Times Of Swaziland: CIVIL SOCIETY FAILS TO MEET TROIKA TEAM

CIVIL SOCIETY FAILS TO MEET TROIKA TEAM
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BY SIBONGILE SUKATI on 06/07/2021 08:35:00


MBABANE – Members of the civil society and other stakeholders failed to meet
with the SADC Troika fact-finding mission delegation which was in the country.
As a result, the delegation of over 10 which was led by Chairperson of the Organ
Troika, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Lemogang Kwape, left the
country after only meeting government and a certain section of the church
stakeholders.
The meeting took place on Sunday at the Royal Villas. However, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Thuli Dladla, has refuted reports
that government had not invited the civil society and other stakeholders,
stating that it was all a breakdown in communication.
Invited
Dladla said the Troika team had arrived in the country immediately after
government had invited them on Saturday and there was no time to prepare as the
agenda was sent at 11pm. She revealed that when they asked the delegation for a
list of the stakeholders they wanted to engage, some of the organisations were
no longer in existence. She said these included the Chamber of Commerce and the
Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.  “We asked where they had found these
organisations from and it was revealed that they had been in their database,”
said Dladla. She admitted that they then made attempts to call other
stakeholders after the meeting with government and one of these was the
Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) and the Eswatini
Conference of Churches.
CANGO Director Emmanuel Ndlangamandla confirmed that he had received a call from
a government representative on Sunday before 3pm and he rushed down to the Royal
Villas. “However, we found that the group was already in a meeting with the
ECC, but we joined them as a meet and greet session,” said Ndlangamandla. He
said they were assured by the delegation that a new date would be set so that
they would meet with all the stakeholders because they needed all sides of the
story.  Meanwhile, it was revealed that the Roman Catholic Church had asked the
Anglican Church to represent it at the meeting.
Call
The Law Society of Eswatini also received a late call from government to attend
the meeting. Dladla said they were in touch with the SADC team and through the
assistance of CANGO, they were getting other stakeholders. The Troika group is
still in meetings over the Mozambique issue, which is why they also left
Eswatini early, according to Dladla. She said the affected parties would be
informed as soon as the next meeting was arranged.