Constitutional review starts

Swaziland’s Constitutional Review Commission CRC), appointed by King Mswati III, on Monday started six months of canvassing people’s views on constitutional issues, media reports said. Because political organisations are outlawed, the commission said it would ask individuals to fill out a questionnaire on constitutional issues and that no organisations will be permitted to submit any proposals. The 25-member CRC will visit about 350 chiefdoms over the next six months to receive submissions from individual citizens whether they want a multi-party system or whether they prefer traditional or conventional law. In ensuring that the debate remains a private dialogue between individual citizens on one side and the commission and the King on the other, the media has been banned from reporting on the process. The CRC and the King will then interpret the results and the wishes of the people in preparation for a draft constitution. King Mswati III will then present the draft to the people at a national meeting next year before it is adopted. Swaziland presently does not have a written constitution. The kingdom is governed through a decree made and passed in 1973 by King Mswati III’s predecessor, King Sobhuza II. A main pillar of the decree was that it banned all political activity and organisations. In 1994 and 1995 the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the National Association of Civil Servants and university students organised strikes in protest against a continued ban on political activity. In January 1996 another general strike supported by SFTU was called, which disrupted most of the country, leading to the brief arrest of three of the SFTU’s leaders. The following year in April 1997, demonstrations were put down by the use of force and several youth leaders arrested. King Mswati III, in power since 1986, reacted by announcing the current constitutional review process. The trade unions and civil society organisations have dismissed the process as a “toy telephone”.