Editing Eswatini (section)

===British indirect rule over Swaziland (1906–1968)===

In 1903, after the British victory in the [[Second Boer War]], Swaziland became one of the British "[[High Commissioner for Southern Africa|High Commission Territories]]", the others being [[Basutoland]] (now [[Lesotho]]) and [[Bechuanaland Protectorate|Bechuanaland]] (now [[Botswana]]), although a protectorate was not established because terms had not been agreed with the Swazi Queen Regent [[Labotsibeni Mdluli]].

The Swaziland Administration Proclamation of 1904 established a commission with the task of examining all the concessions and defining their boundaries. This work was finished by 1907, and the Swaziland Concessions Partition Proclamation provided for a concessions partition commissioner to be appointed to set aside areas for the sole use and occupation of the Swazis. The commissioner had the power to expropriate up to one third of each concession without compensation, but payment would need to be made if more than a third was taken. In the event, in 1910 he completed his work and set aside 1,639,687 acres, some 38% of Swaziland's area, for the Swazi. The queen regent then encouraged the Swazi to go to work in the Transvaal to earn money to buy more land from the Europeans.<ref name=CO/>

Much of the early administration of the territory (for example, postal services) was carried out from South Africa until 1906, when the [[Transvaal Colony]] was granted self-government. A British [[high commissioner]] had some of the functions of a governor, but the Swazis were self-governing on their reserves, and the territory was not deemed to be a British possession.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morton|first1=Barry|last2=Ramsay|first2=Jeff|title=Historical dictionary of Botswana|date=13 June 2018|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781538111338|page=237}}</ref> Sobhuza's official coronation as king was in December 1921 after the regency of Labotsibeni, after which he led an unsuccessful deputation to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] of the United Kingdom in London in 1922 regarding the issue of the land.<ref name="Vail91">{{cite book|last=Vail|first=Leroy|title=The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa|year=1991|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0520074203|pages=295–296|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4VmAWdXPD0C&q=Sobhuza+deputation+london}}</ref>

In the period between 1923 and 1963, Sobhuza II established the Swazi Commercial Amadoda which was to grant licences to small businesses on the Swazi reserves and also established the Swazi National School to counter the dominance of the missions in education. His stature grew with time, and the Swazi royal leadership was successful in resisting the weakening power of the British administration and the possibility of the incorporation of Swaziland into the [[Union of South Africa]].<ref name="Vail91" />

The constitution for independent Swaziland was promulgated by Britain in November 1963 under the terms of which a [[Legislative Council of Swaziland|Legislative Council]] and an Executive Council were established. This development was opposed by the king's Swazi National Council (''Liqoqo''). Despite such opposition, elections took place, and the first [[Legislative Council of Swaziland|Legislative Council]] was constituted on 9 September 1964.<ref name="profile" /> By 1964, the area of the country reserved for occupation by the Swazi had increased to 56%.<ref name="CO" /> Changes to the original constitution proposed by the Legislative Council were accepted by Britain and a new constitution providing for a [[House of Assembly of Swaziland|House of Assembly]] and [[Senate of Swaziland|Senate]] was drawn up. Elections under this constitution were held in 1967.<ref name="profile">{{Cite news|date=2018-09-03|title=eSwatini profile|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14095711|access-date=2021-09-20}}</ref> Following the 1967 elections, Swaziland was a protected state until independence was regained in 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/56/enacted?view=plain|title=Swaziland Independence Act 1968|website=legislation.gov.uk|access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>