respects and abides by the laws of the land and that decisions
of the courts will be implemented. While this may be applauded as a good
political statement in a country where the rule of law has been heavily
undermined, we have noted with dismay that the judgments of the courts
in respect of the Macetjeni and KaMkhweli matters remain unimplemented.
We realize with concern that Chief Mtfuso is still living in forced
exile because he has refused to accept the conditions of his return
which your Government has laid down as prerequisites for his return and
the rest of the other exiled Swazis.

We also wish to remind you that your Government undertook that all the
children who became victims of the brutal, violent and unlawful forceful
evictions of Macetjeni and KaMkhweli shall return to school without any
undue hardships and challenges. However, we are gravely concerned that
to date many of these innocent young citizens and future leaders of this
nation continue to be frustrated as Government has continuously failed
to deliver on its promises, of protecting its most vulnerable and
helpless citizens.

We demand that Government stops making political statements and
meaningless promises at the expense of the weakest of the citizens and
abide by the orders of its courts and allow Chief Mtfuso and the others
to return home without any undue difficulties, and that Government has
to ensure that those children have access to education.

3. Report on brutalization of university students by the Royal Swaziland
Police

On the occasion of a courtesy call by the University of Swaziland
students, who peacefully marched to the offices of the Honourable Prime
Minister in early August this year, as you may very well remember,
members of the Royal Swaziland Police who incidentally happened to fall
under the Prime Minister's office, brutally attacked and charged at the
students without any lawful justification. In response to the national
outcry that followed, the Government promised to set up a commission of
inquiry regarding the conduct of the police thereof. It is our view and
we demand that the report of the said commission of inquiry be made
public so that those responsible should be brought to justice and be
made to account for their conduct.

4. Judicial inquiry on deaths at the hands of the police and in the prisons

Related to the above, it is common cause that there have been several
killings and deaths of suspect citizens at the hands of the police at
the stage of arrest, interrogation in police cells as well as in the
prisons. Our criminal justice system is based on the principle that an
accused person, who at the time of arrest is merely a suspect, is
innocent until proved guilty by an independent, fair and impartial court
of law. While we appreciate the role and the difficult work that the
police do in combating crime in the country, we condemn the use of
excessive force against people who are suspected to have committed
criminal offenses. We accordingly demand the setting up of a judicial
inquiry on all deaths that occurred during arrests, in police cells and
in the prisons.

5. Payment of all outstanding fees in respect of Orphaned and Vulnerable
Children (OVCs) in the country

It is towards the year end now the Government has failed to make payment
in full, of all fees in relation to Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in
the country. We submit that while access to education for all our
children is a fundamental right, it is unreasonable for Government to
initiate a programme without having put in place proper and effective
mechanisms of implementation and monitoring. It is our demand that
Government must take full responsibility of the payment of all fees
outstanding and stop blaming and condemning school headmasters and
teachers in general for a problem created by her. It is uncalled for,
for Government to set the parents and the nation against school heads as
if they are the ones who created the problem, yet teachers have a
responsibility of ensuring that the education system operates smoothly
and that all children are treated equally without discrimination, fear
or favour.

We indicate that the failure of the Government to keep its part of the
bargain, in failing to pay the necessary school fees in a timely manner
has unnecessarily put the lives of teachers at risk as they have been
set against the nation, because Government portrays them as the ones who
refuse and deny Orphaned and Vulnerable Children the right to education,
yet the problem is government-created. We note that teachers are
parents, they have the same conscience as any other reasonable parent,
but they also have the duty by virtue of their qualification and the
nature of their work, to ensure that every child in the classroom has
paid the fees due, and Government has the obligation of ensuring that
fees in respect of such vulnerable children are paid in the same manner
as the rest of the parents who send their children to school do, and
should stop shifting blame to innocent partners in the education system.

In any event, our modest view is that the time has long come for
Government to provide free basic education for all and this would no
doubt be a lasting solution to this crisis, particularly given that
Government has clearly failed to deliver on her social responsibilities
as a custodian of out taxes.

6. Basic national minimum wage

Due to the observation that costs of living are increasing by the day,
yet salaries do not increase at the same rate and speed, we demand the
setting of a standard national minimum wage so that there will be no
Swazi worker who earns below it. This will ensure human dignity and
decent work for every working citizen in enjoying the fruits of their
labour.

7. The burial of Chief Muzikayise Ntshangase

We note with dismay that the body of the late Chief Mzikayise
Ntshanagase has been lying in the mortuary for years now and there is no
indication as to when he may eventually be laid to rest, yet this is a
matter that ought to be handled at the very highest level of authority
in Government. Where is the human consciousness of the leaders in
Government? We view this matter as the most brutal form of denial of
humanity to the relatives and friends of the deceased and it is one that
long deserved Government's wise intervention. How long will the body
stay there while the dispute is not being resolved and Government
carries on business as usual in total and deliberate ignorance of an
issue of this magnitude? We find ourselves with no option but to demand
the urgent attention by the Government of this matter.

8. Economic decline

The current indelible crisis in the economic and social sectors of our
economy as a result of government's failure to serve and deliver to the
tax payer and the general citizenry cannot be postponed any further. The
uncertainty on the constitutional arrangement of the country due to the
fact that the new Constitution is by no means a product of consensus and
other sectors of the population continue to question its validity and
legitimacy goes to the heart of political governance and the rule of
law. Yet the constitutional problems remain unresolved, thus affecting
investor confidence.

9. Socio-economic justice issues

We demand that Tibiyo TaKangwane and Tisuka be made part and parcel of
the tax paying institutions like all corporate organisations,
particularly as they are held in trust for the people so as to alleviate
the current abject and dire poverty.

- Lack of regular reasonable social security grants for the aged and
disabled

- Lack of regular reasonable grants for the orphaned and vulnerable
children and adults including widows

- Unfulfilled promises to provide shelter to informal sector
particularly street vendors and the continued brutality thereof

- Lack of drugs and facilities in public health centres in the country.

- Ever increasing unemployment

- Ever increasing HIV/AIDS prevalence at 42.6% (highest in the world)

- Ever increasing poverty over 300,000 feeding on donor aid food and
over 70% working people earning below poverty datum line

- Lack of non discriminatory scholarship awarding systems for tertiary
education Institutions in our country.

- Ever increasing taxation without visible plough-back to the citizenry

- Ever increasing public transport fares without any meaningful
government subvention and subsidy to the commuters and to the public
transport operators

- Malicious economic and social policies without prior genuine
consultation and dialogue with the relevant stakeholders( privatization
and other trade related policies)

- Unfair distribution of wealth, about 10% control over 60% of the economy


10. Concerns on governance generally

- Ever increasing corruption scourge

- Ever increasing fiscal indiscipline

- Lack of genuine, meaningful, focused and result oriented national dialogue

- Ever increasing culture of brutalization of peaceful citizens whenever
they sought engagement to dialogue with government

- Ever increasing salaries and benefits of politicians against 1.5% wage
and salary increase for the civil servants just over a year later

- Non-compliance with the dictates of the international conventions to
which the country is signatory

- Wrong budgetary priorities, more money spent on white elephant
projects such as the Sikhuphe airport, building of army barracks when
the country is not under threat of war from its neighbours and the rest
of Africa prefers peaceful resolution of disputes as opposed to
resorting to armed and violent strategies.

11. Activities and dialogue-seeking processes which were never responded
to by the government

- Intransigent attitude of government; on several occasions, workers
have marched to deliver petitions to the Cabinet and sometimes to the
Houses of Parliament and to date there have been no response for
acknowledgment let alone response or invitation for dialogue.

- On several occasions civil servants have marched to submit petitions
and have never been responded to.

- On several occasions the Church has marched to the cabinet and was
never responded to.

-Students of this country in their quest for education in pursuit of
dialogue on the scholarship issue they were never effectively responded to.

- On several instance PUDEMO and SWAYOCO have often been brutalized and
sometimes arrested for exercising their right to assemble and express
themselves freely.

The most systematic response in a majority of the above dialogue
initiatives has been brute force, tear gassing and baton charging at
innocent peaceful and defenseless citizens and sometimes coupled with
arrests, otherwise a deafening silence is the norm. Government has to be
reminded that no authority has monopoly over the use of force, and for
the country to avoid violent confrontation; genuine dialogue on all
issues of concern is a tried and tested and the most preferred method of
conflict resolution....

National Constituent Assembly (NCA), Swaziland Federation of Trade
Unions (SFTU), Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL), Swaziland National
Association of Teachers (SNAT), Student Representative Council
University of Swaziland (SRC UNISWA), People's United Democratic
Movement (PUDEMO), Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) and church
and civil society organisations.


"TOWARDS A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY" - NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY
(Swaziland) Phone: 268-505 8788 Email: lawyers@...


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