SADC HOPES DIALOGUE GUIDELINES WILL BE READY IN JAN

MBABANE – The SADC Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation hopes that the terms of reference for the envisaged national dialogue in Eswatini would be finalised next month.

Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) MCO, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said the people of Eswatini and the government had agreed on the importance of a dialogue. She said the modalities and the processes on how the national dialogue would be conducted were still in the making. The chairperson was speaking during the closing session of the summit of the SADC Ministerial Committee, held last week Wednesday in Windhoek, Namibia. When opening the summit, the MCO called for concerted efforts to consolidate peace and security in the region.
In this summit, Eswatini was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Thuli Dladla.  

Reference

Ndaitwah, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Namibia, said it was the hope of SADC, particularly the MCO, that during the month of January 2023, a lot of work would have been done in developing the terms of reference and all modalities that would be presented to the SADC Secretariat in February 2023. She said after this, the processes that would enable the commencement of the national dialogue would be undertaken. She appreciated the government of Eswatini in committing itself to the deadlines.

Comment

When sought for comment in this regard, Dladla stated that the Eswatini government was yet to meet with the SADC Secretariat to finalise the terms of reference. On November 2, 2021, when the then Chairperson of the SADC Organ Troika, President Cyril Ramaphosa met His Majesty King Mswati III, it was stated that the SADC Secretariat would work with the Eswatini Government to draft the terms of reference for the national dialogue forum.

In a statement, the president of South Africa stated that the terms of reference would specify processes for the forum as well as its composition.
It was also mentioned that the process towards the national dialogue would take into account, and incorporate, structures and processes enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini, including the role of Parliament in the country and the Sibaya convened by His Majesty King Mswati III. In a press conference on November 30, 2022, the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku, stated that the government was indeed committed to the dialogue. He said the government was still standing by the words of the king, that the dialogue would be called as per the constitution of the country. He said such had not changed.  

Masuku noted that the escalation of the current tensions had negative implications in the economic, social and political spheres. He said politically, these tensions had caused undesirable delays in the dialogue, which should be for the benefit of all people in this country. Masuku said it would be difficult to call the dialogue under the current situation because people would fear being killed or their homes torched for their submissions.
The DPM asked emaSwati to be calm and appreciate the difficulty of dealing with the challenges currently faced by the country.

EmaSwati losing hope on dialogue - PPA

MBABANE - Political Party Assembly (PPA) President Nombulelo Motsa, said emaSwati were losing hope that there would ever be any dialogue.
In an interview yesterday, Motsa said this was because the governments and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) ‘were playing the same delaying tactics they applied last year’. Motsa said last year when the then Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation President Cyril Ramaphosa came to Eswatini, he had noted that there would be a dialogue after the conclusion of the Incwala ceremony.  
She recalled how there was an announcement, at Ludzidzini Royal Residence last year, that the King would call Sibaya after the Incwala ceremony.
Motsa said as political parties, they would continue demanding the dialogue and that there would be no peace until the dialogue was convened. She criticised government for saying the environment was not conducive for the dialogue, and that saying such was propaganda meant to blindfold the people from demanding the democratic reforms.

Opportunity

She noted that there were times in which there was peace in the country, but government did not take the opportunity to convene the dialogue.
Motsa said the period from November 2021, to the time when members of the security forces were killed, there was peace in the country and the environment was conducive for the dialogue. She also noted that the King and the SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi, in October this year, said there was peace in the country but the dialogue was not called. She said all this was evident that the country’s authorities were not eager to have the dialogue.

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