Pro-democracy groups draft 'alternative' constitution

Pro-democracy groups in Swaziland have begun the process of drafting an 'alternative constitution' to counter the current government draft. "The view held by many individuals and organised groups is that the draft constitution does not reflect the ideals and aspirations of all the people of Swaziland," said a statement released by banned political parties and human rights, civil and labour groups, assembled under the umbrella organisation, the Swaziland Democratic Alliance (SDA). Prince David Dlamini, King Mswati's brother, who heads the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC), is reportedly finalising work on a palace-authored constitution to meet the king's September deadline for a proclamation of ratification. The document gives the king ultimate governing authority, and bans political opposition to royal rule. "The constitution is not representative of all Swazis, and it is fit to be called an illegitimate son," political activist Dumisani Zwane said at a meeting of pro-democracy activists in Manzini at the weekend. About 700 members of various progressive groups gathered in the country's commercial hub to begin the process of drafting an alternative constitution. "The most fundamental difficulty is that the constitutional process has been exclusionary in nature. We invite all Swazis to help create a genuine constitution," read a statement issued by the organisers of the weekend convention. Though political meetings of any kind are banned by royal decree, police did not block the proceedings. However, they did observe proceedings at the meeting. "What government has given us is an imposed constitution, which has no grassroots support," said Jan Sithole, secretary-general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions. Since 1998, the SDA has called for a constitutional convention with delegates elected from constituencies around the county and representatives from the main civil society organisations, but no action was taken until this week. Mswati delegated the responsibility of delivering a national constitution within two years to his brother, Prince Mangaliso Dlamini, in 1996. After a costly exercise from which the European Union withdrew its sponsorship, calling the effort "unending" and questioning the palace's commitment to political reform, the prince delivered a preliminary report In 2001. The draft constitution was finally presented to Mswati by a second committee in June this year. The document gives the king power over the cabinet, parliament and the courts, which cannot be contested through legal or political channels. A Bill of Rights offers freedom of speech, assembly and association, and equality for women, but all rights present in the constitution are subject to the king's pleasure, and are subordinate to the unwritten laws of Swazi tradition. "Our concern is the palace has drawn up an 'anti-constitution' - a national governing law that is not the supreme law at all, because the king is placed above the constitution," an official with the Swaziland Law Society told IRIN. But Mswati said the draft constitution was based on submissions by ordinary Swazis. Invited government representatives did not attend the constitutional convention at the weekend. "I would have to see who these people are before I attend," Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini told the Times of Swaziland last week. Dlamini earlier refused to meet with the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations, comprised of business and legal groups, to discuss constitutional issues. As the group had not registered with any government agency, he said. Pastor Hanson Ngwenya, a well-known playwright, attended the convention as president of a new human rights group, the Justice for Peace Society. He submitted that a constitution should make ordinary Swazis its primary concern. "The phrase 'His Majesty's government', that is everywhere in the draft constitution, has no place [there], because it implies that governance belongs to one individual and not the whole of the Swazi people," Ngwenya said. Thulani Maseko, of Lawyers for Human Rights Swaziland, said his organisation would proceed with the drafting of an alternative constitution. The weekend convention was the first of several, he said, in which issues would be discussed and a national governing document hammered out. Political observers noted that to be truly representative, future conventions must feature delegates popularly elected by local constituencies, as originally planned by the Swaziland Democratic Alliance. "The meeting was political activists and some elites getting together. It's a start, but it is no more representative than the 'exclusionary' palace constitution they complain about," a demographer for a private social data collection firm told IRIN. A lecturer at the University of Swaziland scoffed at the possibility that the royal government would permit the process of a parallel constitution to proceed. "The progressives have gone far to show grassroots dissatisfaction with the constitutional process. They need now to tap into that that disgruntlement for the strategic end of getting people to accept their efforts," she said. Lawyers for Human Rights Swaziland added that the completion of an alternative constitution would give Swazis a basis for comparison.