The Making of Eswatini’s Independence Constitution and the Triumph of Traditionalism and Modernity

This chapter explores the making of Eswatini’s hybrid constitution, which provides a dual monarchy and a dual system of governance, as uncharted territory in the scholarly exploration of the unique constitutional history of Eswatini. Eswatini’s Independence Constitution is unique in sub-Saharan Africa because of its syncretic nature. With a heavy dose of African constitutionalism-making, Eswatini has become the most traditional modern state in sub-Saharan Africa. It displays a dual monarchy, represented by the king and the queen mother, and a dual system of governance – a parliamentary and monarchical system which is essentially the marriage between a ballot-box democracy and a dynastic monarchy. Describing the processes of the making of this original type of syncretic constitution and its outcomes is the main aim of this chapter. The methodology of data collection is essentially qualitative, and the author relied on in-depth interviews, archival documents, newspapers, and constitutional texts. This study revealed that the Eswatini traditional constitution provided for a dyarchy of king and queen mother, which was incorporated into the Independence Constitution through the ingenuity of King Sobhuza II, marking the triumph of traditional monarchism and the British Westminster constitutional framework. Eswatini monarchism survived because white settlers and investors, with the backing of apartheid South Africa, threw their weight behind the monarchy throughout the constitutional debates and the crucial 1964 election, which King Sobhuza won. This victory gave the king a free hand to negotiate for adjustments to Eswatini’s traditional political institutions and the inclusion of these political institutions in the Independence Constitution’s Westminster framework. It was also a triumph of modernity because of the successful adjustment and integration of Eswatini precolonial institutions into the British Westminster system.