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The factors that led King Sobhuza to outlaw Political parties on April 12, 1973


After gaining independence Swaziland worked under an independence constitution which was also known as the Westminster type of constitution.This constitution was granted by the British to the swazis on April, 25 , 1967 after the Imbokodvo National Movemnt (INM) emerged victorious on that year’s general elections.The constitution was meant to be used by the newly independent Swaziland and that is why it was called the independence constitution. This constitution is said to have caused many problems that led to its dismissal in 1973 in the maiden years of our independence from the British rule. So the aim of the essay is to give the factors that led to its dismissal and the subsequent ban of political parties.

The failure to suppress the opposition through the constitution led to the decision to get rid of the constitution itself because it restricted power to deal with opposition parties and further permitted undesirable political activities1.The King was not comfortable with the constitution because it limited his powers. The King also claimed the constitution permitted the importation into our country alien political practices .2 To him this was unSwazi to challenge the King in politics since the King ruled with absolute powers in the Swazi setting.

King Sobhuza II believed that the Westminster type of constitution was designed to destroy our own peaceful and constructive and essentially democratic method of political activity, increasingly this elements engenders hostility and unrest in our Society.3The King believed in a sovereign state that would live peacefully under his authority and be ruled the traditional way which was something that worked for the Swazi many years before the whites came.

According to Schoeman, (1992), the simmering discontent among a growing body of intellectuals in the post independence period resulted in strikes, political unrest and attempts to assassinate King Sobhuza II.4Here the Kings security was under threat and he pointed fingers to the Westminster type of constitution as the source of the problems. As according to Kuper (1978), a bomb was found at the King’s private office and this was believed as efforts to assassinate the King5.This intensified the King’s fears and he had a point to convince his fellow Swazi subjects that political parties were not good at all and they promoted disrespect to him as a leader, hence the attempts to assassinated him. The Westminster type of constitution was always seen as a threat to the Imbokodvo National Movement’s monopoly of power6. The INM enjoyed a monopoly of power for five years after defeating the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) and many others in the general elections of 1967. In the 1972 general elections the NNLC won three seats and this did not go down well with the traditionalists.7 The Imbokodvo did not want to share power even the King himself was not happy with the results.
The attempts to murder the King were a result of political unrest after the 1972 general elections and precisely during the case of Thomas Ngwenya which I will later discuss.

King Sobhuza had some ambitions; he wanted Swaziland to be fully independent under a constitution created by ourselves for ourselves in complete liberty, without outside pressures. He had a desire to march forward as a nation under our own constitution guaranteeing peace ,order and good governance and welfare of all our people.8 He believed that the constitution did not guarantee us full freedom because it was drafted by the same colonialists that claimed to have given us our independence. The constitution was the colonialist himself, so King Sobhuza wanted to do away with everything that represented white rule.

The constitution itself was impossible to amend , the method prescribed by the constitution itself was wholly impracticable and will bring disorder which any constitution is meant to inhibit.9 If the constitution was possible to be amended the INM would have amended it in favour of their political believes. Just because it was impossible to amend they declared it unworkable. Seriously it was not necessarily the constitution that was impossible to work under but it was the presence of the opposition in parliament which the INM and the Swazi National Council were against10. It is worth to note that the Swazi National Council (SNC) were brothers with the Imbokodvo, infact the SNC members were affiliates to the Imbokodvo.The king himself believed that the constitution has failed to provide good machinery for good governance and for the maintenance of peace and order11.This was because political rivalry was existing even within families,bars ,and everywhere in the country.

The idea of a constitutional monarch was direct threat to the power of the Ingwenyama. The British believed Kingship was to be constitutionally entrenched and not politically contested, the value of true Kingship in national identity could only be properly celebrated if it remained in the confines of the traditional structure.12It is said Sobhuza and his SNC felt otherwise, to them Kingdoms could not be half republic and half kingdoms.13
They felt that there is no way the King’s authority may be compromised. In short they believed that the King should rule with absolute powers which the Westminster type of constitution failed to provide.

The major historical development that motivated the repeal of the constitution was the result of the 1972 general elections. The INM lost three seats to the NNLC from three constituencies in the Lubombo.14It is also said that the then minister of commerce who happened to a member of the royalty, Prince Mfanasibili represented the Imbokodvo in the east and was defeated. Prince Mfanasibil’s defeat annoyed the INM because they wanted him to remain in power.

The INM thought that the NNLC was a threat and they wanted to cripple its representation in parliament. One candidate from the NNLC was not eligble to be in parliament because of his questionable citizenship.The candidate by the name of Thomas Ngwenya was served with a deportation order as he was thought to be a South African.15This was aimed at crippling the INM’s opposition since the INM wanted to monopolise power.Ngwenya challenged the order in the High court and the high court found him to be a Swazi, however the Deputy prime minister appealed to the supreme court but before the judgement was issued he amended the immigration act of 1964.16The Deputy prime minister with his efforts tried his best to suppress the opposition, he further declared that all the juridisiction powers lay on him and no High court would overrule him, then the judgement of Thomas Ngwenya was upheld.It is also said that Ngwenya voluntarily resigned from parliament although it was clear that he won the case.

The INM members received a shock of their lives when Dr Zwane challenged the deportation in Parliament.The issue was so serious such that the house was adjourned until further notice.16This intensified the INM’s fears and it was believed that the NNLC was a threat .Factionalism intensified within the Imbokodvo itself ,some criticising the Deputy Prime minister and some supporting him for taking a strong stand.17So this factionalism was threatening to cripple the INM and that is why discussions pertaining the issue of repealing the constitution began.

The constitution of April, 25, 1967 gave King Sobhuza the powers to appoint a Prime minister who was to be the head of parliament, this made him to be more influential in swazi politics since the Prime minister was his man and traditionalist.18Most of the traditionalist believed that he was the rightful leader. Therefore this also influenced the King himself to dismiss the Westminster type of constitution since most of the swazis believed on him.

The repeal of the constitution was in line with the arguments of the INM members in parliament 19This was something that the INM members was overdue according to them.The repeal was made following a resolution unanimously passed by both houses of parliament ,presenting the motion was the then Prime minister Prince Makhosini who described it as unworkable20. By unanimous here we refer to the majority because of the obvious fact that the opposition which comprised of the two NNLC members was against such a resolution. It was further assumed that the majority of the Swazi supported the resolution since it was supported by the majority of the INM. The Swazi National Council (SNC) is said to have passed a similar resolution after their meeting on 12 April ,1973 the day of repeal of the independence constitution.The SNC’s meeting was a formality since it affiliated in the INM and it was an obvious fact that they supported the resolution.


Some historians refer the repeal to as the King’s coup detat , their argument is
that the King ’s argument for dismissing the Westminster type of constitution was that it made his subjects wiser than they were because it encouraged them to argue for their rights whenever they were being trampled upon by those in power.21 To him such a conduct of that nature did not show any loyalty to him as King . They further agrue that the King wanted to lead a nation of dummies who did not know their rights whenevr they were being trampled upon by either the King or those who enjoyed political power with him.22However the King’s argument was that he had saved many families that were threatened by political rivalry.It was true that political rivalry existed within families ,but his INM was responsible for that and this is evident from their case with the NNLC. The INM had promoted rivalry in parliament and it is believed to be this act that irked the King to pass such a resolution.

In conclusion I shall summarise the points that led to the dismissal of the Westminster type of constitution, Swazi philosophy proved beyond reasonable doubt that this was a foreign system and the people did not understand it all. To them a political opponent was a political enemy. This is evident in the INM itself in its case with the NNLC, the NNLC was their enemy which they did not want to share power with. The constitution was said to be impossible to amend, if the constitution was possible to be amended the INM should have changed it to conform to their political believes. The King had a desire to form our own constitution created by ourselves for ourselves in complete liberty. The King believed that the constitution did not guarantee us the necessary freedom because it was created by the colonialist and he wanted to get rid of alien practices. The King also wanted to enjoy absolute powers and was against the idea of a constitutional monarchy which was something that the INM believed in. The availability of the opposition in parliament was another factor that led to the dismissal of the Westminster type of constitution because the INM wanted to enjoy the monopoly of power which was something the King also wanted.






End notes
1 Mandla Ndlangamandla , The rule of King Sobhuza II and the political developments after his death, 1968-1993 , Uniswa, Dept of History , (unpublished),April 1994.
2 ibid
3 J S M Matsebula A History of Swaziland, Longman penguin( Southern Africa ), CapeTown ,1972,P 261.
4 Stan Schoeman, ‘The changing political climate’ from the journal of African elections vol 32, Lagos, 1992,P1
5 Hilder Kuper, Sobhuza II Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland, Unwin brothers ltd, Liverpool, 1978, P326
6 Mandla Ndlangamandla,April 1994, P10
7 ‘Sobhuza II of Swaziland’ from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SobhuzaII, retrieved 14 March 2009.
8 J S M Matsebula, 1972, P261
9 ‘Sobhuza II Of Swaziland’ from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobhuza ,retrieved 14 March 2009.
10 ibid
11J S M Matsebula, 1972, P261
12 Joushua Mzizi,The dominance of the Swazi monarchy and the moral dynamics of the democratisation of the Swazi state,Kwaluseni,(unpublished) Kwaluseni,2004,P99.
13 ibid
14 Mandla Ndlangamandla,April 1994,P13
15 Hilder Kuper, 1978, P326
16 ibid
17 ibid
18 Nhlanhla F Dlamini,Power centralisation and establishement of national peace and stability,Uniswa (unpublished),April 1994,P 15.
19 Mandla Ndlangamandla,April 1994,P11
20 ibid
21 B A B Skhondze History of Swaziland from 1900 to 1980’s, Institute of Distance Education, Uniswa, 1999, P 78
22 ibid
















Reference:
Dlamini,N F , Power centralisation and the establishment of national peace and
stability.Uniswa (unpublished),April 1994

Kuper H, Sohuza II Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland , Unwin brothers ltd ,1978

Matsebula .J S M, A history of Swaziland, Longman penguin (southern Africa), Cape Town, 1972.

Ndlangamandla M, The rule of Sobhuza and the political developments after his death,1968-1993, Uniswa , Dept of History(unpublished), April 1994.

Schoeman S , ‘The changing Poltical climate’ from the journal of African elections ,vol 32,Lagos, 1992

Skhondze B A B, History of Swaziland from 1900- 1980’s Institude of distance education ,Uniswa,1999

‘Sobhuza II Of Swaziland’ from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SobhuzaII ,retrieved 14 March 2009

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