‘PEACEFUL ESWATINI A PARTING GIFT TO TUTU’

The reports of the burning of Minister Cruiser Ngcamphalala’s home would have pained the late Desmond Tutu.

Peace is one of the most valuable assets any people can have but very easy to lose and very hard to find. King Sobhuza II and the parliamentary resolution which led to the 1973 decree gave emaSwati one of the greatest gifts of peace during a difficult time. We can say all we want about His Majesty King Mswati III but we had peace until June 28 2021. There are those who are quick to say as an ‘oppressed nation’ our peace has been an illusion but let’s take a moment and really think about that and look around us.

We take things for granted and think that peace will always be there. Mozambique suffered through colonial oppression for hundreds of years and got their independence with the help of Marxist Russia. The colonialist master had changed their name and surnames and destroyed their cultural heritage. At independence, the winning political party was FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique), which immediately introduced a communist government. This meant that property ownership and religion were banned.

Their colonial master took away their culture, African names and surnames including their African identity. And their new liberator, Frelimo, took away their property rights and their right to worship God. Churches were closed and all religious activities prohibited. The life of an ordinary Mozambique citizen was now communist as their sponsor to liberation was Russia but some felt that at least they had democracy and political parties.

A few Mozambique citizens used their freedom to form another political party called RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance) which they based on the capitalist economic system with the support of South Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), apartheid South Africa and the United States of America. RENAMO was established in 1976 by the Rhodesian security services, primarily to operate against anti-Rhodesian guerrillas based in Mozambique. South Africa subsequently developed RENAMO into an insurgent group opposing FRELIMO. This led to the death of millions of Mozambique citizens in the most brutal civil war. Hands we cut off, pregnant women’s stomachs cut open for voting for the wrong political party.

However, Mozambique finally got a constitutional government headed by President Joaquim Chissano who was elected in the country’s first constitutional multiparty elections in October 1994. The largest opposition party, RENAMO, made a strong showing in the elections, winning majorities in the country’s five most populous northern provinces. President Chissano and the leadership of his party, Frelimo, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975, won the rest of the country and continued to control policymaking and implementation. The peace was just not there. Civil war continued and the economy and the people suffered.

Peace agreement

Finally there was peace as Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and RENAMO leader Ossufo Momade joyfully embraced amid loud cheering after signing a peace treaty on August 6, 2019. It was a sight for sore eyes. The peace agreement put an end to a resurgence of the armed conflict between the FRELIMO-led government and the largest opposition party and former guerrilla movement RENAMO, based in central Mozambique. It was a third attempt at silencing the guns after the peace agreement of 1992, which put an end to 16 years of a brutal civil war and another deal for the cessation of hostilities was agreed in 2014. The year before, a new round of confrontations had started, at low level and gained some momentum when RENAMO rejected the results of the October 2014 elections. Peace has been elusive and the people have continued to suffer.

Human development index

His Majesty King Sobhuza II gave emaSwati peace amid civil unrest throughout the region and King Mswati III’s administration has allowed us to have this peace and a chance for peaceful human development. What is meant by human development index (HDI)? The HDI is a summary composite measure of a country’s average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, standard of living, long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth. Knowledge, as measured by many years of schooling and expected years of schooling etc. Eswatini is rated 14th in the human development index which is above big African countries like Ghana and Kenya. The country has done reasonable well even though we can do better; we must acknowledge our achievements. Eswatini poverty is bad at 63 per cent but South Africa is at 55.5 per cent and Botswana fell back to 59 per cent in October 2020.

Death of emaswati

The death of emaSwati at the height of the unrest was wrong at any level. The Human Rights Commission must be commended for their investigation and report. They must now look into compensation and reconciliation. The armed forces are trained to preserve life at all cost and must be fully investigated and given fair trails for their action in a fully democratic Eswatini.

Every head of State in every country is a commander-in-chief of the armed forces and indirectly responsible for any action of the armed forces but in a democratic country they are innocent until proven guilty. The Marikana massacre of April 16, 2012 cost the lives of 34 South African citizens killed in cold blood, with 70 injured and President Jacob Zuma was the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces and his deputy, Cyril Ramaposa, was also a non-executive director and shareholder of the mine.

Ramaposa had full knowledge of the situation and is alleged to have used bad language against the miners, giving his Board and the police commissioner instructions to handle the situation speedily. Does this mean that President Ramaposa, who is the head of the SADC Troika, has no authority to handle the dialogue because he has blood on his hands too, according to some? The answer is no. As leaders have to make hard decisions which sometimes cost lives but they must always be accountable, not to social media but to a court of law. That is in a democracy with the rule of law which the Eswatini pro-democracy movements should be all about.

Changes without violence

Eswatini democratic forces must strive for peace and not violence to achieve their goals. The country has achieved political changes through peaceful means in the past. We got direct parliamentary elections and the Constitution through workers’ demonstrations and strikes but all were peaceful. We don’t need to burn homes to bring about political change. Violence will divide the country and even if the pro-democracy forces win, the pro-monarchy forces will use the same violence to burn homes of their ministers and political leaders. The circle of violence will never end. Political dialogue must be given a chance without prejudice; with emaSwati fully represented to forge their future together. septembereswatini@gmail.com

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