Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - December 1, 2004

King Mswati of Swaziland has come under fire from groups like Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders for what they say are policies that trample human rights and democracy.

In August British newspaper the Daily Mirror named the 36-year-old Mswati as one of the world's 10 worst dictators on a list headed by the leaders of North Korea and Myanmar. Mswati aides dismissed the report as rubbish.

In deeply traditional Swaziland, thousands of people are drawn to his palaces to hear him speak on everything from constitutional reform to customary moral rectitude.

At a cattle corral at the Ludzidzini royal village outside the capital Mbabane, Mswati makes speeches defending his strong-arm style as traditional democracy and allows his backers an opportunity to debate the way forward.

Despite the public meetings and moves to give the kingdom a new constitution, critics say Mswati is increasingly set on running Swaziland his way -- and in the process is running it into the ground.

"Edicts given at a cow (corral) ... cannot decide the fate of a modern state," said Jan Sithole, a Mswati critic and secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.

Activists say the kingdom's judiciary does not function because many of its decisions cannot be enforced against the royal will. Teen-age girls are snatched from school to become Mswati's wives, political parties are banned and freedoms of expression, association, speech or the press remain subject to the sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch.

TROUBLED REALM

Swaziland has been an absolute monarchy since 1973 when Mswati's father King Sobhuza tore up the kingdom's constitution. Its woes have multiplied since.

With fewer than 1 million people, the country has one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates with some 38.8 percent of its adult population infected. It has suffered several years of food crises because of drought, and about two-thirds of the population live below the World Bank's poverty threshold of $1 a day.

The latest haggling in Swaziland has been over a new constitution, which entrenches the monarchy while keeping a ban on political parties and demonstrations of any kind.

The National Constitutional Assembly, an umbrella body of legal, labor and human rights groups, has gone to the high court to seek an order to block Mswati from decreeing the new constitution into law. The document already has the approval of parliament, which is packed with Mswati appointees.

Analysts say a perception that the king does not guarantee the rule of law has been a major disincentive to investors.

Inability to enforce court orders is considered one of Swaziland's biggest problems and has sparked threats of unrest by civil servants.

"Despite sustained public outcry from both the local and international community, your government has continued to defy court rulings," the Swaziland National Association of Civil Servants said in a petition to the prime minister.

KING VS. COURT

In one case, critics say Mswati's palace sent police to evict traditional chief Mliba Fakuze who had returned to his ancestral land after an order by the country's highest court.

Fakuze had resisted Mswati's desire to install one of his own brothers as chief in the area.

While the Appeal Court of Swaziland said Mswati had no right to intervene,, the government rejected the ruling as having been delivered by foreign jurors with a hidden political agenda. The appellate court is staffed by South African judges.

"Government has further displayed its defiance through the continuous unlawful and inhumane eviction of (Chief) Mliba Fakudze," the petition said.

This month, in a rare show of defiance, some 2,000 workers marched through Mbabane to protest the draft constitution, which was drafted by two of Mswati's brothers. Activists say temperatures could rise in coming months if the palace continues to stonewall calls for reform.

"It (the new constitution) succeeded in fooling the international community that the palace was considering political reform. It was a hoax," said Ntombi Nkosi, Women's League president of the banned Ngwane National Liberatory Congress party.

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