PUDEMO GIVES GOVT ULTIMATUM TO RELEASE MPS

MBABANE - While PUDEMO has given government a week to release the incarcerated Members of Parliament (MPs), King’s Office Director of Communications Percy Simelane says the State believes only in its Judicial System when it comes to the interpretation of  the law.

The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has given the country’s authorities a week to release the two incarcerated MPs in Hosea’s Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi’s Mthandeni Dube. PUDEMO claimed that there would be a mother of all protests in the country should their demand not be met. Speaking through its President, Mlungisi Makhanya, the entity also wants exiled emaSwati to be allowed to return home in order to participate in any meaningful process for dialogue aimed at resolving long-standing political issues in the country. Makhanya was being interviewed by South African television station Newzroom Africa yesterday morning.

Comment

The TV station had sought a comment from Makhanya regarding progress made in the Kingdom of Eswatini since the one-day visit by South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as Chairperson of the SADC Organ Troika on Politics, Defence and Security. During the visit, Ramaphosa held talks with His Majesty King Mswati III regarding the process towards the proposed national dialogue. Makhanya first made it clear that the political entity was not against the proposed dialogue and that it welcomed the intervention by the SADC chair of Troika, who since assuming that position, had demonstrated the necessary urgency in attending to the issue of Eswatini. “We have said we are committed to dialogue, but the dialogue we are committed to is one that will be all inclusive, whose terms of reference shall be generated by the people of Eswatini working together with the SADC Secretariat, civil society and maybe the government,” Makhanya said.

Reason

He said it was precisely for that reason that they had made an indication to the SADC Troika to submit their own terms of reference that should guide any process towards any meaningful dialogue. Makhanya was also asked whether he believed that there would be a dialogue or that it would be a monologue. In response, he said they were of the view that it would be a monologue, which was why they had made their own demands. “Among those is that we want immediate release of the two MPs and the jailed political activists like Amos Mbedzi. We want him released immediately and sent to his country. We have made it clear that we want unconditional return of our leaders who are in exile, some for over 20 years, including the recently-exiled Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Simelane. Sibaya is not the forum of any meaningful dialogue,” he said. Makhanya said it was for that reason that they would announce very soon an ultimatum date on which they expected these things to have been done, failing which they would embark on a mother of all protests to make sure that they forced the authorities to concede to these demands.

Makhanya said they would not in any way take their foot off the pedal and that they were focused on an intensification of the struggle and an acceleration of pressure on the authorities. “We are clear that whatever will happen in Eswatini will be largely based on the contribution that we have made as citizens, not necessarily much in the boardrooms of the dialogue, but on the ground where the struggle is fought,” he stated. Another question posed to the PUDEMO president was whether giving an ultimatum and proposing a protest was not against the spirit of dialogue. He responded by saying: “It is definitely not against the spirit of dialogue. If anything, it is meant to enhance dialogue. As President Ramaphosa and SADC speak about dialogue, the armed forces in Eswatini continue to brutalise our people in communities. So we believe that if anything, it will enhance any spirit of dialogue and this will only happen with the release of the MPs, return of exiled people and an end to violence”. Makhanya highlighted that it was incorrect to say that when the people pushed against brutalisation and victimisation, it was offensive to the spirit of dialogue.

Dialogue

What was not in the spirit of dialogue, according to Makhanya, was the alleged use of violence on citizens. This publication contacted Makhanya to ascertain how the proposed protest would be staged since the issuance of permits had been banned by government. He advised this reporter to follow the ‘family meeting’ which was to take place later yesterday, where he said all clarifications would be offered. In response to this, King’s Office Director Simelane said the State believed only in its Judicial System when it came to the interpretation of the law. “Constitutionally in this country, it is the courts that discharge or convict suspects. The right to overthrow the courts and Constitution does not exist in the entire civilised world. We have no reason to think the State would be ready in three weeks or any other time to replace its Judicial System with mob justice as it were,” Simelane said.

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