|
|
|
CIAO DATE: 10/05
Swaziland: The Clock Is Ticking
July 14, 2005
Abstract
Swaziland has been an absolute monarchy for more than 30 years, with a royal leadership that ignores worsening social ills and a small elite that is often openly corrupt. A new constitution that further codifies broad royal powers and privileges is in the final stages of preparation. Political violence is still more talked about than actual but frustration is building. Multilateral African institutions, the EU and key countries like South Africa and the U.S. have been too willing to accept the royalists' line that any change must come very slowly. More pressure from the outside is needed to help pro-reform elements inside the country bring back a constitutional monarchy and genuine democracy that are the best guarantees Swazi instability will not eventually infect the region.
The revised constitution effectively enshrines the 1973 state of emergency decreed by the late King Sobhuza II, which abolished the democratic system and vested ultimate judicial, executive, and legislative power in the monarch. Until that state of affairs is reversed, Swaziland's long, steady implosion is likely only to accelerate.
