History of Swaziland

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Flag of Swaziland

The history of Swaziland encompasses the history of the independent Kingdom of Swaziland and its colonial predecessors, as well as the pre-colonial history of this area.

Pre-colonial period

In today's Swaziland, anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) settled around 100,000 years ago , as bone finds in the east of the country show. San later lived in the area. Bantu peoples immigrated from the north and displaced the San.

In the early 19th century, the Mfecane saw numerous battles between the Bantu peoples in southern Africa. Especially the Zulu under King Shaka tried to subjugate their neighbors. Sobhuza I (approx. 1780 – approx. 1839), who was originally called Somhlolo, was at the head of the Dlamini clan, which is still leading today . A group of refugees under the leadership of the clan came to their current settlement area together with other Nguni peoples. They subjugated and assimilated the Sotho and Bapedi resident there . At the same time, through diplomacy and combat strength, they managed to largely elude the Mfecane Shakas. However, they had to give up the Zululand area . As early as July 1846, part of the Swazi people came under the rule of the Boers advancing from the west , who received a large area from the Swazi in the Treaty of Somcuba with Mswati II (1820–1869). The remaining territory was named after the Ngwenyama (chief, today's meaning "king", literally "lion") Mswati II. Swaziland. While the Boers still recognized the independence of the state in 1855 and the Swazi helped them militarily in 1864, gold discoveries in the north-west of the country caused unrest from 1879 as more and more Europeans immigrated. Traders, settlers, gold diggers and missionaries came to the country and formed a council for self-government in 1888. While Great Britain and the Transvaal had confirmed the independence of Swaziland in treaties in 1881 ( Pretoria Convention ) and 1884 ( London Convention ), in 1890 both states demanded European participation in government. By 1893 the settlers had already acquired half of the land. The then Queen Tibati Nkambule, however, refused to give European immigrants the right to self-determination.

Colonial times

With the approval of London, the Transvaal declared Swaziland its protectorate in 1894 . After the Second Boer War , Great Britain took over administration on July 6, 1902 under Special Commissioner Francis Enraght-Mooney. In 1903 Swaziland was placed under the administration of the Governor of the Transvaal. In 1907 a British resident commissioner was appointed with Robert Thorne Coryndon . The Dlamini dynasty continued to administer for the British. In 1914 reservations for all Swazi were established, which comprised about a third of the country in 32 areas and were known as Swazi Nation Land . From there, the Swazi had to look for work on the farms and in the mines of the white people or farm on communal fields in the reservations. Funds were later set up so that the Swazi could buy back parts of the land.

The king, Sobhuza II from 1921 , the local rulers and the white settlers had a good relationship with the colonial power, so that there were no noteworthy protests against the British. It was not until 1960 that the first party came into being, the Swaziland Progressive Party (SPP). It split three years later. The more radical, Pan-African wing - made up of intellectuals, trade unionists and pro- independence advocates - founded the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC). Against the will of the king, the British government drafted a constitution based on the British model . It came into effect on January 1, 1964, after supporters of the NNLC had rallied for this constitution for months. The king then founded his own party, the Imbokodvo National Movement (INM), which was based on royalists. The INM allied itself with the United Swaziland Association (USA), the party of conservative white settlers, against the SPP and the NNLC. On April 25, 1967, the country received internal autonomy as a so-called Protected Kingdom . In the April 1967 elections, INM won 80 percent of the vote and all seats. The USA waived its participation in favor of INM. Despite 14 percent of the vote, the NNLC missed out because of majority voting.

From independence to the death of Sobhuza II.

Swaziland in today's borders

Great Britain gave the country independence on September 6, 1968. Sobhuza II became head of state and his eldest son Prince Makhosini Dlamini became head of government . The US settler party was eliminated shortly after independence. After the opposition NNLC won three of the 24 seats in parliament for the first time in the 1972 elections, the king declared a state of emergency and on April 12, 1973 banned all political parties. Parliament was dissolved, the constitution was suspended and freedom of speech and assembly was abolished. Those who protested were arrested. The NNLC went underground. With the support of South Africa, Sobhuza II built an army and a militarily organized police force that suppressed all opposition. In 1978 a new constitution came into force. The new parliament was named Swaziland National Council or Libandla and consisted of two chambers of appointed and indirectly elected representatives. The latter were henceforth determined in the Tinkhundla system, in which a representative is found at constituency level in a person election. NNLC leader Ambrose Zwane (1922–1998) was arrested several times without charge and eventually fled to Tanzania . There President Julius Nyerere managed to get Zwane to return to Swaziland. However, Zwane was in poor health and was no longer allowed to be politically active. In 1982 Sobhuza II died.

Swaziland since 1982

After the death of Sobhuza II, there was a power vacuum, as reformers and conservatives were in parliament and in the royal family. The Inner Family Council (Liqoqo) finally elected the underage Prince Makhosetive Dlamini (* 1968) as the new Ngwenyama. Until the coronation of the prince, there was still friction within the leadership. The Queen Mother Dzeliwe (1927-2003) as regent and Prime Minister Mabandla Dlamini belonged to the reform wing. Both were deposed in 1983 and replaced by conservative members of the royal family. The new regent was Ntombi (* around 1950), mother of the designated king. In the same year, the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) was founded, which has since spoken out against the Tinkhundla system and in favor of democratic elections. An offer from the white government of South Africa sparked new disputes. In return for the extradition of members of the African National Congress (ANC) who fled to Swaziland and good behavior towards the apartheid state , Swaziland would have received the South African homeland KaNgwane , where Swazi also lived, and a corridor to the Indian Ocean . The homeland KwaZulu under Mangosuthu Buthelezi contradicted the threatened loss of land and won in court, so that the plan could not be realized.

Mswati III. (2006) at a traditional celebration

In 1986 Makhosetive Dlamini became King Mswati III. crowned. His mother kept an office as Ndlovukati (roughly: elephant), which roughly corresponds to that of the deputy head of state. Mswati III. abolished the liqoqo and thus consolidated its power.

The abolition of apartheid in South Africa hit Swaziland hard. Numerous foreign companies had previously set up shop in Swaziland in order to circumvent the boycott of South Africa. Growing poverty and unemployment led to protests. The beginning of the AIDS pandemic made the situation worse. Mswati III. lifted the state of emergency in 1993 and allowed elections in October 1993, albeit without the participation of opposition politicians. For many citizens this did not go far enough. In the years that followed, there were considerable protests and strikes against the government. On April 2, 1996, the royal loyal cultural movement Sive Siyinqaba (SS) was founded. It corresponds roughly to the Inkatha movement of the Zulu and should actually agitate against the NNLC and PUDEMO. However, she turned against the government and was also persecuted. The opposition, including the trade union confederations, united in 1996 in the - illegal - Swaziland Democratic Alliance, which had its headquarters in Nelspruit , South Africa . In the same year there was an eight-day general strike. Finally, the king commissioned a commission to work out a new constitution. Since the proposal contained no fundamental political changes, mass protests and strikes broke out again in the following years. In 1998 only around 200,000 Swazis registered for the upcoming parliamentary elections. In the same year, the NNLC, which continued to operate underground, issued a new constitution. In 2001 the state of emergency was lifted. Because parties were still banned, the local trade union umbrella organization Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) organized the protests of the dissatisfied population. Nevertheless, after eight years of negotiations, the new constitution was passed by parliament on June 14, 2005. In 2006 the constitution came into force. It confirmed the king's claim to absoluteness as leader of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Political parties are still not allowed to run in elections. However, there are individual members of parties, in particular of the SS, who were elected in their Tinkhundla.

The king was married to 13 women in 2012. He is criticized by the opposition and abroad for his lavish lifestyle, which contrasts with the poverty in the country.

In April 2018, Mswati III announced that the future English name of the country would be eSwatini. The residents are to be referred to as Emaswati (singular Liswati ) in the future. The name of the kingdom is in the sources of the UN Eswatini and this is also the common spelling in Europe.

See also

Web links

Commons : History of Swaziland  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Matsamo - Cultural Village. People Of Matsamo - History. (No longer available online.) In: Matsamo Cultural Park. Matsamo Culture Park (Pty) Ltd, archived from the original on February 26, 2014 ; accessed on May 20, 2020 (English, history of the Swazi until about independence).
  2. ↑ The Second Boer War in Swaziland at samilitaryhistory.org (English), accessed on March 31, 2015
  3. ↑ a b c d e Timeline of the history of Swaziland from the Southern Africa Observatory (issa) ( Memento of May 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Political Movements and the Challenges for Democracy in Swaziland Outline of the democracy movements in Swaziland (English, PDF file; 966 kB), accessed on May 21, 2012
  5. ↑ report at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed 21 May 2012
  6. ↑ a b Swazi Protest against King UK Wedding Visit in The Guardian , accessed on May 21, 2012
  7. ↑ Statement by COSATU, the umbrella organization of the trade unions in South Africa (English), accessed on May 21, 2012
  8. ↑ ABC News about a jet for the king as a gift from a dubious source ( Memento from May 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  9. ↑ Swaziland: name change to eSwatini now official. africanews.com, May 19, 2018, accessed June 4, 2018