POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Opposition Leader Faces Treason Charges

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Jan 22 2002 (IPS) - Swaziland’s foremost political prisoner, Mario Masuku, president of the outlawed political party, the People’s United Democratic Movement, will finally go on trial on a charge of sedition against King Mswati III on Jan 24 at the High Court of Swaziland.

But neither government that is proceeding with the prosecution, local pro-democracy groups, or international observers, appear happy that the trial is taking place.

“Masuku is not a traitor, he is a patriot who wishes to see democracy come to Swaziland,” says one of his loyal defenders, Andrew Dlamini, a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), the youth wing of Masuku’s political party.

More unbiased Swazis tend to question Masuku’s loyalty to the popular young king. Informal polls show widespread belief that Masuku might have said something against Mswati. But people see no reason for the full weight of the state to descend on the dissident leader for expressing an opinion.

“Swaziland is not Zimbabwe, and Mario should be left alone, even if he has a big mouth,” remarks Gogo Malambe, a fruit vendor at an informal market outside the gate of Matsapha Maximum Security prison, where Masuku is being held.

So informal a country is Swaziland that the opposition leader is referred to in the media and by people in private conversation by his first name.

Masuku was arrested in April after allegedly uttering seditious statements at an unauthorised rally in Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland. Opposition political activity is banned in Swaziland by royal decree under a 29-year-old state of emergency.

“To this day, we do not know what Mario said that was seditious,” complains Jan Sithole, secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Labour, who intends to attend Masuku’s trial.

The labour unions have joined Masuku’s party in the Swaziland Democratic Alliance, an umbrella organisation that encompasses dissident, progressive and workers’ groups.

The Swaziland Democratic Alliance in a statement said Masuku’s arrest was a ploy by government to limit the activities of the leader of the democratic opposition to royal rule.

“Masuku’s arrest is indicative of government’s intolerance of dissent,” said the organisation’s statement.

Dissent is permitted in Swaziland, but not on an organised scale. Political rallies and marches may not be held without permission from the Commissioner of Police, who routinely denies such requests under the State of Emergency promulgated in King Sobhuza’s 1973 royal decree, by which King Mswati’s father endowed the Swazi monarchy with ultimate executive, legislative and judicial power.

While opposition parties are officially banned, during the past five years Masuku’s party, as well as the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), headed by former prime minister and dissenting royal family member Obed Dlamini, “unbanned” themselves.

At a time when the 14 nations of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) had all become democratic states but for Swaziland, Swazi authorities were reluctant to crack down on emerging pro-democracy groups as long as they restricted their output to issuing occasional manifestos.

But a ban against rallies, marches, and even press conferences is upheld.

“Mario pushed the envelope by participating in a protest in Mbabane, and he is being punished for stepping out of bounds,” remarked a writer for the independent Times of Swaziland who has been following the case.

Masuku further irked authorities by will-fully breaking what he said were onerous parole conditions in October, when he refused to report every daily to the Mbabane police station.

Masuku is a resident and businessperson in the commercial town Manzini, 38 kilometres east of Mbabane. For his defiance, he was subsequently incarcerated at Matsapha prison, 20 kilometres east of Mbabane.

Home Affairs minister Prince Sobandla, who is King Mswati’s older brother, created headlines in November when he seemed to call upon government to set Masuku free, lest a controversial trial overshadow positive developments in Swaziland such as the completion of the Maguga Dam, where the prince made his statement.

Sobandla later said he was misunderstood, but what was interpreted as his demand for Masuku’s release prompted a statement from Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, who insisted, “If Mario Masuku is today in prison, it is because he on his own volition chose to violate his terms of parole.”

Last month, Masuku was hospitalised for hypertension and the flu, the result family members said of being subjected to unhealthy prison conditions like having to sleep on the floor in an overcrowded cell.

Word that the kingdom’s top political prisoner was subjected to such conditions, was carried by the international media, to the embarrassment of government.

“Since his return to prison, Masuku has been given a bed to sleep in,” assured public relations officer for the Swaziland Correctional Services Noma Dlamini.

Labour unions and members of the Swaziland Democratic Alliance have vowed to stage protests at the High Court throughout Masuku’s trial. International Press organisations will also be in attendance, a rare presence in a Swazi courtroom.

Market vendor Malambe is correct when she notes that Swaziland is not Zimbabwe, and repression against opponents of government authority is relatively slight.

But, in a world where freedom of expression and political activity are seen as the norm, the trial of Masuku for uttering an unknown statement against King Mswati appears abnormal to world sensibilities, including the donor organisations and industrialised countries that buy Swazi exports.

The Swazi economy depends on export revenues from the industrialised countries.

“The Swazi government must walk a fine line between managing dissent and appeasing world opinion, and a big show trial of a pro- democracy activist is not the way to do it,” says a Mbabane attorney who intends to be present for the proceedings.