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The parliament is largely comprised of royal sympathisers, while the judiciary is tightly controlled by the king's mercenary Chief Justice, Michael Ramodibedi, who has ruled that no cases can be brought against the King or any of his business interests.
Despite this democratic window dressing, Freedom House categorises Swaziland as 'Not Free' in its Freedom in the World survey report. This report reveals a catalogue of restrictions imposed by Mswati's government on basic civil and political rights, media freedoms and the ability of political parties to operate freely and contest elections.
In spite of its record of human rights abuses, disregard for democracy and poor economic performance (the economy is expected to grow by only 0.6 percent this year), Swaziland comes under little or no international pressure to reform.
In fact, King Mswati and his bloated ensemble are regularly honoured guests of the British royal family, recently attending both the royal wedding and the queen's jubilee celebrations in London. The madness of this situation has not been lost on civil society activists who have asked: why is Mswati welcomed in this way, when he is guilty of many of the same crimes as Robert Mugabe, who is nothing short of a pariah in the UK? Full story...
Related posts:
The parliament is largely comprised of royal sympathisers, while the judiciary is tightly controlled by the king's mercenary Chief Justice, Michael Ramodibedi, who has ruled that no cases can be brought against the King or any of his business interests.
Despite this democratic window dressing, Freedom House categorises Swaziland as 'Not Free' in its Freedom in the World survey report. This report reveals a catalogue of restrictions imposed by Mswati's government on basic civil and political rights, media freedoms and the ability of political parties to operate freely and contest elections.
In spite of its record of human rights abuses, disregard for democracy and poor economic performance (the economy is expected to grow by only 0.6 percent this year), Swaziland comes under little or no international pressure to reform.
In fact, King Mswati and his bloated ensemble are regularly honoured guests of the British royal family, recently attending both the royal wedding and the queen's jubilee celebrations in London. The madness of this situation has not been lost on civil society activists who have asked: why is Mswati welcomed in this way, when he is guilty of many of the same crimes as Robert Mugabe, who is nothing short of a pariah in the UK? Full story...
Related posts:
- Swaziland set to outlaw anti-king criticism on social networks...
- Coca-Cola accused of propping up notorious Swaziland dictator...
- The Coca-colonisation of Swaziland...
- Swaziland's super-rich king has no money for Aids orphans...
- How Swaziland's King Mswati is out of step...
- Swazis speak out against Africa's last absolute monarchy...
- People of Swaziland fed up with King Msawati and his 13 wives...
- Protestors in Swaziland burning picture of the king...
- Queen invites dubious dictators and despots for lunch...
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