Zuma assures Swaziland SA won't interfere

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has announced that South Africa would not interfere in the internal political affairs of neighbouring Swaziland, news reports said on Thursday. Zuma told the Swaziland government that South Africa would conduct an intensive investigation into the existence and activities of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), an opposition organisation which has offices in Johannesburg, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal.

Zuma was quoted as saying that South Africa could only involve itself in the internal affairs of its neighbours when requested by the governments of those countries. Zuma was reacting to criticism by opposition political parties in Swaziland that South Africa has remained silent on the government's eviction of two traditional leaders in south east Swaziland in September last year which sparked major protests.

"In Zimbabwe there have been outcries on the invasions of white-owned farms and the opposition party asked us why we were silent. We couldn't act because we have diplomatic relations with the Zimbabwean government and we don't have any formal relations with the MDC (the opposition Movement for Democratic Change). The same applies here in Swaziland. We, as a government, don't have any formal relationship with the political parties, so we cannot act on what they are complaining about because we don't know them," said the deputy president.