Q&A: no bear-hugs, please.

Q&A: no bear-hugs, please.

In this second installment of answering some of the many questions we’ve received (and confusions we’ve encountered) about Swaziland and our experience here, I’ll focus on the government structure: Chiefs, the King, the parliament and other elected officials. It seems confusing because Swaziland has both an active King with semi-monarchical powers and elected representatives. But it’s relatively easy to describe and I’ll give it a try.

Question: Who is the King and what’s he like, and have you met him?

The King is His Majesty King Mswati III, son of the late King Sobhuza II (who was the world’s longest remaining monarch at the time of his death in 1982), and he is the last remaining monarch in all of Africa. Mswati III was selected from Sobhuza’s hundreds of sons (he had 120 official wives) to succeed his father at the young age of 16 years old. Today he is 40 and currently has 13 wives himself. He is greatly admired by a vast majority of Swazi people, though political opposition groups (which are banned here) have recently expressed their displeasure with his monarchic role in Swazi government.
No, we have not met him and will not likely ever meet him. It’s a small country, but not that small. And even if we did get an audience with him, we’d not be able to look directly at him, as a matter of cultural respect. This is not a “ceremonial” King like in England or elsewhere, this is a full-fledged real-real absolute monarch and there are a number of things one does and does not do in his presence. Remember when the Queen of England came to the US recently and was bear-hugged warmly by an American in the adoring crowd? I recall that she and her guards were so gracious and the whole incident was kind of endearingly humorous,,, a similar incident here in Swaziland would not involve such a happy ending.
The Swazi governmental system was initially formed when Swaziland gained independence from Britain in 1968, but the national constitution that formed it was mostly a British document and was dissolved in 1973 by King Sobhuza II. In 1977 a new constitution was written by the Swazi Parliament and it gave the King absolute power over all matters of State. He died in 1982 and Mswati III became King in 1986. As pressure grew within Swaziland to extend basic principles of democratic representation in its government, King Mswati III signed a new national constitution in 2003, which set up parliamentary elections and elections for regional leaders as well. The new constitution also solidified the traditional centers of power, maintaining the Chiefdom system and preserving the King’s powers to direct governance (for example, he appoints a large number of Senators as well as all Ministers of the various government departments, and he still has far-reaching veto power and budgetary control).

Question: who’s the head of your community—a Chief, a Headman, an MP, the King, or…?

Well, I guess the King is the true head of all Swazi communities, but he doesn’t do so in-person. Practically speaking, the community leadership is divided into two interactive parts: the older, traditional system of Chiefs and Headmen and the King, and the more modern, political government of representatives—mainly the Minister of Parliament (MP) and the Indvuna, both of whose work falls under the King’s control, too, but in a different way.
The King’s interests are represented primarily by the local Chief, who works with a group of community Headmen called the Inner-Council (each little area in the Chiefdom has its own Headman). This Council meets twice a week to settle local disputes and provide counsel to leaders of various projects. Anything we do in the community will first be approved by this Inner-Council, and they can help us with lots of different things. We have an advantage in this regard, because we are staying on a Nsibandze family homestead; the Chief is a Nsibandze.
The MP and Indvuna are elected officials, with national and local elections occurring every 5 years. 2008 was one of those years. Here in Zombodze we have both a brand new Minister of Parliament (MP) and a new Indvuna. The MP represents local interests in the National Parliament (in the Capital city of Mbabane), and the Indvuna serves here in Zombodze as a regional official who heads the “Indkhundla” (perhaps best described as a state, like Oregon; so the Indvuna might be like a Governor, but with much, much less power). The Indvuna works with the Chief and his inner-council of local Headmen to deal with regional programs and development issues—and this is where the new, political representative government meets the older, traditional style at the community level. We work very closely with both our MP and Indvuna, and seek approval, advice, and assistance from the Chief and his Headmen. Clear as mud? Ya, it’s a bit confusing, but then again, try to explain our US system sometime—most all government structures are complicated.
The only simplifying governmental feature here in Swaziland is this: the King has final say over anything he wants; it’s just that he chooses to delegate this “final say” power to lots of officials, some of them directly appointed by him and others directly elected by the people. But ultimately, all of them are subject to his (and his powerful council of advisors’) will.

Interesting sidenote: our Indvuna is the first disabled person in Swazi history to attain the office. He is a T-12 paraplegic, bound to a wheelchair after being injured 10 years ago in a serious South African mining accident that killed all but a few workers. There is no Swazi equivalent to the U.S.’s ADA, so basic accessibility issues can be quite challenging for him. He founded an advocacy group for people with disabilities in the Zombodze area and that’s where he got his start in leadership and community organizing. We are privileged to get to work with him on a wide variety of community projects—and hopefully one that involves modifying some of our community areas and buildings for wheelchair accessibility (mostly just sidewalks and ramps).

Question: Do you ever work with national officials or the US Embassy?

Our work projects will mainly focus on the Zombodze Chiefdom, so it’s the local officials that we’ll be working most closely with. But we are also well acquainted with Swaziland’s new Minister of Health and Social Welfare: he is the founder and president of a non-profit organization called NATICC, which is based close by (Nhlangano) and works on HIV/AIDS counseling and testing, and lots of prevention/education projects. He is the brand new MP for the Nhlangano district (called Shiselweni 2) and was subsequently appointed Minister of Health by King Mswati III—all VERY good news for our work and for HIV/AIDS efforts in Swaziland as a whole.
The US Embassy is run by the Department of State (headed by the Secretary of State), which is a completely different department as the US Peace Corps. So we don’t work with them, but of course they would support us in emergencies just as they would for any US citizen.
As PCVs, we are invited guests of King Mswati III and his government, and our only involvement in governmental activity, whether local or national, is strictly for the purposes of assisting Swazis with their struggle against HIV/AIDS and issues arising from the epidemic. We are not in any way politically active, nor do we take any public position on political matters. That role is for our US Ambassador and the US Embassy. We’ve met the US Ambassador, Maurice Parker, a handful of times now (a career diplomat, not a Presidential appointee, so he’s not going anywhere when the Obama Administration takes over), and we really like him and his wife. In fact, one of his kids did the Peace Corps years ago—so he’s an ex-PCP (Peace Corps Parent) and has a real heart for us. We ask him all kinds of things, from the mundane to the controversial, about our role as PCVs and our country’s role here in Swaziland. Be assured that the US’s position on matters of State and issues of democratic reform here in Swaziland are being properly (even forcefully) communicated by the Embassy Staff and Ambassador Parker—he has his job and we have ours.
There is a charitable “Ambassador’s Fund” that sponsors all kinds of development-related projects in Swaziland, and we may eventually work with one or more of them, but otherwise our roles as PCVs are very, very different from any State Department positions.

That’s all on the government stuff.

Hambani kahle, bamngani bami.