PLOTS, INTRIGUE AND THE SWAZI KING

King Mswati III of Swaziland must be a very worried man at news that court papers relating to a treason trial held in secret shortly after he came to the throne have come to light after 23 years.

The papers, which were deliberately removed from Swaziland after the trial in 1987 and have been unearthed in Namibia, could contain details about the plotting that surrounded King Mswati’s rise to power. The papers might also remind the King’s subjects that he is really only where he is today because of political intrigue. Put simply, a political group plotting within the ruling elite of Swaziland supported him. Does he owe his position and wealth to them – and who knows, if today that same group wanted to withdraw its support, what happens next?

Unlike in many societies that still have monarchs, in Swaziland the eldest child (often only the son is eligible) of a deceased monarch doesn’t simply become king once the reigning monarch dies. In Swaziland, the king is said to be chosen in accordance with Swazi law and custom. But the part of Swazi law and custom relating to the selection of a successor to a king is unknown to a majority of ordinary Swazi.

The story of how King Mswati, who was known as Prince Makhosetive as a child, became the monarch goes like this, according to one biography.

‘King Sobhuza II had deftly managed to hold rivalling power factions within the royal ruling alliance in check, and so his death in August 1982, left a power vacuum.’

At this time Makhosetive was 15 years old and a schoolboy at Sherborne in England.

‘In keeping with tradition, Makhosetive’s appointment by his father was not publicly announced. Before his death the King had chosen one of his queens, the childless Princess Dzeliwe, to preside over the monarchy as regent until the prince turned 21 years of age.

‘It was in keeping with tradition that she be childless, so that she would not involve herself in a factional struggle to advance the position of her own son. Factional quarrels broke out into the open, however, in the interregnum period, while the prince was [at school] in the United Kingdom.

‘Continuing disputes led members of the Liqoqo, a supreme traditional advisory body, to force the Queen Regent to resign. In her stead the Liqoqo appointed Queen Ntombi, Prince Makhosetive’s mother, who initially refused to take up the position.

Further disputes between royal factions led to his coronation as King Mswati III, in April 1986, three years earlier than expected.

At the time, the King was the youngest monarch in the world.

‘Observers saw the early coronation as an attempt on the part of the Liqoqo to legitimate the usurpation of Dzeliwe and consolidate their gains in power. Prince Makhosetive, now King Mswati III, acted quickly however to disband the Liqoqo and call for parliamentary elections.

Another biography takes up the story.

‘In May 1986 Mswati dismissed the Liqoqo, the traditional advisory council to regents, which had assumed greater powers than were customary. In July 1986 he dismissed and charged with treason Prime Minister Prince Bhekimpi and several government officials for their role in the ejection of Queen Regent Dzeliwe, though he eventually pardoned those who were convicted.’

Another biography of King Mswati says,

‘King Mswati’s first two years of rule were characterized by a continuing struggle to gain control of the government and consolidate his rule.

‘Immediately following his coronation, Mswati disbanded the Liqoqo and revised his cabinet appointments. In October 1986 Prime Minister Bhekimpi Dlamini was dismissed and for the first time a nonroyal, Sotsha Dlamini, was chosen for the post.

‘Prince Bhekimpi and 11 other important Swazi figures were arrested in June 1987. [Prince] Mfanasibili, [Prince] Bhekimpi, and eight others were convicted of high treason. Eight of those convicted, however, were eventually pardoned.

‘In early 1989, rumors circulated to the effect that Prince Mfanasibili had attempted to orchestrate a coup while in prison. Other rumors suggested that Mfanasibili was planning an escape from prison for the purpose of mounting a coup. After Mswati's coronation, royal infighting and intrigue remained very much an aspect of Swazi governance.’

According to the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, the court papers that have just come to light relate to the trial of Prince Mfanasibili, Robert Mabila and George Msibi, three of the men convicted of treason. They are now said to want redress from the present Swazi Government. Mabila had been sentenced to eight years imprisonment and Prince Mfanasibili and Msibi were given 15-year jail terms. They were released after an order from King Mswati III in 1988.

I doubt if it is entirely a coincidence but on 15 January 2011 Prince Mfanasibili called his family together for a private meeting in which he is said to have given his version of the events surrounding the treason case. Some details of the ‘private’ meeting were reported in the Times of Swaziland yesterday (24 January 2011).

Until now the treason court judgement has remained secret. If the three men seeking redress from the government press their case, it is difficult to see how the details can remain secret much longer.

PLOT TO REVIVE SWAZI KING’S PARTY

We should not welcome the report that a plot is afoot to revive the Imbokodvo National Movement (INM) political party.

This is not a move towards democracy in Swaziland: in the past the INM was a front for the Swazi monarchy.

The Times of Swaziland reported yesterday (31 December 2010) that ‘a prince, a member of the King’s Advisory Council and an employee of the King’s Office’ were ‘behind a plot’ to revive the party. The Times says all three ‘work very closely with royalty’.

According to the Times, the plotters say King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, supports the revival of the party.

The INM was formed by the king’s father King Sobhuza II and his advisory council, the Swaziland National Council (liqoqo), to contest Swaziland’s election in 1964, which was held prior to the kingdom’s independence from Great Britain in 1968.

The INM’s platform focused on assistance to peasants, labelled the other parties as ‘foreign’, divisive and hostile to Swazi ‘tradition’ and sought to keep traditional land tenure unchanged while vesting mineral rights, like land, in the hands of the monarchy.

The INM had considerable resources at its disposal, including the support of King Sobhuza and the power of the chiefs who were able to force their subjects to vote for the party. The INM also had the support of capitalist interests and was able to persuade the voters that the interests of the King and the survival of the nation were one and the same.

The INM’s victory was overwhelming and it won all eight seats that were available for election, gathering 85.47 percent of the vote.

King Sobhuza banned all political parties in Swaziland following the election of 1973 when his subjects dared to elect some members of parliament who were from opposition parties. That ban has been in force ever since.

The Times in its report says that the plotters are trying to recruit members of the public for the revival of the party ‘as soon as possible’ and several meetings were held last month (December 2010) with some people earmarked to be the ‘front of the party’.

The Times did not name the plotters, but promised more revelations to come.

I don’t know what more it has to tell us, but we should remember that however much democrats might want to see political parties in the kingdom this move to reform the INM is a diversion.

We don’t want ‘plotters’ for the king reforming political parties. As a first step toward democracy we want all political parties unbanned, a free media and freedom of association. That way we can start a proper debate on the way forward for Swaziland.

HISTORY AND POLITICS IN SWAZILAND

This is taken from Peter Kenworthy’s Stiffkitten blogsite, 7 August 2010.

Swaziland, the last autocratic monarchy in Africa, is a country in an almost constant state of crisis. The repeated human rights violations and harassment of the Swazi democracy movement by the Swazi regime, the huge inequalities between a small Swazi elite and the poor majority, and an Aids prevalence rate of over 40% should make newspapers and governments around the world react. In recent months the house of the Swaziland United Democratic Front National Organising Secretary has been bombed, maybe by the Swazi police; the President of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions has has his house searched by no less than 12 police officers; the leader of the largest opposition party, PUDEMO, Mario Masuku has been charged with acts of terrorism for speaking his mind and is more or less constantly harassed by police; student leader Pius Vilakati has gone missing after having been attempted abducted by police; and human rights activist and PUDEMO member Sipho Jele died in police custody, probably at the hands of the police.

But these stories are rarely if ever covered by the foreign media or condemned by world leaders or governments and the historic background to Swaziland's present situation is more or less unknown.

This article will therefore give a brief historical overview of Swaziland and comment on the situation.

To read the full article click here.

SWAZILAND ELITE REWRITES HISTORY

The Swaziland government wants to rewrite history to make sure schoolchildren do not learn about groups fighting for democracy in the kingdom.

A change in the school history curriculum unveiled in November 2009 put groups such as the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) on the syllabus for Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE) history.

But PUDEMO, which is fighting for human rights and civil liberties in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is banned in Swaziland.

Last year Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, declared PUDEMO to be a terrorist group.

Now, the Swaziland Ministry of Education has ruled PUDEMO will be dropped from classes. Also set for the axe is the history of Liqoqo, a controversial council that helped King Mswati manipulate his way to the throne.

Months after publishing the history syllabus only now has the government realised that PUDEMO was to be taught in classes. This doesn’t say much for the government’s powers of observation since the media in Swaziland and the Internet worldwide covered the announcement in some detail at the time.

In a staggering exhibition of his own ignorance, Pat Muir, Principal Secretary at the Swaziland Ministry of Education, said it would have been impossible to teach schoolchildren about PUDEMO because there was no material that could be used by teachers and pupils for teaching about the group. (Doesn’t he read Swazi Media Commentary?)

SOURCES ON SWAZILAND’S STRUGGLE

I wrote on Saturday (12 December 2009) that there were no suitable textbooks detailing the struggle for liberation in Swaziland available to support the new Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE) syllabus in history that Swazi schoolchildren will have to learn from next year.

A reader informs me that although there may be no textbooks there is quite a lot of information about the subject on the EISA (formerly the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa) website.

Among the materials there are descriptions of the legal status of political parties and links to some of them.

Included is research paper specially commissioned by EISA written by the late Joshua Mzizi, of the University of Swaziland, titled Political Movements and the Challenges for Democracy in Swaziland, which is well worth reading for anyone interested in politics in Swaziland.

Also available on the website is an EISA research report called Swaziland’s Struggle with Political Liberalisation, edited by Claude Kabemba, which includes a chapter on the deficiencies of the present tinkhundla political system in Swaziland.

To access the EISA website click here.