Border Committee's report ready

MBABANE – The Border Determination Special Committee is ready to present a report to the country’s authorities.
Chairman Prince Khuzulwandle says this particular report would contain the way forward on the country’s efforts to reclaim the vast land which was lost to neighbouring states.

The prince said he was clear on what should be done now to reclaim the land.
However, he said the way forward would remain a top secret.
“This is our secret weapon we will not reveal it for now,” he said.

“I have a recommendation which I can hand over to the authorities if I were to be asked to, today.”
He conceded that his office was not making much progress regarding its mandate, which includes the return of land taken from the country in the colonial era.

Reporting on the progress thus far, the prince said they had managed to engage one country at the round table but there was nothing fruitful to report from that meeting.
He said the negotiations failed to yield anything because the said country, which he refused to reveal, did not want to negotiate.

“Their committee was very serious. It was made of advocates and we were just ordinary citizens.”
He, however, hastened to add that his committee had made a lot of progress in collecting information, which he said would be helpful in taking the matter forward.
“From the aborted negotiations, I could tell that the land will never be recovered on a silver platter,” he said.
He said there was a need for government to support the committee because most of the things that are supposed to be done now depend on such assistance.

He said the method that needed to be engaged now did not necessarily mean starting a war with our neighbours.
It is obvious, he said, that passive negotiations would never bring the land back.
“Judging from the history of boundary disputes in the African continent, it is not possible that we will get the land from the table.”

He said such an opinion is motivated by a recent matter of a land dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria.
“Cameroon took Nigeria to the International Court of Justice court and they won the case,” he said.
He said Nigeria refused to accept the judgement and threatened war.
However, after intervention of the UN, a tribunal was set up to review the judgement. It ruled in Cameroon’s favour.
He said Cameroon reached the decision to go to court when it became obvious that Nigeria would never surrender the land freely.

He said that the judgement would be a good lesson for the country.
“It is promising. The prospects are really looking bright,” he said.
The prince refused to disclose whether his committee would recommend the International Court of Justice route or not.
He said it was true that the International Court could hold the key but said the committee had lots of problems to engage this move.

Neighbouring country snubs team

EZULWINI – Prince Khuzulwandle says his committee is poorly constituted. He said as a result, there is a need for the committee to engage a researcher.

He said the committee required a qualified researcher who would guide and give direction to its work.
According to the prince, the committee is currently working hard, compiling information through research, retracing the original borders of the country.

He said in other countries where such committees existed, they were made up of advocates and well-educated personnel.
He said it could be this reason that a committee from a neighbouring country which they recently engaged, rejected them.
“Perhaps this was one of the reasons that the foreign committee we negotiated with rejected us,” he said.
“That country’s committee was made of advocates and this showed the seriousness of the matter at hand.”
He said his office lacked staff and equipment.

“We do not have a secretary, stationery and all other relevant material that enables a proper working environment and we have worked under these conditions for a long-time,” he said.
The current secretary, who is at the disposal of the committee, was availed by the Kings Office only recently.
“In the past we used secretaries from the Constitution Drafting Committee but we did not have stationery or office equipment.”
Proved
He said this proved that there was no political support.
The prince by profession, is a scientist but is now an ‘expert’ in the country’s history due to his work in the committee.

He is serving his second term as a chairman of the body.
The Border Determination Committee was appointed by the king to among other things negotiate the release of the country’s land which was taken away in the sixties when borderlines were enacted.
The country lost vast amounts of land in the process.
The bulk of the land went to South Africa while the rest went to Mozambique.
Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini has confirmed that he has received an invitation from the Border Determination Committee.

Speaking through Macanjana Motsa, government spokesperson, the PM said he could not honour it because of a busy schedule.
He said the past two weeks had been hectic for him because of state duties.
However, he said he would be meeting the committee in due course.

Govt ‘abandons’ Border Determination team 

EZULWINI – Chair man of the Border Determination Special Committee has blamed government for its slow pace in reclaiming the country’s land lost to its neighbours.

Chairman Prince Khuzulwandle says his committee does not get political support. He says government has continued to ignore the committee’s existence.
“I have had the privilege of leading the committee under two governments and I can safely say both governments do not recognise us,” he told the Times SUNDAY.

He said the committee was not capacitated to seriously engage its neighbours in meaningful dialogue. He said his committee does not receive a budget from government.
“How do they expect us to work on such an important issue when we do not have money?” He said last year they operated on a ‘meagre’ budget of E2 million which they received from the King’s Office.

This was after the proposed budget was rejected by central government.
“We submitted a budget even this year and I doubt if they have approved it. In fact, I would be surprised if they approved it.”  
He said his office had made efforts to engage government over the budget but thus far, these efforts have also failed.
“We made a presentation to AT’s (Themba Dlamini) government with the hope that they would support us. It seems this meeting did not work because government continued to ignore us when appropriating the budget,” he said.

The prince said the office was only surviving because of His Majesty’s efforts.
He said the king had ensured that the office received funds to operate.
He said his office has written a letter to the Prime Minister requesting a meeting where these issues would be thrashed.

“We have not received any response from the PM to this end. We hope that he will eventually grant us an audience.”
He said his committee would make a comprehensive presentation to the PM with the hope that the fortunes of the committee would change when money matters are discussed.
He said his committee would present to the PM on what it had done and what needed to be done now to take the matter forward.

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