SWAZILAND AND ITS POLITICS UNUSUAL 14/07/2014 04:16:00By Vusi Sibisi The loss of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benefits has put into sharp focus the Kingdom of eSwatini’s foreign policy and its international relations not only with other countries but as well as with multilateral international organisations and her obligations thereto. Perhaps most instructive on this subject was the immediate reaction of the government in the aftermath of her ejection from AGOA beneficiary countries which can, at best, be described as undiplomatic. The decision by government to boycott the commemoration of the United States Independence Day at Ambassador Makila James’ residence was apparently informed by emotive and unproductive politics and was a downright embarrassment. Foreign Affairs and International Development Minister Mgwagwa Gamedze would have us believe that the ceremony, in which His Majesty King Mswati III is traditionally represented by one of the senior princes with Indlunkhulu, Cabinet Ministers and top government apparatchiks all in tow, coincided with a busy government schedule. He was trying, albeit unsuccessfully one might add, to explain the absence of the usual motley array of government officials from the American celebrations, which apparently was nothing else but a boycott. As I see it, what is obvious in this sordid and unfortunate episode is that the Swazi government took the Kingdom’s ejection from AGOA as a diplomatic spat between the two nations and thus set out to retaliate with the most unorthodox and undiplomatic of means, by boycotting the American celebration. Even assuming that the Kingdom’s ejection from AGOA amounted to a diplomatic chilling of relations, the government’s reaction was not well-reasoned but emotive, because it lacked logic and was unsustainable. What should be understood is that AGOA is a carrot in the US foreign policy armoury that gives economic benefits to those African countries that choose to embrace democracy and all its principles. The US did not force any country to join AGOA; this choice was left to the respective countries for as long as they met its stated preconditions, which essentially are underpinned by democratic principles, in their domestic politics. That the US periodically reviews the criterion for qualifying or remaining in AGOA cannot, therefore, be classed as interference in the domestic political affairs of the Kingdom of eSwatini, as the leadership would want the world to believe when they cast themselves as victims of American neo-imperialism. There are only two options in this scenario; take it or leave it, without crying wolf. The equation is a simple one; it is the Kingdom of eSwatini that benefits from its diplomatic relations with the US and not the other way around. In short, it is this country that needs the US. Delivered Just on the eve of the now-topical US independence celebrations, the Americans had delivered a two million Emalangeni library to a rural school, which will directly benefit Swazi children and which would have taken government some light-years to provide because of its skewed priorities in favour of the military and hedonistic vanity projects. It is the very same Americans who are responsible for elevating the profile of this country in its success in fighting and containing HIV/AIDS prevalence, as the single largest source of donor funding. The list of accruing benefits from having diplomatic ties with the US is, indeed, endless. Thanks to the maturity of American politics, the US chose not to reciprocate the gesture of the Swazi government. This was on public display just last Friday, when Ambassador James honoured the 50th celebration of conservation at Mlilwane Game Reserve. In some way, this gesture is a face-saver in that it has broken the ice and now the Swazi government need not worry about how it could have sustained its unproductive boycott of the US. Government, therefore, has been provided an opportunity to re-evaluate its foreign policy and international relations. As I see it, it is common cause that in the last decade or so the Kingdom of eSwatini has reengineered its diplomatic focus towards the Far East Asian countries, whose democratic credentials are nothing to write home about. This was, of course, to avoid the increasing pressure from the Kingdom’s traditional allies, such as the United Kingdom and the US, to democratise. Yet there is little aid that has flowed from these newly-found friends, with the exception of Taiwan, compared to the British and Americans. Accomplished At the last Sibaya, government was cajoled into giving passage to a battery of international conventions, a task that was duly accomplished. As with all other conventions the Kingdom of eSwatini has signed up for, and indeed ratified, these have still not been domesticated and there appears to be no intention of doing so. That the kingdom was kicked out of AGOA is essentially because of a failure to live by the letter of these conventions, as attested to by the five AGOA benchmarks the country refused, and failed, to respect. As it were, these benchmarks would not have arisen - or could have easily been met - if the national Constitution was respected as the supreme law of the land and implemented fully. Thus, signing up to and ratifying international conventions is but grandstanding on the part of this, the Kingdom of eSwatini, because there is never any commitment to live by those conventions. As such, this country can never be trusted in its intercourse with other countries, as well as with multilateral international organisations. A graphic example of this is reneging on respecting her very own home-grown national Constitution - otherwise the Kingdom of eSwatini would not have been kicked out of AGOA. Irrespective, and in spite of, its obligations to international conventions and the world at large, the Kingdom of eSwatini continues to live by its own norms with no respect for the conventional in what, evidently, is ‘politics unusual’; a perfect fit to her socio-economic motto of ‘development unusual’. times.co.sz/features/97987-swaziland-and-its-politics-unusual.html
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:02:01 +0000
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