Think Tank Report on Swaziland Reinforces Tinkhundla: Dismisses Democracy Movement! SDC Statement 09 September 2013 Chatham House is a UK based think tank that is home to the Royal Institute for International Affairs, and promotes itself as an independent source on matters of international relations. However, judging from its latest report on Swaziland, largely authored by Alex Vines (Order of the British Empire) a senior officer of the organisation, it is in danger of having its reputation shredded! The report on Swaziland is chronically deficient in several ways. While it outlines some of the harsh conditions experienced by the people of Swaziland in terms of poverty and HIV, mass unemployment and the almost total absence of social welfare, it places all possibilities for change on the worsening economic situation, and the unsustainable route being followed by the Royal Elite. It argues that it will be impending financial ruin and not peoples power that will eventually bring King Mswati and his court to their senses. The parlous state of the Swazi economy is extremely well documented and known, including the fact that a large proportion of the countries receipts go straight into propping up the ostentatious lifestyles of the Royal Family, but that they also complement the skewed domineering ownership by King Mswati himself of very large parts of the private and public assets of the country. The institutionalised corruption that takes place is also well known and documented, as are the ridiculous shopping expeditions of the Kings family members to all corners of the planet, including recently to Australia. What the report does not address is the allocation of resources to the security cluster in the country, to maintain these corrupt and completely wasteful extravagancies, and which serve to keep the people of Swaziland in dire and worsening poverty. The report fails the people of Swaziland, in a number of ways. It completely bypasses the need to apply universal standards of what should constitute a democratic election process. The fact that prominent and completely innocent democracy activists continue to languish in miserable Swazi prisons, while peaceful political parties remain banned and forced underground with no rights whatsoever to contest elections, let alone campaign, when civil society activists are routinely arrested, detained and maltreated, including respected and well known trade union leaders, and when even multi-congregational prayer meetings calling for peace and justice are broken up by police. This alone should render the so-called elections a farce. Does Alex Vines OBE believe that free and fair elections can take place under these conditions? The answer appears to be yes! But there is more. Even if the repression unleashed again last week during the Global Week of Action had not taken place, the fact that there is not even an accurate or transparent electoral roll, that there is no open process for the selection of parties and candidates by constituents, and mounting evidence of widespread intimidation of especially poor communities by chieftaincies backed by the police should be more than enough to condemn the electoral charade that is taking place. As if this is not bad enough, the holder of the Order of the British Empire insisted when in Swaziland that the democratic movement, and especially PUDEMO was wrong to boycott the electoral charade! This is a ridiculous conclusion from one who is supposed to be independent, and capable of critical analysis. Let us put the record straight. If it were not for the courage and determination of countless democracy activists drawn from the Trade Unions, banned Political and Faith Based Organisations, Youth and Student movements, there would not even be the sham elections that the Royal Elite are now offering. If not for those outstanding, people centred activists who have bravely challenged Royal rule by decree, and who, at great personal risk, have organised and mobilised against incredible odds, to expose the wholly corrupt Tinkhundla system, then even worse pillaging of national resources would have taken place. After all, it was the concerted effort of the democracy movement, and especially the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and its campaigning wing the Swaziland Democracy Campaign inside the country and many activists from outside that helped prevent the South African bailout from going ahead. Rather than be bewitched by another Royal Family, why didn’t Alex Vines OBE and his team recognise that supporting the democratic movement is the best way of promoting democracy in Swaziland? Why have they fallen into the trap of believing that only a worsening economic crisis may relieve the country of its Royal despot? From the point of view of the poor and ordinary people of Swaziland, the economic situation is already at a crisis level! How hard does it have to get before the likes of Chatham House acknowledge the positive role of the democratic movement in rescuing Swaziland? Why has Alex Vines OBE not argued for a concerted approach from the EU, from the AU and from SADC instead of castigating those who are the real defenders of human and civil rights? The fact of the matter is this. Think Tanks like Chatham House are not neutral observers. They are part of a self serving elite who pontificate and even at times dare to criticise, but who nevertheless are prepared to bypass the democratic imperative, especially when vested interests, including South African and British capital, continue to benefit from an association with one of our Continents last discredited despots. Thankfully, the democratic movement does not require the endorsement of Alex Vines OBE and his team, but this report confirms that his institution has failed to break from its inglorious colonial past, and remains part of the problem, and not part of the solution. For more information please contact: Stephen Faulkner, 082 817 5455, [email protected] Philani Ndebele, 076 942 3565, [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:52:17 +0000
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