SWADEPA big meet a flop

Sithole is president of the political entity.

A day like no other, a special day: are some of the colourful phrases Sithole had to eventually swallow after yesterday’s meeting failed. He had sought to describe the day like that in his prepared speech, which the newspaper has a copy of.

Slightly over 20 people turned up for the meeting where the political party had envisioned to unpack their reason for existence, together with the path it wishes to follow in order to achieve their ultimate goal of "facilitating the existence of a Swazi citizenry that lives in safety and that enjoys self determination, in a country where the standard of living is decent and where all are afforded equal treatment before the law."

Sithole said the organisation’s membership numbers to over 5 000.

The meeting was eventually postponed to a date yet to be announced.

Sithole apportioned blame for the poor turn-out to failure on their part to take cognisance of the dates of the calendar, which was further compounded by hurdles they had in marketing the meeting.

"The national radio, for instance, declined to run an announcement on the meeting. Furthermore, I think the fact that this was a month-end weekend it contributed to the poor show of people because usually individuals pay visits to their families on this particular weekend," he said.

When asked whether it was government policy to bar political parties from making public announcements on national radio, Percy Simelane who is Government Spokesperson responded: "I have answered this question many a time."

A few calls which were received by some of the party membership who attended from some of the party members who could not make it to the party’s ‘special day’ seemed to corroborate the statement on poor timing. Some members called to say they were held up by family commitments, and forwarded their apologies, according to party member, Sipho Khumalo from Bhunya.

The meeting had initially been scheduled for 9:30am.

At about 10.30am, a few people were still nursing hopes that the meeting would eventually kick-off but their patience eventually waned as the clock ticked towards noon.

Forced by circumstances, at about midday the party’s leadership subsequently succumbed to the eventualities and called it a day.

Some members had already left the scene, with a few never-say-die party stalwarts still wondering about, hoping that things might change for the better.

It was not to be, unfortunately, but the people in attendance acknowledged the fact that even Rome couldn’t have been built in a day.

"It is normal for one to flounder in the beginning, we all understand," sympathised Khumalo.

"I think the leadership took a wise decision to postpone the meeting, given the circumstances," said Phumlani Malinga.

Nonetheless, the Times SUNDAY approached Sithole with a view to have a peek into what might have been. Sithole had intended to unveil the ideals for which his party stands for, as evident in his prepared speech. Moreover, the one- time astute unionist was to address the gathering on the vision of the political party together with the means by which to realise it. He was also to touch on the values espoused by the entity, namely: humility, tolerance, integrity and respect for human dignity.

"There are fundamental and inalienable civil liberties to which all citizens are entitled. Some of these are already enshrined in the constitution. Freedom of Association, speech and the right to free expression are bedrock liberties without which the promise of an open and democratic society is void," he said.

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