Swazi king 'must adopt reform'
2003-11-04 14:57
Mbabane - A Commonwealth team sent to observe elections in Swaziland last month has urged the 54-state body to put pressure on Africa's last absolute monarch to introduce reforms, including transfer of his powers to an elected government.
The three-person team presented a 50-page report to Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon in London late on Monday night, following low-key elections in the small southern African country on October 18.
It said a draft constitution unveiled by King Mswati III at the end of May could be changed to include a transfer of the monarch's powers to an elected parliament and government.
"We urge you to press the King of Swaziland as urgently and as strongly as possible to adopt this reform agenda and recommend that you should respond speedily should technical assistance for that agenda be requested," the team said.
"We would like to believe that the current draft constitution can yet be changed to provide for a transfer from the King to parliament and government and freedom of association."
King Mswati 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 to choose representatives to the country's lower House of Assembly under the Swazi "tinkhundla" (SeSwati for "meeting place") system.
Candidates could only canvass on an individual basis, as party politics have been banned for 30 years, and the king rules by decree.
The Swazi parliament has a mainly advisory role to Mswati.
Added the Commonwealth team: "We do not regard the credibility of these elections as an issue. No elections can be credible when they are for a parliament which does not have power and when political parties are banned."
Pro-democracy activists also opposed the elections, arguing it was better to oppose the system from outside.