IS ESWATINI NOW A DIVIDED COUNTRY?

The kingdom hangs dangerously towards a violent encounter.

I cannot stop feeling that we are at crossroads and decisions that are taken now will determine if the kingdom will become the richest country per capita in Africa or enters many dark years of protracted revolution which will see emaSwati as refuges throughout the SADC region and the rest of the world. The direction, scale, level of bloodshed and the duration of the revolution will be determined by Their Majesties and political parties. One can only pray that God will speak as He spoken to kings in the past but history is against absolute monarchies as the wave of democracy which started centuries ago is almost complete.

We are the exception not the rule and wisdom tells me our monarchy should be preparing and positioning itself in such a way that when the inevitable comes they are in a strong position of influence within the political party democratic system to protect themselves. Those that have followed my writings might be surprised to hear me speak of parties as I have generally been against multiparty politics for various reasons hoping for a united Eswatini putting together a non-party policy and electoral conference instead.

However I have come to the realisation that Eswatini is now a divided country as the right wing political grouping has grown very fast over the last few years. The slow moving tinkhundla political system just did not evolve as per King Sobhuza II’s instruction. Eswatini is now truly divided into left wing and right wing political thinkers. The only solution to this crisis is to recognise this and allow the two groupings to form the political parties to both defend their interest and the majority will emerge to govern the country under the leadership of a neutral head of state and constitutional monarch.

It is important that we understand in the simplistic way the thinking of these two groups. We will not go into the centre-left or centre –right but just deal with the extremes. Each person reading can then understand where they fit. These two groups have fought many wars over the centuries in Europe and in America to establish dominance, one over the other and have come to agree to disagree and share power.

Eswatini would do best just to learn from their history and jump and form two political party coalitions to contest for political power and the winner becomes the ruling party and the loser becomes the opposition under a constitutional monarch like in Britain. This would skip a lot of hardship and the kingdom would become the richest country in Africa given its mineral reserves and geographic location and its tradition as it is in the top 10 tourist destination countries in Africa because of its cultural attractions.  

Sibaya modernised

The Constitution provides for Sibaya as the highest policy making organ. The nation shall provide representatives from all corners of the country, say 1 000 members, to form the electoral and policy conference and held at a proper international conference centre. The delegates must include all chiefs, emabandla, churches, unions, Lutsango, youth, students, professional bodies (lawyers, doctors, engineers etc) farmers, sports councils, business organisations, people with disabilities, pensioners, civil society and  political parties.

Political parties should be limited to the top two biggest parties to avoid divisions and weakness within the nation. The two political parties must have 100 000 members to contest the elections at parliamentary stage. Smaller local political parties with 10 000 members and above maybe allowed at primary elections. Standing as independent individuals would be allowed and encouraged too if you can stand the two political parties.  

In America they have the Republican Party (Conservative) right wing and the Democratic Party (Progressive) left wing. In the UK they have the Conservative party (right wing) and the Labour Party (Progressive) or left wing. There are a few other much smaller parties. In both these countries on extreme opposite ends to the monarchy, democracy is the central theme. The ruling party mandate seems to move from one party to the next as voters are never satisfied about which government is better.

Left wing political thinkers

Left wing refers to liberal or radical political parties and their supporters. Left wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism and gives importance to ideas such as freedom, rights, progress and reform. They consider social welfare as the most important goal of government. Political analysts often describe left wing political party members as communists, socialists, democratic socialists and progressives, among others.

Furthermore, left wing politics believe in concepts like welfare state, equality in society, central planning, government intervention in the economy, secularism (separation of religion and state), and protectionism – anti-free trade. In addition, they also hold open views on subjects like homosexuality, abortion, and immigration. Progressives find it very difficult to accept that any man can be born superior to another, hence the issue of kingship or chiefdoms are considered against the human order.  This would mean that Eswatini and the present political system just does not go down well with them and they would sooner get to a republic where all power is in the hands of elected members and led by an elected  president.

Right wing political thinkers

 Right wing politics refers to a conservative or reactionary political party and its members. Right wing politics usually oppose extensive political reforms. According to right wing politics, social order and hierarchy are inevitable and natural, and right wingers typically support this position on the basis of natural law, tradition, religion or economics. Political analysts describe right wing political supporters as conservatives, neoconservatives, imperialists, monarchists and traditionalists, among others.

Furthermore, right-wing politics emphasise concepts like duty, authority, order, tradition and nationalism. Right-wing politics also have traditional closed views (do not allow it) in matters like abortion, homosexuality and immigration. Moreover, right-wing politics believe in the limited role of government in people’s life and economy. In addition, they believe in concepts like nationalism, personal freedom of people (individualism), less regulation of the economy, low taxes, promotion of private sector for growth, equality for all (with no special provisions to minorities), religious conservation and tradition.

This group would basically favour constitutional monarchy, religious rights, tradition and culture. There has been much noise about the silence of the church over the media. This is not strange if you study the description of conservatives above. The church is the greatest supporter of all conservative political thinkers. Please comment and discuss through septembereswatini@gmail.com

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