International community to push for democratic reforms

Diplomats this week said the international community would continue to push for political reforms in Swaziland amid growing concerns over the government's disregard for human rights and the rule of law. "The crisis in the judiciary, the ill-advised purchase of a private luxury jet for the ruler of an impoverished country with a food shortage and an AIDS epidemic, the breaches of human rights like the evictions of hundreds of people who refuse to make way for the king's brother; all of these point to a basic problem in governance that must be remedied through political reform," a Western diplomat told IRIN. The envoy added that international diplomatic and economic pressure would be exerted in 2003 because King Mswati III was reluctant to introduce political reforms or extend governance through democratisation. "Trade treaties, like the European Union's agreement to purchase Swazi sugar, are periodically reviewed in light of the country's governance record," British ambassador David Reader told IRIN. Swaziland's ambassador to Britain, Percy Mngomezulu, told the Times of Swaziland on Tuesday that he returned to the country to personally advise Mswati about international concern over his government. "Internationally, we are faced with a crisis, which we need to attend speedily," he said. In his Christmas address broadcast on the state-owned radio, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini did not mention any of the national problems troubling international observers, but warned against foreign influences the palace believed were behind calls for democratic reforms. "We remain watchful and wary of external threats to the peace in our country," Dlamini said. Last month, Dlamini triggered current concerns about the breakdown of rule of law in the country when he dismissed two Court of Appeal rulings. Dlamini reportedly considered both rulings ill-advised decisions of magistrates who he said were foreigners unaware of the Swazi way of doing things. The Court of Appeal ruled that Mswati had no constitutional mandate to decree laws, and he had illegally evicted two chiefs and 200 of their subjects from ancestral lands when they opposed the appointment of the king's brother, Prince Maguga Dlamini, as their new chief. The six appeal court judges, all South Africans, resigned en masse last month, citing the futility of serving in a country whose government ignored court decisions Three High Court judges have given the government until Friday to issue an assurance that current and future court decisions would be honoured. If Dlamini fails to deliver this assurance, the High Court said they would refuse to hear any cases brought before it by government. "The decision of the government of Swaziland to ignore the judgments of its highest court is in effect a declaration that the government does not respect the role of the judiciary and does not consider itself to be bound by law. Citizens are no longer protected by the law, and there is a grave risk of lawlessness," the judges said in a statement. The International Commission of Jurists, the International Law Society, the United Nations, and the South African, United States and British governments have all condemned the palace's interference with the judicial system. However, a source in government told IRIN: "The talk of 'rule of law' will die down once the king presents the new governing constitution." But the palace-authored constitution, which promises to continue a ban on political parties and strengthen royal rule, has already been rejected by the Swaziland Democratic Alliance, a grouping of labour unions, political organisations and human rights NGOs. President of the Law Society of Swaziland, Paul Shilubane, told IRIN that his organisation would challenge the validity of the constitution drafting commission, which he believed was illegally set up by royal decree.