IRIN Focus on constitutional debate

The United States said on Thursday it was “dismayed” by Swaziland’s failure to effect far-reaching political reforms and warned that its support for programmes in the tiny kingdom depended on it replacing its current political order, under which party politics are banned and the monarchy wields absolute power. The US embassy in Mbabane said Swaziland’s commitment to a transition to democratic rule and respect for human rights and the rule of law was “the principle goal of the US mission” in the country. However, the US government was “dismayed” by the slow pace of the reform process and concerned about its possibly limited scope. “We note that the constitutional review commission was established in 1996. Its report is overdue and the US government is dismayed by this delay,” embassy public affairs officer Bruce Lohof told IRIN. “My government will not comment on the commission’s report until it is made public, but we find it difficult to understand how a new constitution that retains the old order can help Swaziland build strong public institutions and a healthy civil society,” he added. He was responding to an announcement made at the weekend by the constitutional review commission that effectively ruled out reforms in the country’s political structure beyond the introduction of a Bill of Rights. Commission chairman Mangaliso Dlamini on Sunday told a meeting of the Swaziland Society, a Mbabane-based civic organisation, that the constitution his team had drafted retained the existing power structure. Swaziland has been ruled by royal decree since 1973, when the former king, Sobhuza II, repealed the constitution inherited at independence from Britain in 1968 and declared himself absolute monarch. Plural politics have been banned since then. The current king, Mswati III, responded to increasing calls for political reform by appointing a commission to draft a new constitution in 1996. The commission was expected to complete its work in 1998, but twice asked for more time, and only presented its report to the king last October. King Mswati has said he will make the report public “soon”. Meanwhile, pro-democracy groups, including the powerful Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) refused to participate in the constitutional review exercise on the grounds that it was composed largely of royalists – the group that is most opposed to political reform. Civic groups were also moved to boycott the process by a ban on media coverage of the exercise, and a ban on group submissions to the commission. Lohof said the US government expected the new constitution to lead to far-reaching reforms to the country’s political order. “We hope that the new constitution will help Swaziland become a stable partner in the region with a healthy civil society and strong public institutions,” he said. Concerns over the state of Swaziland’s civil liberties last year prompted Washington to exclude Swaziland from the initial list of countries entitled to trade benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The United States, however, included the country on the list after it amended a labour law the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had deemed restrictive. Recent years have seen increasing calls for political reform in the tiny kingdom of one million people. Last year, the SFTU led a series of disruptive actions, including several nationwide strikes and a blockage of the country’s borders with neighbouring South Africa, to force the government to heed its calls for reform. Political analysts expect pro-democracy activists to step up their campaign for reform when the draft constitution is made public. “We are likely to see a lot more industrial action and many more protests until the government effects real political reforms. What it has done so far is mere window dressing,” a Swaziland Law Society official said.