CONFUSION OVER TROIKA TEAM MISSION TO ESWATINI

MBABANE – Confusion!

This best sums up the much-anticipated return of the SADC Troika team for its fact-finding mission in the country. While civil society groups and other stakeholders await the return of the SADC Troika team, it seems like there is no clear direction on the whole exercise. In particular, there is confusion on who should facilitate the meeting between civil society groups and political organisations and the team on the second round of their fact-finding meeting. Executive Director of the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Emmanuel Ndlangamandla said the group of ministers made a promise to them when they met during their first visit.

Opinion

“Government has given their opinion on the issue and we should also state our side of the story, especially on the fabricated stories of foreign mercenaries,” said Ndlangamandla. He said the people who had died were emaSwati and not foreigners. Ndlangamandla said if Troika wanted to remain a credible organisation, then they would take it upon themselves to ensure that all other interested stakeholders made their submissions. “Even if it means that the meetings are held via Zoom we would appreciate it because there were lives lost,” said Ndlangamandla. Ndlangamandla said as an organisation they had also written to the SADC Secretariat stating that they also had submissions to make. He said, however, there had only been an acknowledgement of receipt of the email, but no further information. This was the same position stated by Thulani Maseko, who is Chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholders Coordinating Team, which also wrote to the SADC Secretariat and the SADC Troika Organ, stating that they wanted to be engaged as they represented about 20 organisations, which included the church, youth, political parties and others. Maseko said they (SADC bodies) had also acknowledged receipt of the letter, but no dates indicating when they could be engaged.
“I also understand that the ministers are not coming back for the second mission, but instead a group of experts from the secretariat is expected,” said Maseko. He said this was not a fair position as government had been given a substantive meeting by the delegation.

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