The following is a heavily abridged talk by Mario Masuko at the Zimbabwe-Swaziland Solidarity Conference held in South Africa, August 10–11, 2008. Masuko is president of Peoples United Democratic Movement (Pudemo). A longer version can be found at LINKS Journal.
Our country, Swaziland, stands on the brink of disaster — a catastrophe that has become accepted by some as beyond redemption.
Should it not be of interest to all of us that in our region we have a country that has evaded the powerful media screens and all the world's watchdogs who should be ashamed of their failure to uncover more than 35 years of legalised political fraud in the name of Swazi culture and tradition.
Why should a fast-evolving world tolerate the longest state of emergency in the region, and most probably on the continent as a whole?
Background
Swaziland was a British colony until 1968, when an arrangement of convenience was made between the colonialists and the local traditional leadership under the monarchy for a settlement that would comfortably accommodate both forces in some form of partnership — that would not upset the conditions designed by colonialism, but only integrate the monarchy and its appendages.
This is what is usually referred to as "independence", which in less than a month from now will be costing the Swazi taxpayers millions to "celebrate".
In 1973, the king proclaimed a decree that banned political parties and criminalised all forms of political activity, which paved the way for the monopoly over public affairs and politics by the royal family and their friends, a case that holds to this day.
We have a royal family that regards all of us as mere objects of exploitation, oppression and the satisfaction of its greedy interests, disguised as our national pride and culture.
Since 1973, the whole nation has never seen what it is like to participate in free and democratic elections.
We can safely say that the tinkhundla system is and remains a neocolonial and semi-feudal system, founded on the premise of the exclusion of the overwhelming majority of our people.
This is because of a royal regime that has failed to transform society and the economy to serve the interests of the people, but instead integrated itself as an extension and corrupt elite into the well-oiled system of accumulation already in place.
Social reality
Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world at 38%. It has one of the highest levels of inequality between the rich and poor.
About 70% of the population live below US$1 a day and more 300,000 of Swaziland's around 1 million citizens depend on food aid as means for survival.
The economy has been going down every year since around 2000. The bulk of the economy is now based on the informal sector, and on casual and contract labour, which provide very insecure jobs and pay very low.
The abuse of women is "dressed in nice gowns" and called Swazi "tradition and culture", which undermines the rich heritage in our true culture, thus serving the narrow selfish interests of a royal minority.
The economy is centred around the royal family and its friends. Cabinet dances to whatever tune that sung by the master.
Recently the royal family received funds and aid and distributed it to be perceived as benevolent and caring for the poor and suffering, while they are the primary cause of the hunger experienced by our people.
Balancing these handouts with the extravagant expenditure by this family on itself is like chasing a wild goose.
In his proclamation to the nation, the monarch on April 12, 1973 assumed "supreme power in the kingdom of Swaziland", with "all legislative, executive and judicial powers is now vested in myself".
Many spectators have convinced themselves that this decree has ceased to be the foundation of the ruling political architecture of our country. Our view is that it still continues to be the force behind the establishment.
The new constitution is rather a reinforcement and further entrenchment of this decree and its fundamental provisions.
The royal regime, in response to the pressures of our people's struggles, tried a hasty constitutional review process in which it was the player, the referee and the match commissioner at the same time and all we were privileged to be was spectators.
This is why we rejected the process and its outcomes with the contempt it deserved, and still maintain that no shortcuts will take Swaziland to the promised land of milk and honey — only a protracted, honest and all-inclusive process leading to a multiparty democratic constitutional dispensation.
That is why the Swazi constitution reaffirms the banning of political parties and all forms of political activity, frustrating the popular aspirations of the whole population.
Such an arrangement will not take us forward.
Elections without democracy
We have, time and again, affirmed the centrality of a process that will lead to a democratic outcome for our country.
The regime has once again, as expected, defied all logic and organised an electoral process that lacks even the most basic semblance of democratic participation.
To test its authenticity and claims of a free democratic space, Pudemo held our rally to commemorate our 25th anniversary in Manzini on July 6. Four of our leaders were arrested, while other comrades were hospitalised as a result of police brutality.
It has been made clear that political parties remain banned — unable to contest the coming elections.
The media, judiciary and all public institutions remain tightly under the monopoly of the royal family and are used to criminalise political parties as divisive and "unSwazi".
Traditional institutions continue to be vehicles of intimidation and abuse. Parliament is a mere rubber stamp of the royal family.
The constitution remains illegitimate and does not have fundamental guarantees for the creation of a conducive environment to conduct democratic elections.
We also note that various international organisations have refused to condemn the current king, Mswati — at best preferring to play hide and seek with words like "not sufficiently democratic for proper elections".
We further note the hypocrisy of the United Nations in encouraging women to participate in undemocratic elections against the progressive movement's call for a boycott.
This is an attempt to use a very legitimate issue — the dehumanisation and under-representation of women — to support an undemocratic, patriarchal and oppressive system, which shall turn a few women in parliament into stooges of patriarchy and political tools of oppression.
We condemn the Commonwealth, which designed the current constitution, supported tinkhundla oppression and is now turning against the product of its own failures because it has been exposed for its hypocrisy and opportunism — shying away from associating with the mess of its own making.
The European Union has romanticised the tinkhundla system, politely calling for some changes and failing to act with the decisiveness required. It is not assisting the process in any way.
We did call for smart sanctions against the royal family, but the EU played its games and preferred to not confront the evil system directly.
For the electoral process to be worth its salt, it must embrace broader democratic participation, clear constitutional safeguards and the respect of all the international human rights principles and conventions, including the Declaration on Human Rights, the African Charter on People's and Human Rights, the Harare Declaration of the Commonwealth of Nations and the SADC Principles on National Elections.
Unity
We are proud to be members of the newly formed Swaziland United Democratic Front, an initiative of the struggling people of Swaziland collectively. It is their united voice in their quest to establish a truly democratic Swaziland.
The history of the struggle for democracy all over the world provides one key lesson: it matters not how deep the oppression may be, or whether the captain of the oppressive rule is a military junta or a traditional despot, foreign or local.
The lesson is that unity is a fundamental precondition for democratic victory!
It has always been the desire of the struggling forces of Swaziland to act in unity against a divisive system that always plays one against the other, sometimes infiltrating forces of progress to drive even deeper wedges between the people and their organisations.
In our address to the workers in May 2005, Pudemo called for the forces of change to unite and speak in one cohesive voice. We are proud that this call has been achieved.
It has been our constant call for the unification of the labour movement in the country under the call for "One country, one federation" and "One industry, one union". This year, the workers commemorated their day [May Day] together as one, and not as a fragmented movement.
This is a positive step towards a united mass democratic movement.
We are proud to be among those who have refused to be bullied by the system into the sham elections or any of its fraudulent constitutional schemes, despite massive pressures, patronage and corrupt material temptations.
We have refused to be second-class citizens in our own country, but continue to demand our rightful place as full citizens and not objects of royal pity and subjugation.
We stand tall, in the midst of a cold world that conveniently pretends not to see what our people are going through daily, with all the indicators of a terrifying political and socioeconomic crisis.
We would not have done justice if we do not also add our voice, once again, to the call for speedy democratisation, stability and success in the negotiations process in Zimbabwe, which is a factor the region has felt so heavily these past days.
Our call for democracy in Swaziland is a call for democracy all over the region and continent. We believe that without a firm and revolutionary movement for the deepening of democracy all over Africa, there will be no democracy or at least, sustainable democracy in Swaziland.