New lobby group calls for political reform

The Swazi government is on a collision course with the judiciary and as well as an influential new organisation dedicated to good governance. At issue is the rule of law, or its alleged absence, in the kingdom. Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, an appointee of absolute monarch King Mswati III, on Friday ignored a high court order demanding that he provide an assurance that the government would adhere to court decisions. Instead, in a newspaper statement published on Friday, Dlamini said: "Two recent appeal court judgments will be addressed through consultation between the government and its advisors, in addition to the head of state [King Mswati]. Legal experts will be included in the consultations." An Mbabane attorney and member of Lawyers for Human Rights Swaziland told IRIN: "Instead of honouring court decisions, government intends to debate them. This is not what the judges want to hear." High court justices Josiah Matsebula, Stanley Maphalala and Thomas Masuku had indicated that if they were not satisfied with the government's commitment to the rule of law, the court would no longer accept cases presented by the authorities. The row followed accusations by Dlamini that six South African appeal court justices had made decisions influenced by foreign ideologies when they recently ruled that King Mswati had no legal power to decree laws outside of parliament, and that the police commissioner should be jailed for contempt of court. The six justices resigned in protest, amid a chorus of concern from key Western governments and international human rights groups. "Government's refusal to implement two recent judgments of the Court of Appeal may be likened to a person saying I want to think about it first. Government maintains its stand [on] the unchallengeable authority of His Majesty," Dlamini said in the press statement. However, a new potentially powerful lobby group, the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civil Organisations, on Friday added to the pressure for political reform by releasing its manifesto calling for an end to the "abuse of power". The coalition is comprised of business groups including the Swaziland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Swaziland Employers, and the Association of Swaziland Business Community, along with the Swaziland Law Society, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, and religious groups like the Swaziland Council of Churches. The Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions and the Swaziland Federation of Labour are also founding members. Citing the government's alleged "flagrant abuse of power and the breakdown in rule of law", the coalition statement expressed concern over Swaziland's deteriorating economy, and possible sanctions imposed by the international community as a penalty for failures of good governance. The manifesto demanded that the "government immediately recognises the independence of the judiciary, and desist from making threats against judicial officers". It called on the prime minister to rein-in security forces, drop plans to purchase a US $72 million luxury jet for King Mswati, and stop threatening to withhold funding from NGOs with progressive political views. The coalition called for the current food crisis, brought on by last year's crop failures, to be declared a national disaster. King Mswati has resisted doing this, although one quarter of the population is presently without food and dependant on international donor assistance for survival. Such bold criticism of royal rule from the collective voices of so many disparate organisations is unprecedented, political observers said. Similar condemnations have come from the Swaziland Democratic Alliance, but its membership of labour unions and banned political parties was limited compared to the new coalition. "The coalition believes that governance is a collective responsibility of society, and hence civic society has both a right and a moral duty to ensure that the country is assisted to resolve its problems," the manifesto noted.