As a measure of his power in April 2018 on his
fiftieth birthday and in the year that Swaziland marked its fiftieth
anniversary of independence from Great Britain the King announced unilaterally
that Swaziland would henceforth
be named Eswatini. No public debate took place and a legal notice
was signed.
A system of ‘Monarchical
Democracy’ invented by King Mswati in 2013 to justify his power
exists in Swaziland. He called it a system formed by merging the will of the people
with the monarch. He tried to sell this a new idea but he later admitted to
Reuters news agency (13
September 2013) that it was just another name for the tinkhundla
system that already existed
European Union Election Experts Mission (EEM), one of
a number of international groups that monitored the conduct of Swaziland’s
election in 2013, made much of how the kingdom’s absolute monarchy undermined
democracy. It reported,
‘The King has absolute power and is considered to be above the law, including
the Constitution,
enjoying the power to assent laws and immunity from criminal proceedings. A
bill shall not become law unless the King has assented to it, meaning that the
parliament is unable to pass any law which the King is in disagreement with.’
A
new study called Organised Certainty, Why elections in Swaziland are not
democratic examines Swaziland elections and demonstrates
that power rests with the King regardless of who the people put into the House
of Assembly. It is available free of charge online at Scribd
<<https://www.scribd.com/document/384752084/Organised-Certainty-Why-Elections-in-Swaziland-Are-Not-Democratic>>
People do not elect the government and have no way of
influencing its policies. The report follows the last poll in 2013 step by step
from the period running up to it and through the long-drawn out election
process that includes registration, nominations, a primary election and a final
(secondary) vote.
Section
one details
the political landscape of Swaziland. The Institute for Security Studies called
the tinkhundla elections ‘organised certainty’ because they changed nothing and
allowed the ruling regime to have an unchallenged monopoly over state
resources.
Section
two
reviews the work of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) that was
launched in 2008 under great controversy. Chief Gija Dlamini, an engineer and
one of King Mswati’s half-brothers, was appointed chair although the
Constitution stated the position should go to a judge. The EBC has been under
constant criticism since because of its inability to competently run elections.
The section also details the election process from registration through to the
final (secondary) election.
Section
three covers the period running up to the 2013 election
which was characterised by increasingly violent and abusive behaviour of police
and state forces. International observers such as the Open Society Initiative
for Southern Africa reported that the state was unable to accept that peaceful
political and social dissent was a vital element of a healthy democratic
process. The Swaziland United Democratic Front and the Swaziland Democracy
Campaign said police in Swaziland had become a private militia. The section
using contemporary sources details a number of cases of meetings and prayers
being disrupted and prodemocracy campaigners arrested.
Section
four
looks at registration and nominations in the 2013 election. Registration was
characterised by blunders by the EBC and corruption. Nominations descended into
chaos across Swaziland as equipment failed and some candidates who wanted to be
nominated were prevented because electoral officers would not allow it. Women
were banned from nomination because they wore trousers to nomination centres.
Section
five
examines the primary election. This takes place at chiefdoms and at the end of
the process one candidate is selected to go forward to the secondary election
at tinkhundla / constituency level. Bribery and corruption allegations were
widely reported and the primary elections were riddled with problems including
incorrect ballot papers issued, alleged tampering of ballot boxes, wrong
results announced, campaign laws broken and residents threatening to boycott
the poll. In at least one case riot police had to escort ballot boxes from the
polling station.
Section
six
reviews the secondary election, the stage of voting where the member of the
House of Assembly is finally elected. Election observers reported it went more
smoothly than the primary election but the vote was marred by instances of
violence. Police brutally stopped a peaceful march after voters at one
constituency protested the result and there were fears of election rigging elsewhere.
Nine people including an 85-year-old woman were taken to hospital when voters
at a Lomahasha polling station reported stampeded.
Section
seven reports the election results and the aftermath.
Although the names of winning candidates were promptly announced it took the
EBC more than three years to formally release the results. Only four in ten
people entitled to vote did so at the secondary election.
Shortly after the election,
King Mswati named two princes, a princess and three members of
his own Dlamini clan among his 10 appointees to the House of Assembly. He also
appointed six members of his family to the Senate, where he picks 20 members.
He then appointed another 16 members of his Royal Family to top political jobs;
effectively carving up public life in the kingdom in his favour.
There were nine princess and princesses and a further
seven from the family Dlamini in the 24-strong Liqoqo (the Swaziland National
Council), the most powerful of the committees that nominally advises the King.
There were four princes and princesses and four Dlaminis in the Ludzidzimi
Council, which advises the Queen Mother. The Border Restoration Committee which
exists to try to get South Africa to give some of its territory to King Mswati
had three princes and princesses and five Dlaminis among its 14 members. King
Mswati also reappointed Barnabas
Dlamini as Prime Minister.
Section
eight explores media coverage of the elections. Nearly all
broadcast media are state controlled and censored. One of only two daily
newspapers in the kingdom is in effect owned by King Mswati. The media told
their audiences and readers that it was their duty to support the King by
voting. Often media reported that people were electing a government when they
were not. International media were more revealing, often reporting the
opposition view that the election was a fraud.
Section
nine
looks at disputes and court procedures. The 2013 election did not end with the
announcement of the winners. The Swaziland High Court was kept busy with a
number of claims of malpractice. A total of 31 election cases were brought
before the High Court for determination by prospective and actual candidates
for election and 23 cases were dismissed.
Section
ten
offers some final words by reprising human rights reports from international
organisations for the year 2017 (the most recent available). Among a long list
violations are arbitrary
interference with privacy and home; restrictions on freedoms of speech,
assembly, and association; denial of citizens’ ability to choose their
government in free and fair elections; institutional lack of accountability in
cases involving rape and violence against women and criminalization of same-sex
sexual conduct.
Appendix
one
is an extract from the Commonwealth
Observer Mission Report on the 2013 election. The EBC accredited more than 400
international and local observers to witness the poll. In its report, the EBC
listed good practices and areas for improvement highlighted by observers but it
ignored the fact that many groups declared the election was not free and fair
because Swaziland was not a democracy. The extract from the Commonwealth
Observer Mission offers a more complete picture. It concludes, ‘that the entire
process could not be deemed credible, due to major democratic deficits’.
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