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CABINET CANNOT PASS LAWS

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MBABANE – Gone are those days!

In the pre-constitutional era, ministers enjoyed the privilege to submit Bills to His Majesty the King for assent after the dissolution of Parliament. Cabinet would constitute what was known as the Council of Ministers. The King would then rule with this Council (The King in Council). The Council of Ministers passed Bills and submitted them straight to the King for assent. Such laws were referred to as Orders (King’s Order-in-Council). They included, but not limited, to, the Trading Licences Order of 1975, the Establishment of the Parliament of Swaziland (Eswatini) (King’s Order-in-Council No.23 of 1978), Swaziland National Provident Fund (King’s Order-in-Council of 1974) and the King’s Order-in-Council enacted by Ingwenyama with the Council on March 22, 1974 to set up the Monetary Authority of Eswatini.

In the advent of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (Eswatini), the King cannot pass law in Council but he can do so in Parliament as stipulated in Section 106 (a) and (b). “The supreme legislative authority of Swaziland (Eswatini) vests in the King-in-Parliament. The King and Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Swaziland (Eswatini),” reads Section 106 (a) and (b) of the Constitution. Sifiso Khumalo, the Attorney General (AG), confirmed in an interview that Cabinet could not pass a law. By virtue of being the AG, Khumalo is an ex-officio member of Cabinet. The Times SUNDAY informed him that one of the country’s main organisations feared Cabinet could possibly pass amendments of certain critical legislations, including Bills that were rejected by the recently dissolved Parliament. There is growing fear that Cabinet might also pass the Finance Bill of 2018, which civil society asked the 10th Parliament to throw out because it was not investor-friendly and also compromised the basic rights of the poor. They felt the proposed legislation sought to increase tax drastically.

According to the Bill, the amount of Graded Tax to be paid by a person whose income does not exceed E100 000 per year shall be E250.20 per year, while those who earn an income exceeding E400 000 a year shall pay E1 250.40 (per year). Responding to the fears, Khumalo, the AG, said Cabinet was aware of the constitutional provisions extending powers to make laws to the King-in-Parliament. “People must not be afraid of something that will not happen,” he said.
In the meantime, the attorney general said there was no law which could be passed because parliament has been rightly and constitutionally dissolved by the Head of State. Pressed to comment on the Value Added Tax (VAT) increase from 14 per cent to 15 per cent, the attorney general explained that the 10th Parliament had legitimised it before its dissolution. The increase, to be effected on August 1, 2018, is meant to align the country’s s VAT with that of South Africa.


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