Swaziland Newsletter Extra
Published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark)

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Swaziland: a bleeding nation before a silent world

By Dr. GT Mkhumane (PUDEMO Chief Representative for Africa and the Caribbean),
cell: 082 707 8384; Email: dr.mkhumane@...


It is common in Swaziland to wake up and hear that people have been savagely
brutalized by the agents of the absolute monarchy. What is of great surprise is
the fact that such uncivilized and inhuman acts are committed before the eyes of
a silent world.


As a nation, we are compelled to ask the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), the African Union (AU) and The New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD), meaning our own African people - why this silence when a nation is
bleeding and dying under absolute royal rule? Why this quiet diplomacy when a
whole nation is burning under the command of a dictator? How does Africa and
the world expect the people of Swaziland to react before such criminal and
barbaric atrocities? In other words, we asking Africa why have you abandoned
us?


The royal family is a huge burden


From Independence Day in 1968, the royal family, assisted by the British
Government in London, robbed the people of Swaziland of their freedom and
liberty. This family sits on the shoulders of the poor peasantry and working
masses of Swaziland as a huge socio-economic and political burden.
In the last 38 years of the history of the people of Swaziland, the poor
peasantry and working masses of this country have carried the royal family on
their shoulders as parasites that live on the labour and sweat of the poor.
The royal family, apart form being a huge burden to the nation, is the source of
all misery suffered by the people of Swaziland. The acts of the absolute
monarchy have disgusted and destroyed the life of this nation.


The Swazi conflict and the silent world


The genesis of the Swazi conflict can be traced to the nature of the absolute
monarchy state, created in 1973. So any solution to the national question is
possible only if the relationship between the absolute monarchy and the masses,
and if the absolute role of the king, whose voice and acts constitute the law of
the country, is understood.
Ironically, there are those who still find sense in such social abnormalities.
This then provokes another set of questions - how is it possible that the
world can be quite before such social illness? How can the African continent,
which is advocating for peace, be so quiet before such a putrefied social
order? To be direct, how can the Republic of South Africa and Mozambique be so
quiet before a neighbour state that is a threat to peace in the region?


The heart of the Swazi conflict

1. Absolute Monarchism: the absolute authority and person of the monarchy is a
manifestation of royal dictatorship. This practice is against the principles of
democracy and human rights.

2. Royal monopoly of power: the supreme powers vested in the absolute monarchy
result in the creation of an authoritarian-nepotistic regime, that marginalizes
the poor-peasantry of non-royal Swazis through a socio-economic and political
segregation of a special type, masked in a distorted culture as an instrument
of the royal conservatives in order to deceive the masses of Swaziland and the
international community.

3. Royal oppression: the monarchical 'tinkhundla' system of governance
denies the people of Swaziland their fundamental rights - the right of the
freedom of association, the right of the freedom of expression, the right of
the freedom of assembly and the right to self-determination.

4. Royal abuse of state resources: the royal family, in particular the king of
Swaziland, lives in extreme luxury ignoring the plight of the overwhelming
majority of poor people of Swaziland. Through royal institutions such as
Tibiyo, the royal family controls, accumulates and waste state resources.

5. Lack of the rule of law: disrespect of the rule of law is characteristic of
the absolute monarchy. The monarchy is law unto itself, being above the
judiciary, the legislature and the executive, with powers to veto any
legitimate decision taken by these bodies.

6. Resistance to democracy: the royal conservatives reject democracy and label
it "foreign ideas", "un-Swazi" and "undesirable" for the people of
Swaziland.

7. Land and exploitation of the non-royal Swazis: by virtue of being king, all
the land of Swaziland is the property of the king, and is then used to
intimidate, silence, harass, suppress and dominate the poor peasant masses of
Swaziland. Those who resist domination are evicted from the soil of the king.
Non-royal Swazis are forced to render unpaid labour to the farms of the king;
this is a special type of social exploitation protected under a distorted
concept of "Swazi culture".

8. Bad governance: the royal regime has failed to cultivate and promote the
values and principles of good-governance, measurable through the principles of
accountability and transparency. The absolute monarchy is accountable to the
royal family and not to the nation.

9. Dual system of governance: a parallel traditional and western system of
governance permits the absolute monarchy to commit injustice under customary
laws that are not codified, but only oral, and when such laws are in conflict
with the interest of the monarchy, the regime then applies the western system
to defend its position.

10. Patriarchy and culture: the monarchy promotes patriarchal practices in
Swaziland, creating gender inequality. Pro-democracy forces reject patriarchy
as an uncivilized practice that discriminates against women and female children
in society.

11. Violation of human rights: the monarchical regime has committed atrocities
against the democratic will of the majority non-royal people of Swaziland.
These include denial of the freedom of speech, of association and assembly,
victimization, harassment and intimidation of political leaders, state
brutality and arbitrary arrest and eviction of activists.

12. Disrespect for human life and dignity: the royal state has failed to
promote respect for human life and the dignity of the citizens of Swaziland. It
is an insensible, irresponsible and a merciless state, only concerned with royal
affairs, failing to prevent loss of life from hunger, poverty, curable diseases,
poor sanitary conditions, and HIV/AIDS. Instead, through its waste and greed, it
has created and deepened these conditions.

13. Corruption: the monarchical state rests on a failing administrative system
that is characterized by brutal corruption, abuse and waste of tax-payers'
funds. This has deepened poverty in Swaziland, leaving vulnerable groups
acutely disadvantaged, without hope of any meaningful future.

14. Poverty: while it is correct to say that Swaziland does not have natural
resources, depending on subsistence farming, and that the decline of sugar
prices has affected the economy, it must be accepted that corruption, royal
greed and wasteful practices are the direct cause of poverty in Swaziland.
Inappropriate allocation of state-funds to royal projects is a contributing
factor to escalating poverty in the country.

15. Unemployment: the current status quo in Swaziland is unable to attract
direct foreign investment; nor has it the capacity to generate jobs as funds
are channelled into petty royal projects, instead of into sustainable job
creation programmes.

16. HIV / AIDS: the absolute monarchy has failed to develop a comprehensive
management programme for HIV and AIDS that is inclusive of prevention, care,
support and ARV treatment. Until recent years, the absolute regime of Swaziland
has rejected the use of condoms as "unSwazi", or "uncultural". This has
resulted in a catastrophic spread of the HIV pandemic.

17. Violation of girl-child's and women's rights: Royal practice of
"girl-child abduction" is the violation of the rights of the child and of
women's rights, unacceptable in any modern society.

18. The royal constitution and the Swazi conflict: The Swazi conflict cannot be
resolved through reformists and fraudulent process such as the new royal
constitution. This constitution will continue to be a source of conflict
because its drafting process violated four major universal principles:

- Inclusiveness: the process was not people-driven; it discriminated against
social formations for democratic change and was conducted in a hostile
political environment.

- Transparency: the process failed to respect the principles of openness; it was
censored and intimidatory.

- Participatory: group submissions were not allowed, civic education was omitted
and this resulted in submissions out of context.

- Accountability: the facilitators of the process were not accountable to the
people, only to the king and the royal government.



The way out of this crisis


In the absence of royal willingness to respect the people of Swaziland and reach
a negotiated settlement through dialogue, Southern African Development Community
(SADC), mainly the Republic of South Africa and Mozambique, have the
responsibility of ensuring that peace in Swaziland is protected. This must not
be at the expense of the bleeding nation before a silent world.

The crisis in Swaziland cannot be left in the hands of the absolute monarchy for
it alone to decide as to when or how it should be resolved. It is high time that
the world take interest in this matter before it is too late.

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Earlier issues of Swaziland Newsletter can be read at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter together with documents
and other materials not included in the regular newsletter. If you wish to
subscribe to the newsletter, please send mail to:
SAK-Swazinewsletter-subscribe@... See photo section on the land,
life and struggle of the Swazi people.