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Text File | 1994-05-02 | 9KB | 181 lines

<text> <title> Swaziland: History </title> <article> <hdr> Background Notes: Swaziland History </hdr> <body> Most Swazis are subsistence farmers. About 17,000 are employed outside the country in South African gold and platinum mines. The whites consist of English, Afrikaans, and Portuguese groups and are engaged mainly in agriculture, commerce, construction and mining. Most white Swazis are managers or skilled laborers. Christianity in Swaziland is sometimes mixed with traditional beliefs and practices. Most Swazis ascribe a special spiritual role to the monarch. The country's official languages are SiSwati (a Nguni language related to Zulu) and English. Government and commercial business is conducted mainly in English. According to tradition, the people of the present Swazi nation migrated south before the 16th century to what is now Mozambique. After a series of conflicts with people living in the area of modern Maputo, the Swazis settled in northern Zululand in about 1750. Unable to match the growing Zulu strength there, the Swazis moved gradually northward in the early 1800s and established themselves in the area of modern Swaziland. They consolidated their hold in this area under several able leaders. The most important of these was Mswati, from whom the Swazis derive their name. Under his leadership in the 1840s, the Swazis expanded their territory to the northwest and stabilized the southern frontier with the Zulus. The first Swazi contact with the British came early in Mswati's reign when he asked the British agent general in South Africa for assistance against Zulu raids into Swaziland. During Mswati's reign, the first whites settled in the country. In the years following Mswati's death, the Swazis struggled to guarantee their independence. Agreements between the British and the Transvaal (South Africa) governments in 1881 and 1884 provided that Swaziland should be independent. During this period, however, many concessions for farming, mining, and commerce were granted to whites by the Swazi ruler, Mbandzeni. A number of confusing claims stemming from these concessions were pressed on the Swazi government. To bring order to the chaotic situation, a provisional administration for the territory was established in 1890 representing Swazi, British, and South African (Transvaal) government interests. In 1894, under a convention between the British and the South African governments, the latter assumed the powers of protection and administration. Swaziland continued under this form of government until the conquest of the Transvaal during the Boer War, when the rights and powers assumed by the South African Republic in the country passed to the British. In 1903, Britain formally took over the administration of Swaziland. In 1907, the British made an effort to settle the land concession question by defining farm concession boundaries and returning about one-third of all contested land to the Swazis in return for freehold titles granted to the concessionaires. The boundaries of mineral concessions were also defined, and all monopoly concessions were canceled. In 1921, Swaziland's first legislative body, an advisory council of elected white representatives, was established. Its purpose was to advise the high commissioner on purely non-Swazi affairs. In 1944, the high commissioner recognized the council as having official status. At the same time, the high commissioner recognized the paramount chief as the native authority for the territory, empowering him to issue legally enforceable orders to the Swazis. After 20 years of rule by a regent, the Queen Mother Labotsibeni, Sobhuza II became Ngwenyama (the lion) or head of the Swazi Nation in 1921. Before coming to the throne, the king studied for several years at Lovedale in South Africa and received special education by royal tutors. Shortly after becoming Ngwenyama, he traveled to London with his advisors to argue unsuccessfully the Swazi side of the land concession question before the privy council. In the early years of colonial rule, the British expected that Swaziland would eventually be incorporated into South Africa. After World War II, however, South Africa's intensification of apartheid prompted the United Kingdom to prepare Swaziland for independence. Educational and medical development and investment in agricultural projects were increased markedly. Political activity intensified in the early 1960s. Partly in response to events elsewhere in Africa, several political parties were formed that agitated for independence and economic development. These parties were largely urban-based, however, and had few ties to the rural areas where 80% of the Swazis live. The traditional Swazi leaders, including King Sobhuza and his council, formed the Imbokodvo National Movement, a political group that capitalized on its identification with the traditional Swazi way of life. Responding to pressures for political reform, the colonial government scheduled an election in mid-1964 for the first legislative council in which the Swazis would participate. In the election, the Imbokodvo won all 24 elective seats. Four other parties, most of them having more radical platforms, also competed in the election. The largest of these, the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), received 9% of the vote but won no seats. Having solidified its political base, the Imbokodvo incorporated many demands of the more radical parties, especially that of immediate independence. In 1966, the British agreed to hold talks on a new constitution. Some conservative whites living in the territory made an unsuccessful attempt to establish the principle of separate elections for white-reserved seats in the new national assembly. The constitutional committee, consisting of representatives of the king and of the Swazi National Council, other political parties, and the British Government, rejected this suggestion. The committee agreed on a constitutional monarchy for Swaziland, with self-government to follow parliamentary elections in 1967. Although the NNLC received 20% of the vote in the April elections, the party was weakened before then by extensive defections of its younger and more dynamic leaders to the Imbokodvo movement. Swaziland became independent on September 6, 1968. Swaziland's first post-independence elections were held in May 1972. The Imbokodvo gained about 75% of the vote. The NNLC received slightly more than 20% of the vote, winning three seats in Parliament. On April 12, 1973, King Sobhuza repealed the 1968 constitution, suspended meetings of parliament, and assumed all governmental powers. He dissolved and prohibited all political April 19 parties. These steps were justified as removing alien and divisive political practices incompatible with the Swazi way of life. In January 1979, a new parliament was convened, chosen partly through indirect elections and partly through direct appointment by the king. King Sobhuza II died in August 1982, and Queen Regent Dzeliwe assumed the duties of head of state. In 1983, an internal dispute resulted the replacement of the prime minister and the eventual replacement of Queen Regent Dzeliwe by Queen Regent Ntombi. During the same period, Ntombi's son, Prince Makhosetive, was named heir to the Swazi throne. Parliamentary elections under the indirect system were held again in October 1983, but real power was concentrated in the Liqoqo, a traditional advisory body that claimed to giving binding advice to the queen regent. In October 1985, the queen regent reasserted her power by dismissing the chief of police and the leading figures of the Liqoqo. Prince Makhosetive returned early from school in England to ascend the throne and put an end to the continuing internal disputes. The crown prince was enthroned as Mswati III in April 19