Swaziland is worse than Australia!

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RENOWNED as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Swaziland has been in a state of emergency for the past 37 years. Political parties are banned, critics are systematically arrested and beaten up by police and freedom of expression is severely curtailed. Ministers, judges and local chiefs are all appointed by the king, Mswati III. While he and his 13 wives flaunt their opulence, most of his 1.2m subjects struggle to survive. More than one in four is HIV positive—the highest infection rate in the world.

Yet the pretty little mountainous kingdom, locked into the north-east corner of South Africa, is better known for its annual traditional reed dance, where bare-breasted virgins parade their beauty before their toga-clad king, than for its human-rights abuses. There may be the odd suspicious death in custody, but there have been no mass killings, as in Myanmar or Sudan. It does not have any big deposits of gold, diamonds or oil to covet; most of its wealth comes from sugar cane. So why should anyone care?

As wars of liberation raged around it in the 1980s, this former British protectorate gained a reputation as an island of peace in a sea of regional conflict. And that is the way the government wants to keep things, come what may. The prime minister has even threatened to bring back the bastinado, a form of torture where a person’s feet are beaten with a cane or a rod, to deal with pesky dissidents and interfering foreigners. “There is peace,” Mduduzi Gina, head of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, concedes, “but it’s not real peace if every time there is dissent, you have to suppress it. It’s like sitting on top of a boiling pot.”

The federation, the country’s biggest union movement, is one of the leading lights of the newly formed Swaziland Democracy Campaign, an umbrella group set up jointly with Cosatu, South Africa’s main union, to press for a peaceful transition to multiparty democracy. On September 6th, as around 50 of its members were preparing for a protest march in Mbabane, the capital, armed police stormed in and arrested them. The South Africans were promptly driven to the border and deported, while the Swazis were harshly interrogated. More people were arrested and beaten up during the march the next day. All were later released without charge.

Mario Masuku, veteran president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), the main opposition party, was among those detained. Over the years, the soft-spoken former banker has been arrested and jailed umpteen times on a variety of charges, including high treason, but always acquitted. Two years ago, after a spate of unclaimed bombings against government targets, Pudemo was officially declared a terrorist organisation. Although the party has always denied any responsibility, Mr Masuku hints that violence may sometimes be justified. “If the state refuses to speak to us, if it decides to torture, beat and imprison our people, then you can only expect people to defend themselves,” he says.

It is difficult to tell how much support Pudemo really has. Despite all the poverty and repression, King Mswati, in power for the past 24 years, remains popular and revered. Swazis are brought up to regard him as a kind of god, omnipotent, omnipresent, benevolent. That is why all reformers, even Pudemo, insist that they would keep the king on, though as a constitutional monarch, like Britain’s queen. Needless to say, that is not a job description that exactly appeals to the Swazi king.

Over the past few years the oppression has been getting worse. Yet no country seems willing to take up the Swazis’ case. They feel most aggrieved about South Africa’s silence. After all, they gave refuge to the African National Congress during its liberation struggle. Why can’t it return the favour now? Because, it is whispered, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, received money from King Mswati during his campaign to oust former president Thabo Mbeki. Mr Zuma is also still officially engaged to one of the king’s nieces. And South Africa wants Swaziland’s support to get itself elected back onto the UN Security Council next month.

http://www.economist.com/node/17046710?story_id=17046710&fsrc=scn/fb/wl/qz/boilingpot

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This is a relief for Australia, yes? Just as Jimmy Carter is happy since Obama was elected because Carter is no longer "the worst President ever".

No problem...I will let everyone know..."You think Australia is bad, you should go to Swaziland!"

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Last I checked, Kangaroo-land was like our northern neighbour albeit as of 25 years ago. Why the comparison with Swaziland?

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Last I checked, Kangaroo-land was like our northern neighbour albeit as of 25 years ago. Why the comparison with Swaziland?

Seriously?

[mawilson 2,133]

Seriously?

I don't get it either. Now if Swaziland was *better* than Australia...