/ 1 January 2002

Mswati tightens his iron grip on Swaziland

Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati III has introduced legislation gazetted on Wednesday that imposes stringent measures to suppress dissent and harsh penalties against those advocating political reform.

The Internal Security Bill, 2002, is due to be debated by the country’s parliament and sure to be passed as there are no political parties or opposition to the king in the legislature.

The bill states that any person wearing or carrying a banner or flag of a political formation will be liable to a fine not exceeding 2 000 emalangeni ($206/219 euros) or a two-year jail term.

Political parties are banned in Swaziland, a kingdom of around one million people.

The bill also criminalises any person who incites others to engage in mass strikes or boycotts, for which the penalty is 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine.

It also slaps a 20-year jail sentence on Swazis attending revolutionary training outside the country to prepare them to commit acts of insurgency, banditry or sabotage.

Bonginkosi Dlamini, the leader of the outspoken People’s United Democratic Movement, condemned the bill as ”draconian”.

”Swaziland has reached a point of no return,” he said.

The secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, Jan Sithole, said: ”Butterflies are already flying in my stomach … This is worse than the Kings Proclamation of April 12, 1973, that bans party politics in Swaziland.

”This bill will give police more power to become a law unto themselves (and) it will also affect freedom of the press.”

Secretary general for the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, Musa Dlamini, said that the kingdom was headed for political chaos if dissent was forbidden.

Mswati has long both promised and blocked political reform. As a result tension has risen sharply over the past three years with pro-democracy and trade union groupings calling for more freedom. – Sapa-AFP