THE WAY FORWARD FOR
PART III
Suddenly, the shocking and dramatic events of the past week
on the world stage, the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental
protectors in Nigeria, hastens the paste and significance of our thesis, namely,
the need for good government. For while it is now internationally accepted that
in the person of General Sami Abacha, Nigeria has produced Idi Amin Mark II, it
is equally true that these things do not just happen out of the blue. They take time to fester and grow
out of the chaotic environment of bad government and the corruption of public
office by a significant few at the expense of the nation.
We shudder to think what would have happened to little
Swaziland had Mfanasibili and his “Gang of Four” succeeded in selling the
country to a Nigerian hustler, one Mr. Fernandez who already boasted a Swazi
Royal Police security guard reserved for a Head of State together with a
government country guest house, a Swazi diplomatic international passport, a
fleet of government cars, and what else? Meanwhile top police and army
officers, together with senior government ministers who refused to support them
were languishing in condemned cells at Matsapa Central Prison crying for help.
Just like that? Just like that. Mass graves were the next step in to the fall
to the abyss. That is how fast and frightening to every thinking Swazi.
So we are not just talking to while away time. This is very
serious business, it is your future, the future of your children and, indeed, the
future of Africa and world government. We must forever remain committed and
vigilant. And nobody can accuse us of having lacked or relaxed in that duty. We
warned King Sobhuza this would happen. We protested against Mfanasibili and the
Liqoqo (“The Frog”); we protested against the expulsion of Sotja Dlamini,
Malchosonble Dlamini; and three other police officers fired by Mfanasibili; we
protested against the expulsion and detention without trial (false
imprisonment) of Titus Msibi (former Commissioner of Police), Edgar Hillary
(then Deputy Commissioner), Simon Nxumalo (then Finance Minister), Arthur
Khoza, and others, as mentioned earlier.
The painful lesson we learn from these former detainees,
including the case of Dambuza Dlamini, is that it is almost impossible to
reform the system “from within” unless you are at the very top vis-à-vis the
King.’ E .g., It is a paradox that Mswati III who saved the Nation from
Mfanasibili and Liqoqo chaotic quagmire is now himself a prisoner of the same
system, unless pushed by national and international events. Nationally, the
only people to rescue the King from the clutches of the clique (the benefiting
few who have turned the King into their own “Mdumbadunbane”) are the Swazis
themselves, the collective will of the people.
But while that remains true, as the King correctly told
reporters when he visited South Africa in August , we must point out that the
Swazi people shall only do that in a climate of free expression and political
organization without intimidation. The simplest way to do that for King Mswati
is to reinstate the Swaziland constitution of 1968, otherwise known as the
Independence Constitution. That would immediately legalise political parties in the
country, reinstate freedom of expression, association, assembly, etc.,
otherwise known as the Bill of Human Rights.
The constitution was hammered out in a period of seven years
(1961-68) and contains ideas of the best brains in the business, from Professor
Cowen of the University of Cape Town to the expertise and experience of the
then British Administration. All we need to do now is update it to meet today’s
and tomorrow’s needs. E.g. To avoid another self appointed Liqoqo hiding behind
the King’s blanket, the constitution must make it categorically clear that in
the event of the death of Head of State and/or the King, the popularly elected
government, in Parliament, shall remain in office until the next general
elections, while allowing for the period of debate about succession to the
Swazi Crown to take place without panic nor violence.
In any modern democracy, the idea that the country should
remain completely paranoid while the likes of Mfanasibili fight out in the dark
corridors and stomach-saving intrigues of the palace is as nonsensical as it is
dangerous. Business and industry cannot operate in a climate of uncertainty.
The House of Assembly, together with the Senate and the Collegiate of
Traditional Chiefs, would have to sign Bills on behalf of the Queen Regent
during this period. (Swazi tradition dictates that every clan select their own
chief or successor, so that royal princes and princesses would take or leave
for that purpose).
Other areas that need urgent constitutional updates are
those involving minerals and the land question vis-à-vis the Tibiyo Taka Ngwane
National Fund. Which areas of minerals, land, and national projects generally
fall within the government treasury in Mbabane and which ones fall within
Tibiyo.
We shall recall that the Tibiyo Taka Ngwane fund was
established just before independence by King Sobhuza II helped by Simon Nxumalo
and other legal and financial experts. The idea was to protect the King, in
trust for the Swazi Nation, against mineral exploiters and the British
Administration through mineral royalties. As its name suggests, it is a Swazi
National Public Fund whose audited accounts must be published and displayed at
the Swazi National Offices at Lobamba and the Treasury at Mbabane for public
scrutiny.
The same applies to the Tisuka TakaNgwane Fund, its brain
child. These funds were certainly not set up as private in-pocket expenses for
the King in his private capacity, and to run as he wished through his cronies
and friends like Ndumiso Mamba, with no public accounting. This immediately
raises the question of the King’s salary and these expenses of running the
royal households. These are urgent serious matters we are talking about which
need be addressed by the updated national constitution. Hospitals in the land
have fallen to bits with neither drugs nor blankets, there is urgent need for
modernizing and building new schools, the central government is running on a
deficit, all this while national funds are squandered through waste,
mismanagement and theft by the King’s cronies and “friends.” This cannot be
allowed to go on; the outside world shall help us if we are seen to help
ourselves. The King must think hard before he adds another to his seven wives,
how is he going to maintain them and their children.
We know that King Sobhuza left many orphans with neither
means of support nor livelihood. The myth that this “Swazi tradition” is
nonsense with no place in today’s world of limited resources. For a start,
Sobhuza was the first King ever to amass about 60 wives, even in the olden days
of plenty. The Reed Dance is not there so that the King can select new wives
every year. It is a national duty like any for the young Swazi men and women.
Let it not be misused.
The stakes are very high indeed. The very dangerous and
poisonous idea expressed by Vusi Sibisi of the Swazi Observer that all those
who oppose the government and demonstrated against Mswati III in London in May
this year are “enemies” is so narrow and shallow that it should be relegated to
the King’s Praise Singers’ chapter.
To be continued ………..
Clement Dumisa Dlamini
For and on behalf of
The Human Rights Defence Fund
London
17th November 1995