With a stroke of his pen, King Mswati commuted the...

With a stroke of his pen, King Mswati commuted the death sentences of four convicted murderers on November 13, and reduced the number of inmates on death row from 13 to nine.
The four men who have been spared their fated meeting with the hangman will serve life sentences, which in Swaziland means they will walk free only when they are 75 years old.
Swazis overwhelmingly favour the death penalty and they want to see it applied more widely in a proposed new national constitution.
"Swazis want to see criminals executed for rape and cattle rustling," reported Prince Mangaliso Dlamini, chairman of the Commission.
The judiciary, however, has its concerns. The Swaziland Law Society considers the death penalty meaningless because it is not enforced.
On the other hand the Editors Forum, a group of newspaper editors from Swaziland's handful of media houses, is calling for the immediate execution of death row inmates following the murder in November of Sandile Ntshakala, the editor of the royal-owned Swazi Observer. But their calls have been ignored.
This has pleased the Human Rights Association of Swaziland. Dr Joshua Mzizi, professor of theology at the University of Swaziland and president of the Human Rights Association, echoes the UN view, saying "Capital punishment is putting Swaziland on the wrong side of history. Morally, it is unconscionable because it is all about revenge, not redemption. Practically, it does not stop crime."
Another objection the human rights group and the Swaziland Law Society have towards the death sentence is that it constitutes a form of "cruel and unusual punishment".
"Prisoners are kept in excruciating suspense, sometimes for years, simply because the state does not have the courage of its convictions, and won't carry out the sentences," says Robert Mngomezulu, a lawyer in Mbabane. The last execution took place in 1982.King Mswati gave no reason for commuting the four death sentences.
One of the convicted murderers, Butitshe Sibandze, had been sitting on death row since 1983. Two others, Joseph Sithole and Bongani Sibandze had been waiting for 17 years, while John Mhlanga has been anticipating execution for 16 years.
The kingdom's religious community is split over its support of capital punishment. Swaziland's Roman Catholic Bishop, Ncamiso Ndlovu, has strongly condemned the death penalty as an evil of "the state arrogating upon itself God's prerogative to end a life. No man has the right to assume such power."
However, the leadership of the conservative African Zionist Christian sects, such as the AME Church and the Red and Green Gowns, firmly support capital punishment.
"The death penalty fulfills the biblical injunction of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," said Jabulani Dlamini, a minister from Mliba.
Whatever the public opinion, there is a hitch - Swaziland lacks a hangman.
The Ministry of Justice has advertised for someone to fill the hangman's post since 1998.
Applications from would-be executioners arrived from all over the world, but the justice ministry is not satisfied with any of them, and has apparently stopped looking, which just about sums up the indecisiveness of authorities in the kingdom.