Rough justice

TO SAY say that the two-year prison sentences –without the option of a fine – handed down by the Swaziland High Court last week to journalist Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko were draconian would be to miss the point.

They should not have been convicted or sentenced at all. They would not have been, in a democracy. They did what had to be done in the public interest. They criticised King Mswati’s hand-picked Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi – who was dismissed from the Bench in his own country, Lesotho, for misconduct – because he bent the law to persecute a government inspector who had objected to the abuse by another judge of official transport.

The conviction and sentencing of Makhubu and Maseko typify the way Mswati uses the judiciary as a pliant instrument of royal power. The case also typifies more generally the king’s absolute rule, riding roughshod over any democratic checks on his executive authority, including the press.

But what is to be done about this state of affairs? The international community has largely been indifferent to Swaziland, perhaps because the tiny country doesn’t make a big enough blip on the global radar screen.

The US, though, is to be commended for removing Swaziland last month from participation in Agoa – the African Growth and Opportunity Act – which gives qualifying African countries preferential and non-reciprocal access for their exports to the lucrative US market.

Washington did so because Swaziland was not adequately protecting internationally recognised worker rights, including the rights to organise and to associate freely. But the Mswati government responded by harshly sentencing Makhubu and Maseko, giving America the single finger.

South Africa and the Southern African Development Community more broadly now seem like the only outside forces that can effect change in Swaziland. The ANC and the other tripartite alliance partners are demanding action.

It is high time that the government listened to its own members.