Paradox of the Teflon king
No amount of discontent seems able to prod Swazi King Mswati towards reform, in a nation where he is reviled for his excesses, but also seen as the identity of the country
CALLS for the international isolation of Swazi King Mswati III, criticised as a dictator living it up amid his people’s poverty, have had little effect as the monarchy remains a pillar of national identity.
Africa’s last absolute monarch calmly rubbed shoulders last month with other royalty from around the world at a reception to mark the diamond jubilee of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, while his country’s arts festival hosted record numbers.
The queen’s invitation gave legitimacy to Mswati’s “despotic rule”, said banned opposition party the People’s United Democratic Movement, as the Swazi diaspora expressed its outrage.
Even a cultural boycott that was called for last month was relatively unsuccessful, with more than 17 000 people attending a music fest to hear artists from around the world perform in an idyllic valley just a few kilometres from the royal palace outside the capital, Mbabane.
Bushfire
Few artists cancelled their performances at the Bushfire Festival, despite calls by the South African-based Swaziland Solidarity Network.
Yet “boycott” was the catchphrase amid the sugarcane fields.
“It’s a very dynamic debate. Everyone is for better governance and a transformation in Swaziland,” said festival organiser Jiggs Thorne.
“The idea of the organisers this year was to try to create a platform to tell the people who boycotted, ‘ come talk’,” said Laurence Amigues, of festival partner the Alliance Française cultural institute.
The main sponsor was Swaziland’s state telecoms company, MTN, partly-owned by Mswati.
The US embassy, one of only four in the tiny kingdom, brought a few artists from the US to take part.
Washington appreciated “that Swazis need every opportunity to come together to express themselves freely”, said spokeswoman Molly Sanchez Crowe.
All the same, a few key acts from South Africa did pull out.
Soul singer Lira explained her absence as a call for “more dialogue and resolution around the challenges that befall Swaziland”, while up-and-coming award-winning acoustic songwriter, Zahara, also pulled out of the gig.
Protest has grown since 2011 in this traditionally peaceful kingdom bordered on three sides by South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse.
Feeding the unrest is Mswati’s lavish lifestyle while 60 percent of his subjects live on less than $2 (R17) a day, and his refusal to implement democratic reforms.
While the monarchy forbids protests, students seen as troublemakers are driven into exile and the courts follow government orders, the SSN was adamant in its purpose to “expose the hidden reality of brutality of Swazi society”, it said.
But such efforts to increase pressure on the 44-year-old monarch have met with several obstacles.
The country is not a first priority on any international agenda, the opposition is divided and often operates from outside the country, and the Swazis are deeply attached to a monarchy that led them to independence in 1968 and is the main preserve of traditions that go back generations, say commentators.
Imposed
“A lot of Swazis say that the decision of a boycott is imposed, and they don’t want someone talking for them,” said Mbongeni Mbingo, director of independent newspaper the Times of Swaziland.
“There are a lot of insults against the king, and people are afraid.
“The SSN attacks the monarch directly. If they attacked the issues they want to see changing, they would have a different outcome,” he added.
The opposition’s lack of common goals hampered its protest, said SA poet Philippa Yaa de Villiers, while invoking her country’s struggle against white minority rule. “In a way, they are not united. In South Africa we had a united organised front. The main aim was to end apartheid, it was easier, we had a single enemy.”
Protest against the royals was also undermined in a country whose sense of being revolves around its king, she said.
“Here the king is a traditional leader. It goes with the sense and the heart of the identity of people. People have to be able to see themselves outside of his identity so they can interrogate his rights to be there.” – Sapa-AFP