/ 1 January 2002

Swazi attorney general carries can for the King

Swazi King Mswati’s search for wedded bliss with his tenth wife continues to make headlines and now the tiny kingdom’s Attorney-General is in hot water for threatening to dismiss three judges of the High Court.

On October 30 the Attorney-General and three commanders of the armed forces apparently told the judges to drop the abduction case against King Mswati or be dismissed.

The state prosecutor has now formally charged the Attorney-General with interfering in the judicial system but Jabulani Matsebula, spokesman for the Peoples United Democratic Movement of Swaziland,(Pudemo) on Sunday issued a statement calling for him to resign his post and to be arrested for what the organisation said was his ‘outrageous behaviour in attempting to subvert the administration of justice’.

Masebula said: ”While Pudemo welcomes the decision to charge the attorney general, we are outraged that a warrant for his arrest has not been issued. The charges are serious and he should be arrested and remanded in custody and his accomplices, the three commanders of the armed forces must also be arrested and charged.”

”It is clear to all Swazis that the attorney general and the three commanders were acting on the King’s orders and it is obvious that the King conspired with these men to defeat the ends of justice but the attorney general has to carry the can in order to absolve the King from all responsibility over the issue,” Masebula said. – Sapa