Thulile Dube
Pursuing an MA in Leadership and working for World Vision International- Swaziland.
EMAIL: thulile_dube@wvi.org

Muziwandile M. Mangwe
Holds a B.Com in Accounting and works for Nedbank in credit management and customer service.
EMAIL: mmangwe@nedbank.com

Public governance as exhibited in the Monarchy of Swaziland

Swaziland is a small land locked country which is also known as the Kingdom of eSwatini. It is popularly known of its unique Monarchy leadership system. The Kingdom of eSwatini is under the rulership of His Majesty King Mswati 111. The country has adopted a dual system of governance that is characterised by the interactions among the traditional system and western models of governance. In pursuit of this unique governance system, the Kingdom has endeavoured to develop modern political and administrative structures whose electoral, appointive and operational legitimacy are rooted in, and complemented by the traditional institutions.

At the centre of the system is the Tinkhundla, a non-partisan system that blends the Swazi traditional system with the modern Westminster system. This unique representative system of government provides a channel for the Swazi electoral process. One of its major objectives is to decentralise power and government administration to an extent that the delivery of services is both assured and efficient.

The Inkhundla is the first entity for the co-ordination of development. It also reports to the Swazi National Council Standing Committee on traditional matters. The latter in turn reports to and advises the King. Complementing this structure is Parliament, which comprises of elected members from 55 Tinkhundla as well as 10 members appointed by the King. In addition, the King appoints 20 members of Senate to ensure representation of special interest and minority groups, together with 10 that are elected by the House of Assembly. The King also appoints the Prime Minister and together they appoint the Cabinet Ministers.

An Inkhundla is made of clusters from the chiefdoms; these are essentially the second level of government, with a Local Council, which administers its affairs. The Local Council is composed of a Chairman (Indvuna yeNkhundla) and a committee made up of Bucopho (those elected to represent each chiefdom). In addition, there are urban local authorities (towns and cities), which are administered by the Town or City Councils. Frequently, the roles and responsibilities of these various institutions overlap and sometimes at the cost of service delivery.

Some organisations do not favour the governance system of Swaziland. They condemn the Tinkhundla government system in favour of the multiparty system of governance. They base their argument in the belief that democracy is attained through the multiparty system of governance, yet Swaziland does not allow multi parties in the country. However those that are in favour of the tinkhundla system base their argument in the fact that this system allows representation of people from the grassroots/ local/ traditional levels into the governance of the country. (http://www.undp.org.sz/governance.htm)