Swaziland became a protectorate in 1903, when British colonial rule was established, and retained this status until she became a self-governing state in 1967 when Sobhuza II, previously regarded as a paramount chief, received international recognition as a king and the country acquired her own flag. In 1968 independence was achieved but the monarchy remains firmly entrenched.
For five years after independence from Britain in 1968, Swaziland's monarchy coexisted with a parliament comprising legislators elected on party tickets as others nominated by the king. However, in 1973, the then monarch, King Sobhuza II, passed a decree suspending the constitution, dissolving the legislature and banning political parties. Parliament was revived in 1978 but its members are elected in non-party polls, while the king singlehandedly appoints the cabinet. The Kingdom of Swaziland has been governed without a constitution since 1973, when King Sobhuza issued a proclamation annulling the 1968 constitution. Since then, the King has been the chief government authority and has governed by decree. King Mswati III has a government headed by an appointed Prime Minister, which oversees a bi-cameral legislative system. This is a fluid arrangement which lacks the authority that a written constitution can provide. In practice, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch rules absolutely, with the parliament rubber-stamping anything he wants done. Freedom of association is seriously threatened by the lack of a constitution and trade unions are still technically illegal.
Since the early 1990s, political violence, arson, strikes and mass stay-aways have been frequent in Swaziland as political and interest groups press for reforms opposed by traditionalists. .
Swaziland became a protectorate in 1903, when British colonial rule was established, and retained this status until she became a self-governing state in 1967 when Sobhuza II, previously regarded as a paramount chief, received international recognition as a king and the country acquired her own flag.
