MSWATI’S BATTLE AGAINST DEMOCRACY As king Mswati’s royal elections head to their secondary and final stage a total of five cabinet ministers have already been voted off out of the eight who stood for the Royal elections, something regarded as the worst record for former ministers since the 2003 elections, when only four made it out of seven. This is not surprising, and there is a likelihood that more former ministers will stumble in the next stage. MOST UNPOPULAR CABINET The reason for this lack of faith in what king Mswati regarded as the best minds in the previous parliament is the king’s failures as the supreme leader of that group of men and women who have been made scape-goats by the electorate, albeit deservedly so. It is no secret that the last five years have been the worst for the country, with the economy continuing to take a dip, leading to fiscal challenges which have never been witnessed in the country’s history. In the midst of these challenges, social expenditure took a back seat while taxes increased. The king and his cabinet failed to respond to these challenges effectively, opting for self-aggrandisement instead of frugality. The upheaval that followed manifested itself in general protests and industrial action.When it was clear that the general population was opposed to the policies of the king’s government and expressed this by turning against cabinet, the national parliament tried to save face by passing an unprecedented vote of no confidence on cabinet. VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE Regardless of the apparent lack sincerity in that vote, it has to be hailed as a bold move by those members of parliament. Unwittingly, they were passing a vote of no confidence on the king’s leadership. After all, the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers are appointed by the king to be a committee of councillors who run errands on his behalf. They therefore do not make independent decision but rather execute decision made by the king. It was therefore not surprising that the vote of no-confidence was ignored by the king. He immediately told his committee of ministers to continue to report for work. Emboldened by the stance from the powers that be, these ministers went about their daily business, leaving the country’s Attorney General, another king’s appointee, to spin the embarrassing stand-off. His exact words were that the vote of no-confidence was “null and void”. With the country and the rest of the world watching, the country’s parliament had the ball in its court. They could either have chosen to resign en-masse and expose the system for the dictatorship it was, after all this is what judges of the former Court of Appeal did in 2002 when the king similarly refused to uphold a judgement against the government. The parliament reneged on its vote of no confidence, but not without a lot of heckling and threats behind the scenes from the king’s henchmen. King Mswati has the power to dissolve parliament at any time without accounting to anyone. He can neither be sued nor challenged in any way for any political decision that he makes. These parliamentarians, many of whom were hoping to return to the next parliament, chose to keep food on their tables rather than become the heroes they could have been. After all, many were simply joining the bandwagon, pointing fingers at their colleagues who were closer to the king, and whom they hoped to replace if the vote of no-confidence was accepted by the king. SCAPE-GOATS It is therefore not surprising that the former ministers of the crown, associated with the country’s most turbulent times have not fared well in the parliamentary elections. They will have to watch from the side-lines, as former politicians, while a new set of parliamentary back-benchers take their colleagues’ places and others fill the space they left as king Mswati’s privileged group of advisors. The person behind their collective failures, meanwhile, will continue to wreck the country and have a new committee to take the blame for them. This is the failure of Swazi politics, or rather the current system of governance, it is a dictatorship through and through but couched up in window-dressing exercises which the lay-person would not easily discern. That is one of the reasons why some people continue to participate in the parliamentary elections; they sincerely hope that their elected candidates will be part of governing structures. This naivety is endemic in the country. To many rural folk, the members of parliament who are elected are expected to bring development in their communities rather than legislating. When the king’s government fails to develop those communities, the parliamentarians are blamed for that and voted out. The cycle is repeated until a certain idea takes root in the minds of the electorate,”All politicians are the same, they never deliver.” The aspiring candidates are responsible for creating this national scandal. Instead of telling the truth that they are campaigning to be a part of a powerless parliament, they make empty promises to the electorate. From better roads, schools and hospitals to jobs, they promise things they know well they do not have the power to deliver or even advocate for, because parliament even in Swaziland is not a nagging chamber. CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY Calls for democracy in Swaziland have therefore never been louder or clearer. Swazis want and need a government of their choosing, which will be accountable to them. Put simply, they want People Power, to elect their own executive government and a parliament with actual power. The role of the monarchy is of no relevance and can only be determined by a population that truly governs. The Mass democratic Movement therefore embarked on the most publicised calls for a boycott of the elections. The motive behind the boycott is simple, that participation only serves to reinforce the idea that there is a semblance of authority in the country’s parliament. This call is now vindicated by the open victimisation of those who proclaimed that they would change the system from within by running for elections. It seems king Mswati fears all forms of opposition, regardless of the powerlessness of the platform from which it comes. The calls for a boycott are obviously not enough, and ought to be complemented with more pro-active activities. With or without the boycott, king Mswati will appoint a new Prime Minister and cabinet in late September and continue where he left off, using his new group of hungry scape-goats who are only too eager to be in the presence of a king. REGIONAL INDEFERENCE Despite this complete lack of democracy in the kingdom, the Southern African Development Community will rubber stamp the meaningless outcome and declare the elections as free and fair. TheSecretary General of the SADC Parliamentary forum, a certain Dr Esau Chiviya, when quizzed on the nature of the country’s elections, declared that they were “democratic”. As to how he came to that conclusion is beyond human comprehension. The regional heads will act on Swaziland because the country joined the SADC as a full-fledged dictatorship. SADC was formed by one-party states who at the time of the organisation’s formation felt it was brotherly to maintain silence on the internal affairs of each other. Swaziland is therefore only expected to only maintain the governing system at the time it joined the regional organization, without any sudden and “unconstitutional” change of government. This of course is hypocritical because Swaziland even today is not governed constitutionally but by Royal decree. Ironically, a coup de tat in the country could lead to it being expelled from the organization, this renders it nothing but a club used to preserve the status quo in the region. THE ROAD AHEAD Despite these challenges, the Swazi people are gradually coming out of their shells, questioning belief systems which they once thought were unquestionable. Fortunately this is more pronounced amongst the people at grass-roots level. This is partly a result of the technological developments rendering media censorship useless. Social media and the internet, still difficult for the state to muzzle, is the leading platform for sharing of ideas. Attempts are also being made to reach those who may not have access to these tools. Although these efforts are small, they are very important and those behind them are well advised to continue with them. Articulating the powerlessness of the country’s parliament should not only be done during election year, it must be a daily exercise. Therefore, as king Mswati celebrates another “free and fair” if not “meaningless” election, he should be well aware that he has only won a battle, the war continues and this may well be the last election the country has under this dictatorship, it all depends on the efforts of the opposition though. Lucky Lukhele- Spokesperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa chapter The article was first published by the Sunday Independent September 8, 2013 edition
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:23:29 +0000
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