The success of any government in addressing national development challenges is embedded in the governance provisions and practices of the country. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland passed in 2005 is the overall guiding legislation for the country. The Constitution attributes prosperity of the nation and promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms in the ability of the nation to blend the dual institutions of traditional law and Custom with the Westminster system of a bi-cameral Parliament, a Judiciary and Executive. This seminal legislative instrument also emphasizes greater decentralization and devolution as a means to improved accountability and transparency in service delivery.
Swaziland has made strides towards improving the governance situation in the country.  Notably the country is signatory to a number of International and Regional instruments[1] which embrace the principle of democratic governance. The PRSAP inspired by the National Development Strategy (NDS) and Vision 2022 attributes success of programmes in their ability to draw from improved governance and accountability, including making the civic society and larger Swazi populace more accountable.  Government is undertaking the necessary legislative reform to bring the country’s laws into conformity with the Constitution and is using CEDAW to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment concerns are factored within the law making process. Key worth noting legislation is the Sexual Offense and Domestic Violence Bill and the Leadership Code of Conduct. Community civic education on the constitution has been conducted by Government to ensure that the populace understands its provisions and implications on their lives. Further, a number of capacity building programmes aimed at strengthening the ability of key institutions charged with promoting good governance have been carried out and targeted among others, Parliament and Judiciary which includes Swazi Nation Courts.  Swaziland has established the Anti-Corruption Commission, and is in the final stages of setting up the Human Rights Commission and Public Administration. 
Notwithstanding this progress, Swaziland is still faced with big governance challenges. These challenges manifest themselves in the inadequate realization of rights by rights holders and the State as the duty bearer not being able to fulfil and protect those rights. The drivers cited include the lack of clear separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary; slow implementation of the new Constitution in certain areas, fiscal mismanagement, weak advocacy capacity of stakeholders, lack of a common agenda on rights, weak institutions.  Core to this stems from the ambiguities inherent in the dual legal system, rigid laws and limited engagement of civil society. Corruption also remains a challenge; according to the Ministry of Finance, corruption costs government about 40 million Emalangeni per month.[2] According to the Worldwide Governance Indicators Project, Swaziland fares relatively well on indicators of political stability and absence of violence (with 52 percent of all countries scoring worse than Swaziland). However, on control of corruption Swaziland scored worse than 56 percent of countries, worse than 64 percent of countries on rule of law, and worse than 30 percent on government effectiveness. Swaziland’s worst ranking was for voice and accountability, when it ranked amongst the bottom 15%.[3]

Current policies and strategies

The Government has acknowledged that in order to promote sustainable human development, good governance is essential. The Government has put in place some measures aimed at establishing a conducive policy and legal environment within which to promote good governance. Notable is the adoption of the National Constitution in 2005. Swaziland is also a signatory to numerous global and regional conventions and treaties on human rights, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The promotion of good governance is also highlighted in National Development Strategy (NDS), the Vision 2022 and in the Economic and Social Reform Agenda I and II. However, many of the international instruments have not been domesticated and relevant policies either remain in draft form for a long time or their implementation has been slow.  Two examples are the Land policy and the Gender policy. 

In line with the national policies that enshrine good governance as a fundamental principle, a number of strategies articulate how this should be achieved in practice. In particular, the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (PRSAP) calls for the strengthening of institutional capacities for good governance; prudent fiscal management; strengthening of the judicial system; enforcement of laws; protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens; promotion of participation by all in the decision-making process; implementation of decentralization; and development of the capacity of modern and traditional institutions to better respond to the needs of the poor. However, the development approach of the PRSAP lacks prioritization and sequencing of interventions, and fundamental institutional and structural reforms are required if such strategies are to be fully realised. 

Outstanding development challenges

Dual political system (modern and traditional)
Swaziland’s system of governance is unique, combining a blend of modern political and administrative structures, including electoral, appointive and operational legitimacy, with traditional institutions. It also has two parallel administrative structures, with regional offices overseeing eleven urban/town councils in urban areas, while the rural areas are administered through 55 tinkhundla (districts), which are non-partisan constituencies that are used for community development. This duality has had an impact on governance in the country.  In the traditional system it has promoted consensus building, broad based participation, social cohesion and political stability for a long time.  In the modern system this duality has continued to create some challenges, as it presents a situation of overlap of functions, ambiguity and inconsistencies, with an impact in the efficiency of law making, policy and decision-making processes.  The challenge is how to evolve a system of governance that best serves the Swazi nation, and to ensure that its evolution learns from, and incorporates the relevant and necessary traditional approaches, whilst embracing the modern ones. The harmonisation of the two systems has been attempted through the codification of Swazi Law and Custom Project.

Weak implementation of the Constitution and legal provisions
For over 30 years Swaziland had lived without a Constitution, following the repeal of the 1968 Independence Constitution. However, in 2005, the country adopted a new Constitution, which includes provisions for the promotion and protection of human rights. While it is acknowledged that these provisions are a major development, rights holders are still yet to enjoy many of these rights. Knowledge and understanding of human rights is limited among the Swazi citizens, particularly among the poor and vulnerable. Although civic education was conducted on the Constitution, critical reviews of the process suggest that the engagement did not adequately deepen an understanding on fundamental rights and freedoms. The lack of strong enforcement mechanisms has also been a major impediment, limiting the capacity of many rights holders to seek recourse in the case of violations of their rights, even when there is an understanding of what those rights are.

Gender inequity
Equity and inclusiveness are a fundamental tenet of good governance. For example, gender equality will be essential for the country to fulfil its potential, both from an economic perspective and a human rights perspective. The Constitution elevates the status of women in accordance with international conventions. However, the process of ensuring that women enjoy their constitutional rights has been slow. Current legislation regards married women as legal minors who require the assistance of their spouses to access productive resources. While the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Woman (CEDAW) has been passed, very little concrete progress has been made in finding sustainable solutions to the gender disparities that are present in all spheres of life. This is in spite of several policy and programmatic initiatives regarding gender disparities which have been undertaken up by some organs of the Government and non-state actors.  A paradigm shift in the way that gender relations are understood, complemented by systematic education on gender and human rights, is essential if the fundamental power imbalances between males and females are to be addressed (see sub-section 2.8).

Implementation of decentralisation
One of the challenges faced by Swaziland in meeting a number of MDG goals is the absence of an integrated framework for effective implementation of services at the local level, as well as effective monitoring of service provision. In recent years, the Swaziland Government has invested a substantial amount of resources into the development of a decentralization policy. However, for implementation of the policy to become a reality, the capacity administrative, financial and planning capacity at the local level will have to be considerably enhanced to enable them to fulfil the greater responsibilities vested in them through the decentralization policy.

Transparency and Accountability in Public Sector Management
Efficient use of available resources through the strengthening of public finance management (PFM) is essential as a component of good governance. This requires the establishment of institutions that have the capacity to generate and disseminate timely information on the public budgeting and expenditure processes. For the vast majority of the general public, civil society, private sector operators, and even some government organs, information on the budget process and resulting resource allocations undertaken by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government is largely unavailable. This lack of knowledge has an adverse impact on the ability of those stakeholders to participate and/or influence the outcomes of those processes and their effects in the lives of the people they represent.
Corruption in Swaziland has been identified as having increased over the years. The adoption of the national anti-corruption strategy and action plan following the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)[4] has created a strong base to fight corruption. However, the absence of clear coordination between institutions involved, as well as the lack of investigative capacity and inadequate resources continues to compromise the effectiveness of the ACC.

Access to Justice and Rule of Law
The dual legal system of government has legitimized the establishment of two court systems, modern and traditional, which operate independently of each other. While the traditional courts offer quick and cheaper adjudication of cases at the grassroots level, the modern courts take longer and are more expensive to access inevitably limiting rights holders to access modern court system. Lack of understanding of the law itself, as well as of the procedures employed in resolving conflicts, also hinder access by the general population. Limited infrastructure, insufficient human resources, and a lack of tools required in executing justice in an effective manner, have contributed to a huge backlog of cases. A related challenge is inadequate domestication of international and regional Human Rights instruments.[5] In relation to law enforcement, there is need to promote a culture of respect for human rights among law enforcement agencies consistent with the principles enshrined in the Constitution.

Securing Pro-poor Planning and Resource Allocation
While chapter five of the Constitution provides for the socio-economic rights and responsibilities of the State as the duty bearer to the people, particularly the poor, in practice, priority setting in planning and resource allocation has not been adjusted accordingly. Weak expenditure management and controls have contributed to poor expenditure performance. Public expenditure review procedures are weak and are often ill-informed due to the dearth in national statistical data. In addition, there are challenges with respect to the effective management of external aid.

Participation and Representation
While democratic governance has expanded, there are still outstanding challenges that limit people’s participation and representation in the country.  There is absence of a ‘knowledge culture’ by rights holders on their roles and responsibilities in the development process and the weak coordinated partnership between government as the duty bearer and civil society is largely missing.  This is evidenced in programme formulation and implementation, caused in part by the lack of a clear mandate, institutional delegation, and institutional capacity to act. With respect to the electorate, there is limited civic education on the elections and the electoral process. The importance of participation as a civic right and responsibility and the education that does occur is usually limited to the technical electoral processes such as registration and qualification to vote and to stand as a candidate. This is evidenced in the operation of previous successive Parliaments that have inhibited the effective performance of Members of Parliament due to capacity constraints and in addition not appreciating their individual roles as legislators vis a vis the other organs of government. Fostering inclusive participation, enhancing civic engagement and strengthening responsive governing institutions will be important to ensure good governance.     


[1] Millennium Declaration (2000), SADC Protocol on Peace and Security etc.
[2] Transparency International, Country Study Report, 2006/2007
[3] Governance Matters 2009, Worldwide Governance Indicators for 2008, World Bank
[4] Swaziland is signatory to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and at present has established an anti-corruption commission (ACC) under the Prevention of Corruption Act 2006 after the repeal of the corruption order of 1993. Until 1993, Swaziland dealt with issues of corruption through the criminal laws with police responsible for investigating corruption while the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) prosecuted the criminal acts.
[5] For details refer also to Concluding Observations of CRC and the CEDAW report.