By James Hall
MBABANE, Nov 17 2003 (IPS)

Women now comprise 30 percent of Swaziland’s legislature, following King Mswati’s appointments of new MPs and Senators. For a traditional nation where women are still legal minors, this accomplishment is impressive.

The only question asked by political observers: Should credit not go to Swaziland’s neighbours that comprise the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)?

“It is SADC protocol that all nations aligned in the organisation must have a 30-percent quota of women legislators,” Doo Aphane, national director for the Swaziland branch of Women in Law for Southern Africa, told IPS.

Swaziland is a monarchy and, while no public opinion polling is available and no referendum on the monarchy has been considered, a majority of Swazis are believed to support the royal household as rulers of “sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy,” to use the descriptive phrase common in the foreign press. This means that Mswati, as national leader, can exercise his royal prerogative of appointments to correct gender imbalances.

If the member states of SADC, for which the king served as president in the 1990s, feel that for social equity and developmental purposes women must be represented to a greater degree in national legislatures, then Mswati will guide his subjects toward the wisdom of this goal.

“This is better than democracy,” a palace source told IPS. “In a democracy, you don’t know how people will vote. What if they don’t vote a parliament with one-third women, what then? Will the country be tossed out of SADC? We don’t have that problem with our king, because he makes appointments.”

Following last month’s parliamentary elections, Mswati appointed 10 MPs to complement 55 MPs who were popularly elected from the nation’s constituencies, called Tinkhundla. Last week, he appointed 20 Senators to the 30-member House of Senate. (The ten other Senators are chosen by the lower House of Assembly from the ranks of appointed and elected MPs.)

Two women MPs received palace appointments to complement five elected MPs, and seven women were chosen by the palace to be Senators, to join two women Senators selected by the lower house.

“The question is: Because these women were appointed and not elected, can they truly be said to be ‘representative’? Does this fulfil the SADC aspiration for greater involvement of women in national legislatures?” asked Bongani Thwala, a political science student at the University of Swaziland.

In response, women’s groups noted that Swazi voters have shown an increasing responsiveness toward women candidates. The number of women nominated to run for MP posts, and the number selected during the primaries phase to become run-off candidates reached an historic high this year. The five women, who were popularly elected last month, represented a 150-percent increase over the two women MPs who served in the last parliament (1998-2003).

“Women have a long way to go, but we are not stagnant. We are progressing,” said Aphane.

“It is not easy for a woman to be elected to public office in Swaziland,” Ntombi Nkosi, an unsuccessful candidate told IPS. “Men candidates seem to have the connections and, excuse me for saying so, they also seem to know all the dirty tricks.”

Women in Swaziland have been guaranteed equal rights in a new constitution that was officially accepted by Mswati last week. But all aspects of the constitution are not permitted to conflict with Swazi traditions that are defined as “Swazi Law and Custom”. Customarily, women’s roles are defined as subservient.

Women may not own property, or take out bank loans or enter into contracts without the sponsorship of a male relative. While the new constitution will end such requirements, the fundamental view of women as minors, as defined in Swazi Law and Custom, remains unchanged.

“A widow may have to cut short the customary two-year mourning period for her late husband – a time when she is forbidden to go out in public – because she needs a job to feed her children. Under the constitution, this is permitted. But a chief can still forbid her from doing so,” noted Lawyers for Human Rights (Swaziland) in an assessment of the new constitution.

The constitution does have its defenders, who note that change in a traditional society cannot be forced, and the palace is accelerating change in many ways.

“The king is a true leader when he appoints more women than ever to parliament. He is telling the people to accept women in positions of leadership. Because Swazis love their king, they listen,” said Reverend Jabulani Dlamini, who is a distant relation of the royal family.

Neighbouring South Africa became the first SADC country to achieve 30 percent of its legislature composed of women, but this was also accomplished through appointments.

“I ran twice, but I was not successful. All over Southern Africa, it is very hard to get elected if you are a woman. There is discrimination. But because I ran two times, the nation’s MPs heard of me, and they chose me for one of the selected MP positions,” said Thabsile Mavimbela, a South African MP.

Mavimbela was in Swaziland prior to the parliamentary elections to run a workshop for women candidates that highlighted the MP’s role and instructed participants on national issues.

The workshop, sponsored by the British High Commission to Swaziland, was held in the belief that, elected or not, women candidates represented new leadership.

“We want them to understand women’s issues and other issues,” said Aphane. “They can take this knowledge back to the communities.”

Whether appointed or elected to parliament, women MPs and Senators are acquiring skills for future leadership positions as political change transforms the kingdom.

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