/ 4 November 2006

Swazi political talks scuppered

Historic talks between the Swazi government and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) on the country's political system came to a halt this week when the government invited intelligence officers from the Royal Swaziland Police to attend the talks. The talks were initiated after the NCA, circulated a petition last week criticising the country's new constitution, which came into effect in February this year.

Historic talks between the Swazi government and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) on the country’s political system came to a halt this week when the government invited intelligence officers from the Royal Swaziland Police to attend the talks.

The talks were initiated after the NCA, an umbrella group representing labour unions, human rights groups and banned political parties, circulated a petition last week criticising the country’s new constitution, which came into effect in February this year. This is the first time that the Swazi government has agreed to talk to political groups advocating change.

The NCA argues that in order for a ”constitution to be legitimate, credible and enjoy popular support it must be a product of consensus of all major stakeholders and must not be controlled by those in government … From beginning to end, the process of the making of the Swaziland constitution and its purported adoption was a government project as opposed to being an all-inclusive people driven process,” reads the petition.

The NCA’s secretary general, Thulani Maseko, accused the government of dragging intelligence officers from the Royal Swaziland Police into the talks in order to intimidate the NCA delegation. ”To us this was a sign that government is not committed to the talks. Perhaps, the letter of invitation we received misled us. It referred to a Cabinet team, and we don’t believe police from the intelligence department are part of the Cabinet team,” said Maseko.

According to Maseko, the government team, which was composed of four government ministers, refused to remove the police intelligence officers from the conference room, claiming it had to consult its principals before agreeing to the NCA’s demands.

”At the meeting the officers were introduced as part of the government team, but we know them because they are the ones who have been shadowing us and they did not deny it when we pointed it out to the government team. Government has not provided an environment conducive and free for meaningful talks,” he said.

He said for now the NCA would wait for government to indicate its intention to proceed with the talks or take other action.

Government was forced to concede to talks with the NCA after it marched to King Mswati III’s palace last week to deliver a petition.

In a public statement the government accused the NCA of being foreign-sponsored, an accusation which Maseko has rejected as an insult.

Enterprise and Employment Minister Lutfo Dlamini, who participated in the talks, declined to comment on the aborted meeting, saying that there has been no indication from government when the talks might resume.