Swaziland@Newsletter Extra
Published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark)

Earlier issues 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@...
_______________________________________


Protecting the integrity of the African Unity (AU).

Swaziland is forced to withdraw candidate from the AU election. PUDEMO
International Office. January 7, 2008.

Dr. Jabulane Matsebula, Representative. Australia, Asia and the South
Pacific Region.


Behind the scenes protest against the nomination of the former Prime
Minister of Swaziland for the African Unity leadership election has
yielded results. The Government of Swaziland has now withdrawn
the nomination of Dlamini for the Chairperson of the AU election due in
January, 2007.

Unfortunately, the Swazi government has not been honest about its
decision to withdraw the nomination. It has promoted the story
that it took this decision in support of a unified Southern African
Development Community (SADC) campaign to present one candidate from
the region. However, this explanation is not consistent with Swazi
government behaviour. For example, why did it wait until the last
minute before withdrawing its nomination of Dlamini? Furthermore, if
the government believed that Dlamini was a strong candidate for the
position, it should have been promoting him as the consensus candidate
for Southern Africa and lobbying for regional support. Instead, the
government pulled him out of the election race altogether.

The government story is thus at odds with its behaviour and highly
dubious. However, to most observers, the reason for its action is
obvious. The Swazi government withdrew its nomination of Dlamini
because it was unable to attract support for his campaign. The SADC
and AU are organisations committed to democratic governance. If they
had supported Dlamini candidacy, the integrity and credibility of
these organisations would have been severely undermined because of his
terrible record in office and the refusal by the Swaziland dictatorship
to adhere to SADC and AU principles of democracy.

Since his appointment as Swazi Prime Minister in 1996, Dlamini
presided over some of the worst political crises in Swazi history and
his government was marred by controversies and bad judgements. From
1996 to 2003, he led the authoritarian regime and he is currently a
member of King Mswati III?s Advisory Council, a body that has
vigorously opposed the transition from royal authoritarianism to
democracy. Selected from the royal family inner circles, the Advisory
Council is the monarchy?s eye of power making sure that public
institutions and citizens conform to the royal authoritarian system.
As a result, the Advisory Council exercises enormous political
influence in Swaziland?s politics and is well known for its ruthless
intolerance of political dissent.

Dlamini also served in previous governments as Minister of Finance
(1983-1992) including the notorious Liqoqo regime known for its
brutality against government critics, corruption and disregard for the
rule of law. Human rights abuses under the Liqoqo regime between 1983
and 1986 are well documented by
various international human rights organisations such as Amnesty
International. As Minister of Finance, Dlamini was responsible for the
growth of a culture of corruption in government and lavish royal
spending with dire economic consequences. Today, this culture is well
entrenched and continues to paralyse the economy and government
services.

In his term as Prime Minister, he was known for extravagant spending
on royal luxuries. In 2002, the local and international communities
were horrified by the Dlamini secret authorisation of the purchase of a
private jet for the royal family at a cost of E450 million (US$45
million). This was a morally bankrupt decision which clearly
demonstrated the insensibility of the government to the effects of the
drought conditions and the HIV epidemic on the general population.

However, Dlamini is probably most infamous for his exercise of naked
power in 2000 and 2002 when he ruthlessly suppressed freedom of the
press, political freedom and judicial independence. On February 17,
2000 the government closed down the state-owned newspaper, The Swazi
Observer, for refusing to reveal sources of articles relating to the
Royal Swaziland Police secret activities. A year later, on May 4,
2001, the Dlamini government closed down two independent media groups,
The Nation and Guardian of Swaziland, for publishing stories
criticising human rights abuses and lavish spending by the government
and royal family. In September 1999, the government charged the Times
Sunday Editor, Bheki Makhubu, with criminal defamation for publishing
an article in which he described the King Mswati III fiancée as a high
school drop-out.

As Prime Minister, Dlamini was the architect of the infamous Decree
No.2, 2001, a law designed to strengthen the authoritarian position of
the absolute monarchy government. Under this Decree, publication of
materials containing criticisms of the system of government and its
leadership were prohibited. Even the production and publication of
satirical materials relating to the royal family such as impersonating
the king were declared to be criminal offences punishable with a
10-year jail term.

The Decree also gave the Minister of Information the power to
unilaterally proscribe media organisations which failed to observe
these prohibitions. Thus Decree No.2 reflects the ambition of an over
zealous dictatorial regime to rule by fear. To all intents and
purposes, the Decree was designed to renew the climate of fear
generated by the royal Proclamation of 1973 which had been
significantly weakened by the democratic movement led by PUDEMO. Hence
Decree No.2 bears all the hallmarks of the 1973 Proclamation which
made it a criminal offence to exercise freedom of thought in
Swaziland. Ultimately, Decree No.2 was withdrawn because of sustained
local and international condemnation. However, parts of this Decree
such as the controversial Non-Bailable Order were incorporated into
Decree No.3, 2001 which, in 2002 to 2004, was one of the key issues at
the centre of the rule of law crisis. As the then Prime Minister,
Dlamini must be held directly responsible for this crisis.

From 2002 to 2004, the rule of law in Swaziland was severely harmed
when the former Prime Minister abandoned all judicial procedures in
preference to brute political force. In what can best be described as
a ruthless assault on the integrity of the judiciary, Dlamini declared
on November 28, 2002 that the Government of His Majesty would not
respect the Court of Appeal judgements relating to three cases, the
Non-Bailable Offences Order, the mass eviction of families from
Kamkhweli and Macetjeni areas and the committal of senior police
officers to imprisonment for contempt of court. In his public address
to the nation on November 28, 2002, the former Prime Minister ordered
all law enforcement sectors to disobey the Court of Appeals rulings,
creating a crisis in the rule of law hitherto unseen in Swaziland
judicial history. All judges of the Court of Appeal resigned in
protest against this display of brute political attack on the
independence of the judiciary. For two years, Swaziland had no
functioning Court of Appeal. Details of these cases can be found in
the Amnesty International Report (AFR 55/004/2004) and PUDEMO Report
(September 28, 2004).

Clearly, Dlamini is not a suitable candidate for the AU position given
his disastrous record in government. This record renders him
completely unfit for public office and he should have not been
recommended in the first place. Africa, particularly SADC, must be
congratulated for its commitment to protecting AU integrity by
refusing to endorse this tin-pot dictator to take the reins of the
organisation.

As an organisation committed to democratic governance and political
transparency, we are obliged to expose the Dlamini record and make sure
that he is quarantined from international leadership responsibilities.
We have an obligation to the people of Africa to protect the integrity
of the AU as a forward looking organisation committed to political,
economic and social progress. The quality of leaders at the helm of
the AU is crucial to achieving the goals of the organisation and
building its global credibility.

Dr. Jabulane Matsebula, Representative. Australia, Asia and the South
Pacific Region.

____________________________________________


Swaziland Newsletter is published by Africa Contact (Denmark) and
distributed to more than 1200 national and international
organisations, research institutes, universities, trade unions and
labour movements, political parties, church organisations, print and
electronic media, governments, diplomatic missions, members of
parliament, parliamentary committees and private individuals in
Southern Africa, Europe and the United States of America.

Support the democratic movement in Swaziland: MANDELA FUND: BG
Bank,Norre Voldgade 68, 1358 Copenhagen K, Denmark. SWIFT-BIC:
DABADKKK. Registration Number: 0274. Account Number: 3327000. The
MANDELA FUND is a registered national collection in Denmark.