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EDGAR HILLARY’S ASSIGNMENT

26/03/2017 09:37:00 By Jan Sithole

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Demand 21 of the popular 27 Demands of the then Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and civil society had been that there should be a repeal of the cancerous 1973 decree, which unlawfully deposed the then 1968 independence Constitution.

The decree was a product of broad dialogue and before its inception, we were ruled by the colonial British.
While Swaziland was a protectorate by choice of the Swazis themselves, it took political parties and the workers in 1963 on the theme which nowadays would have been called ‘#One British pound sterling a day,’ strike by the workers on the one hand and the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) on the other to bring realisation to the British that Swazis now wanted their freedom.

Post the national strike action, in their sensitivity, they responded by calling all available politically sensitive and active stakeholders which included the political party representatives, the Swazi National Council representatives, the British Council representatives to begin to chart an independence Constitution in readiness for the independence.

In the road map and sequence of events leading to independence, elections were held in 1967 where in the Imbokodvo National Movement, a party that was closer the King Sobhuza II won all the sits.
The Constitution that existed then, had and respected the Bill of Rights, had and respected political parties in their diversity, had and respected the Monarchy and the role they could play, the constitution respected the doctrine of the separation of powers meaning independent Judiciary, independent Legislature and the Executive and Swaziland remain a Swazi Kingdom co-existing with political parties.

The constitution respected all freedoms including but not limited to the freedom of expression. Even the opposition had access to the public broadcaster. The subsequent elections which were run in terms of the independence constitution so the opposition winning three seats out of a Parliament of twenty one seats. A problem started for the Imbokodvo because for the first time since they had been in power they never experienced opposition in the houses of Parliament. The irony is that the Imbokodvo had an overwhelming majority in Parliament but felt completely invaded and lost their cool and began to want to attack the freedom spaces that the NNLC team was utilising effectively.

The first to be attacked was Ngwenya a Swazi born at Mjindini next to Barberton, there he was harassed and depoted, something which he challenged in courts, the independent Judiciary that existed acquitted him. The government did not relent, a special tribunal was set and he was deported. The irony here is that Mjindini in Mpumalanga is one of the areas considered but of Swaziland. This stands to demonstrate the extent and evil of intolerance towards the voices of decent that existed. This action did not deter the remaining two Parliament Members from standing their ground.

This spirit of non-surrender caused an even a bigger blunder by the government who decided to conduct a constitutional coup de tatand declared a state of emergency which revoked the independence constitution, passed the draconian decree that banned political Secretary General of SUFI the Bankers Union in 1989 before it changed name to SUFIAWU. At the time SUFI was an affiliate of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions(SFTU), and David held the position of Deputy Secretary General at the SFTU, and I was the Secretary General of the federation and as an organisation we refused to accept this kind of abuse of power and action which resulted in his down fall and the appointment of Obed Dlamini into the position of Prime Minister.
Fast forward the 27 demands era eventually brought the authorities to engage with the workers after continuous pressure by workers and civil society and the constitutional Review was created by the King and multiple stake holders were selected into the review commission. This process took almost 10 years and was a response to demand 21 of the popular 27. The review commission finished and a drafting committee was established and completed its draft somewhere around 2004, the draft was also opened to consultations. Notably the draft had a Christian clause, which was eventually removed at the insistence and the free religion clause replaced the initial Christian religion which we now want to circumvent with a policy that is now contradicting the constitutional dictate.A story for another day.
Fast forward to July 27, 2005 when the constitution was adopted at Sibaya (Ludzidzini Royal Residence).
The constitution contained the Bill of Rights and several other social and economic pronouncements. Swaziland being a member of the United Nations is expected on a four-year basis make reports and account on human rights improvements/violations to all members of the United Nations at the United Nations peer review session. In 2011 Swaziland had her turn to account there were several questions asked. One of which was the death penalty. But I want to zero on the one question that was asked with regards to banning of political parties in Swaziland after six years of a constitution that did not ban political parties.
The response from the government of Swaziland representative, who was Minister Mgwagwa Gamedze, was that political parties were not banned, government is in the process of preparing a bill to regulate the registration of political parties.
These reports are noted and every four years, progress is checked and all members of the United Nations are provided with this report that is why it is called ‘peer review’ because it is the peers that a member State accounts to.
Fast forward 2015 because of the laws that caused the country the loss of AGOA and other violations the European Union discussed and took resolutions on Swaziland which were pending implementation if there were no significant actions to make good the list of violations.
Government sent a high powered delegation composed of members of the Cabinet, members of Senate and members of the House of Assembly went to the European Union Parliament to tell the country’s story. Among the issues they stated that political parties are not banned and are active in Parliament.
In 2016, Edgar Hillary, the current Minister for Justice, at yet another United Nations forum, stated the same thing; that political parties were not banned in Swaziland and that government was still preparing a bill to register them.
Then came Chief Gija Dlamini, Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission Chief Gija was inviting political parties to participate in the 2018 elections. It is clear that this is just an international narrative designed to wade international pressure for the de facto banning of political parties by not legalising them in the country but informing the international community that we exist.
Political parties remain a political creature but unregulated. It is the duty of the minister of justice to regulate political parties, just as it is the duty of the minister for labour to make a bill regulating unions and employer organisations.
I call on the minister of justice to do the right thing, as enshrined in section 25(4) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.