Secret discussions between King Mswati III and Nelson Mandela have left diplomats pondering the details of a policy they are to implement, reports Stefaans Brummer
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela is playing his cards in the Swaziland democratisation game close to his chest — so close, in fact, that Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo and South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Department are in the dark about the details of his strategy.
Mandela has taken immense personal interest in helping Swaziland resolve its domestic crisis, which came to a head in January when virtually the entire workforce, led by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), embarked on a one-week stayaway to demand a return to constitutional rule.
Last Saturday Mandela, joined by his counterparts from Botswana and Zimbabwe, Quett Masire and Robert Mugabe, met with Swaziland’s young King Mswati III in Pretoria. It followed a meeting on March 1 between Mandela and Mswati in Swaziland.
At both meetings, only the heads of state spoke and not even Nzo, who was at the Pretoria venue last weekend, joined in.
This week neither Nzo nor Foreign Affairs Director General Rusty Evans had been briefed on what had been said, a senior Foreign Affairs official confirmed. South African diplomats admitted to a degree of frustration at not knowing the details of a policy they are supposed to implement, but acknowledged Mandela’s indulgence of the king’s need for absolute confidentiality may be the only way.
“We have no knowledge of the contents [of the talks]. It is quite a problem for us, because we have to work with it. Our Swazi counterparts also do not know what has been said,” a member of South Africa’s High Commission in Mbabane, capital of Swaziland, said.
But he believed Mandela’s strategy had a purpose: “Mswati cannot be humiliated before his own people, and he cannot appear to be succumbing to pressure. But there will definitely be pressure on him, from inside Swaziland and from outside … and from President Mandela.”
Mswati’s father, the late King Sobhuza II, suspended Swaziland’s Westminster-style constitution in 1973, banning political parties and free political activity. Mswati (27) —who rules as absolute monarch, the last in sub-Saharan Africa — has publicly blamed “foreigners” for the troubles in his country and, as a sovereign monarch in a deeply traditional society, has repeatedly demonstrated he will not appear to succumb to pressure.
It is widely held — and South African foreign policy is premised on this assessment — that Mswati is personally in favour of at least limited change, but is held back by his traditional advisers and the extended royal family, which stands to lose more from reform.
Around August last year, Mswati invited Mandela on a state visit to Swaziland, where it is understood he intended to use the cover of general relations to discuss the clamour for democracy in his country.
While that visit did not materialise, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini had talks with Mswati in which the benefits of democracy and a return to a constitutional monarchy were apparently raised.
Then Mandela’s deputy Thabo Mbeki was to have visited Swaziland during the labour unrest earlier this year, primarily to discuss a long-standing land claim the kingdom has against South Africa. But Mswati stopped the visit; a move interpreted by South Africa at the time as an attempt by the king not to have it appear that Mbeki was there to advise on Swaziland’s internal situation.
Meanwhile, Mandela was coming under increasing pressure to ensure Swaziland moves towards democracy. A source close to the presidency said Mandela, who had taken an active personal stance against Nigerian military dictator Sani Abacha, was being criticised for not taking an equally tough line against undemocratic rule in a neighbouring country.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is close to the SFTU, also agitated for South Africa to get involved. “We couldn’t delay any longer,” the source said.
Mandela invited Mswati to visit Pretoria on March 1. Mswati agreed, but asked for secrecy. When the President’s office announced that it would take place — apparently under the mistaken impression that it would be enough to keep the contents secret as opposed to the fact of the meeting — Mswati called it off. Mandela offered to visit Mswati in Swaziland instead, where they had one-on-one talks.
It is believed Mandela would have stressed to Mswati the importance of reform, but did not want to be seen again to be the “bullyboy of the region”, an epithet reinforced when Mandela outpaced his regional partners in criticism of Abacha.
Mandela asked Masire and Mugabe — significantly, the two who had helped him avert a coup in Lesotho in 1994 — to join him for last Saturday’s discussions in Pretoria.
The source close to the presidency said Mswati had wanted this meeting to be a secret too, but it was confirmed when a Swazi journalist got wind of it. “It is very difficult to keep a meeting secret if you bring together four heads of government,” he said.