KING Mswati III of Swaziland said on Thursday he will not be abolishing the death penalty, as capital punishment remains an effective deterrent to crime. Speaking in Mbabane, Mswati said serious offences such as ritual killings would soar should the death penalty be scrapped. In the meantime, he added, the harshness of the penalty will be mitigated by his prerogative of mercy. There have been no hangings for 18 years in the small country, which last year made international headlines by advertising for a new hangman.