Fifty newly-elected Swaziland parliamentarians were swore into office on Monday, with the speaker in the parliament of Africa’s last absolute monarchy warning the politicians not to be bullied by their ministers.
Newly-elected speaker Marwick Khumalo told the parliamentarians at a ceremony outside Mbabane that they should always represent the aspirations of the people who elected them.
”Do not allow yourself to be bullied by new cabinet ministers because that will be against the wishes of the people who elected you into parliament,” he said at a ceremony at the Swaziland parliament.
Swaziland’s King Mswati III has been widely criticised for refusing to introduce democratic reforms to the tiny mountain kingdom squeezed between South Africa and Mozambique.
His image has been tarnished by a series of indiscretions, including plans to spend millions of dollars on a private jet even as Aids and famine devastate his country, and the alleged kidnapping of a schoolgirl to become his 10th bride.
Mswati and some of his ministers have also sparred repeatedly with the country’s judiciary.
Voters in the tiny kingdom were called to the polls late in October to choose representatives to the country’s lower House of Assembly under the Swazi ”tinkhundla” (SeSwati for ”meeting place”) system.
Candidates can only canvass on an individual basis, as party politics have been banned in the country for 30 years, and the king rules by decree.
The Swazi parliament has a mainly advisory role to Mswati. Pro-democracy activists opposed the elections, arguing it was better to oppose the system from outside. – Sapa-AFP