Mbabane | Monday
KING Mswati III of Swaziland has announced a 15-member team to draft a new constitution within the next 18 months.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Chief Maweni Simelane made the announcement on state radio late on Saturday. He said international experts would assist in drafting the constitution.
The team includes only three people who were part of the previous constitutional review commission, which took five years to collect submissions from the kingdom’s estimated one million people.
The review commission had forty members but four withdrew over political grievances.
The tiny landlocked kingdom, flanked by South Africa and Mozambique, is ruled by southern Africa’s last absolute monarch and all political opposition is banned by decree.
Political tensions have escalated over the past year and a half, with pro-democracy and trade union groupings calling for more freedom.
Mswati has responded by clamping down on protests and the press, arresting the leader of Swaziland’s main opposition movement Mario Masuku.
Masuku, who had been on the constitutional commission but withdrew, is currently in jail awaiting trial on sedition charges related to holding a meeting on political reforms.
The review commission handed over its report to King Mswati in August, and the king made it clear that the report would be the basis for the country’s constitution.
Among the main recommendations were that the absolute monarchy should continue as presently constituted, that traditional structures such as the tinkhundla (traditional councils) should be strengthened, and that political parties should remain banned.
The report stated that a bill of rights that was not in conflict with Swazi laws and customs could make it into the country’s constitution.
Among those on the new 15-member drafting team are a senior law lecturer, a lawyer, a businessman, a banker, a traditional chief and a gospel artist. Several members are close to the royal family.
They will work closely with the deputy attorney general Mzwandile Fakudze.
Mswatis father, King Sobhuza II, repealed a previous constitution in 1973, saying that it was unworkable and had been imposed on his people.
The country has been ruled by royal decree instead of a constitution ever since. – AFP