Swazi lawyers march over judge’s sacking

7 October 2011:

A plan by South Africa to lend Swaziland R2.4-billion also appears to have stalled due to Swaziland’s apparent reluctance to meet political-reform conditions. At a workshop in Pretoria, organised by the Southern African Liaison Office last week, Lindiwe Zulu, President Jacob Zuma’s international relations adviser, hinted that the bailout had not been given because of the Swazi authorities’ resistance to change. “This is a political issue and a political discussion needs to take place,” Zulu said.

“There is an understanding on the South African side that something needs to change. We say that the change that needs to happen has to be sustainable in the long term and acceptable to the overall majority in Swaziland.”

Zulu said that South Africa “could not afford a collapse in Swaziland” and, while it did not want to be seen to be interfering, “the fact of the matter is that when their processes begin to interfere with our own, we have a problem”. She refused to detail the political conditions set by South Africa or say whether they included the unbanning of political parties.

Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-10-07-swazi-lawyers-march-over-judges-sacking