MENTAL CIRCUMCISION

                                                                                    AUTHORS OF TRADITION

The Physically circumcised
Picture by Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters 

Many an instance a people finds itself marching in single file like well-trained soldiers adhering to the constant whip of tradition. In most times than not there is no more reason and logic left in the traditional norm, but a cult-like protection at what has become more a slave driving situation than ethic building exercise. In most times it is not the enforcer that sits as guardian of a tradition that has long lost its purpose, but those who the tradition oppresses the most. It is this paradox that perplexes the observer and keeps the observed in perpetual self-slavery.

Tradition being more or less the agenda of life, without which life would be a confusion of sporadic human actions it  comes as no surprise that those more concerned with self-gain would tend to author tradition after admiring the way in which nature keeps human being s ordered by the way of natural tradition. It is also worthy to note that nature ‘authors’ tradition that has to do with survival or for basic needs and those focused on profit of any kind author tradition that is more concerned with the wants and thereafter through such, control of the traditionalized people is profited.

THE MANUFACTURING OF TRADITION

Until recently when researchers could prove that circumcision could reduce the chances of contracting HIV/AIDS, the physical act of being circumcised had no reasoning behind it besides the urban legend of those promoting circumcision claiming the superhero status of the circumcised penis in the bedroom, and on the contrary a Drum magazine contributor likening the circumcised penis as being deprived of a whole surface area of sensation that would otherwise greatly enhance the sexual experience.  Actually, with the origins not known, circumcision has been rationalised by aligning it to health, conquest over other tribes, control of excess sexual enjoyment, enhancing sexual enjoyment, rite of passage, ability to endure pain, and many other rationalities that are not without a litany of contradictions.

 The logic however that such an event could serve as a school to teach the young men how to carry themselves with dignity in manhood was a reason powerful enough to deter the inquisitive from pursuing understanding in the physical act itself. But as the cost of living skyrocketed and by default profit finding more meaning in the community, the relevance of the physical act of circumcision becomes unquestionable. As the numbers of initiates that die through the inexperience of the profit- mongering traditional doctor rise, the question becomes compelling even to the highest office of government. Owing to the fact that the origin of this tradition is unknown, who then would be holding the patent to this tradition that it would be impossible to  shut down the bush-butchering and place this tradition under the care of doctors that have spent years perfecting the art, and who are under legislative and ethical scrutiny. Who are the authors of tradition that a nation can be held hostage by a tradition without a patent? If it ‘the people’ that are the author, maybe a few can be asked to trace in history as to when they authored the tradition.

The criminality and thievery of such shenanigans can be traced back to none other than king Sobhuza 11 who when resources had to be collected, he conveniently became ‘The Nation’, hence with such slippery tactics much was stolen from the Swazi people by a person they considered their king, hence the relevance of the author being so important as to ascertain the validity and credibility of the tradition in question.

THE SECRECY OF TRADITION

The traditionalist's best arguing point of providing a school for the initiate cannot be overlooked as we wheel the initiate to ER (emergency room).  In all honesty, at ER we no longer have an initiate but a patient. How do we then initiate a patient?

African ritual has always thrived under the protection of secrecy. By some unfathomable logic, it became widely accepted that the secrecy of the ritual somehow rendered the ritual more powerful, and it being revealed would somehow weaken it. That is the greatest bullshit that has ever been fed to the global community by the earlier ruling aristocrat through the propaganda of the traditional doctor or the doctor of the cloth. It is not a point to be argued that secrecy breeds dishonesty, but when it comes to ritual, it then seems that this logic should not apply, but the Traditionalist should be left to prescribe a way of life he

cannot prove.

There is nothing the matter with taking the bush lessons to the formalised classroom. I would further argue that the formalised classroom would have to be less institutionalised considering that academia’s prejudices have been its main downfall or should I say its patent being in the possession of capital has been its downfall.

Secrets would have to be a thing of the past. Actually if it is honest and upstanding why does it have to be secretive? Many argue in favour of secrecy but none can adequately explain why secrecy equals a more powerful ritual. What does not make sense must be discarded.

THERE IS NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES

ALMOST EVERYBODY WAS ROOTING FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE KING

The coronation of King Mswati 111 brought temporary relief to an embattled palace, and popular democratic activists sensed a shift in the balance of forces which favored giving the young king a chance to give the nation some political direction. According to Ray Russon, ‘the coronation brought a lot of hope to a lot of people’, and this led PUDEMO to

…. Give the young king an opportunity to assert himself. But after two

years  it was clear that he was not addressing the fundamental problems

faced by the country. It is for this reason that in January 1989 a statement was

released by the movement, reasserting itself in demanding more concrete

action towards democracy.

Whatever legitimacy the coronation gave to the institutions of the monarchy was clearly short-lived. From 1989 onwards, the pro-democracy movement intensified its activities, ultimately transforming itself into a mass social movement and shifting the balance of forces against authoritarian rule.

(The above is an extract for “When the sleeping Grass Awakens” by Richard Levine, the title and the subtitle is my authorship)

The Selfishness and greed of one man has led to a nation
under siege by the royal cabal.

My submission: Ray Russon could not have captured the mood more appropriately concerning the times. The PUDEMO that is now seen as a rabble-rouser did ‘hold its forces’ in order to give an opportunity to the young king. Actually almost everyone was rooting for the young king. I am ten years old at the time, and I too am more expectant than a woman in full term. Had the young king shown to be a just and an honest person who had respect for democracy, I am sure that PUDEMO would have worked very much along with him. But one of the first things that the he does is talk about upholding the ‘traditional’ institutions, and everybody who somehow comprehends politics at the time knows very well what the young king is saying.

It is very discontenting to then hear institutions like Sibahle Sinje bragging about “protecting” the institution of the Monarchy as if the rest of Swaziland unreasonably took a stand to question this institution. What upset the people was that from the beginning Mswati 111 was unapologetic on how he wanted to maintain Swaziland as his personal property. He was not even a decade on the throne and as a nation we had to contend with the tantrums of a king demanding a private jet. Hunger is rampant, HIV/AIDS is building a strong foundation and what the king is more concerned about is getting a private jet. When the dialogue is supposed to be the development of the people, the young king swerves the dialogue towards the Fokker 28 and the Fokker 100 airplanes, and in the meanwhile acquiring a fleet of exotic cars.

 Had Mswati 111 been concerned about the welfare of the Swazi people, Swaziland wouldn't be having the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world that it has today. The young king walked into the midst of those that had prepared the throne and forgot the people in whose name the throne existed, hence today the king sheds tears as those that prepared the throne keep demanding perpetual tribute and surely it has been proven that there is no honor among thieves.

     

WHEN THE ANC FELT THE WRATH OF TINKHUNDLA

SOBHUZA 11’s PARTING GIFT TO THE ANC

In the wake of the Nkomati accord, more than four hundred alleged ANC members were detained in Swaziland and deported. Many complained of having been assaulted. In May, Mpho Mthombeni was brought before the Manzini magistrate court on charges of having entered the country illegally. He complained that his bandaged head had been dented by a police knobkerrie (heavy stick) , and that since his arrest, he had been in and out of hospital. Teresa Majdle told journalists how she was beaten during her interrogation: ‘The police would handcuff me, put me in leg-irons and blindfold me then take me on a long drive.  They would then remove the blindfold at a place I would not easily identify and the interrogations would start.’ Refugee sources in Manzini said that between two and four people died in police custody during the clampdown. The height of the Swazi-ANC confrontation in april 1984 resembled a small scale war and led to the deaths of five ANC supporters and two Swazi security personnel. 

The major confrontation took place on 19/20 April in Ngwane Park, Manzini, when Swazi security forces surrounded a house and killed two ANC guerrillas who refused to give themselves up. This followed a fifteen-hour shootout which reduced the house to a shell after the use of heavy weapons. When the gunfire died down, the two bloodied corpses were left on show for most of the day. Eyewitnesses claimed that the operation was directed by white men in camouflage uniform. While the Swazi army does have British and Israeli advisers, it does not have as many as were involved in the raid. During this time too, black men in camouflage uniform were heard talking North and South Sotho dialects in Manzini, and Craig Williamson, a well-known South African security-agent, was seen in Mbabane.

OR Tambo and Beyers Naude

At the same time, four ANC detainees disappeared from Swazi police cells. The authorities claimed that they had been freed by ANC guerrillas in an armed raid, but this was denied by the ANC in Lusaka. Secretary-General Alfred Nzo accused the Swaziland government of ‘handing over to South African regime' four ANC cadres who had been detained by police at Bhunya Police station. Shortly after this, South African Minister of Law and Order, Louis Le Grange, announced the arrest of ANC men ‘on the Reef’. Later in the year, the Swaziland government deported to South Africa a former University of Swaziland leader and ANC member, Bhabhalazi Bulunga, then employed at Ubombo Ranches. His handover was a flagrant violation of both the UN convention on Refugees as well as the state’s own legal procedures.  According to liqoqo member George Msibi, he was deported for his activities in the sugar industry, and not for any ANC links. Bulunga was detained by South African security police following his deportation.

The crackdown on the ANC was accompanied by an ideological assault on the movement by the government and the media. Prime Minister Bhekimpi Dlamini stated that Swaziland was ‘infested with an unprecedented scourge of foreign criminals’, while the local media denounced ANC guerrillas as ‘murderous’, ‘bandits’ and ‘armed thugs’. When ANC President Oliver Tambo failed to honour a visit to Swaziland to defuse the crisis in May 1984, the siSwati Tikhatsi Takangwane newspaper carried the headlines: Emanga e-ANC angcunu - Oliva Tambo akaseti – ‘The ANC’s naked lies – Oliver Tambo is no longer coming’. According to the journalist Howard Barrell, ‘a number of Swazi leaders had collaborated with foreign agents in a plot to assassinate ANC President Oliver Tambo. Only a tip-off from a Swazi diplomat stopped Tambo flying into a trap set in Swaziland.’ Tambo was unwilling to comment on this latter allegation, but made it clear that Swaziland government had at no stage actually offered him formal invitation to visit the Kingdom.

At the height of the conflict, the Swazi and South African governments agreed to exchange of trade missions. The South African trade mission opened in November 1984 with six accredited diplomats. The chief Trade Commissioner, Sam Sterban, a career diplomat with very little trade experience, described the mission as ‘an embassy in all but name’. While many sceptics pondered the question as to why, after all the years of harmonious trade relations, a new framework beyond the customs union would suddenly be required, Sterban provided the answer: ‘I see the work of the mission as going a bit further than promoting trade …. Trade between South Africa and Swaziland will look after itself but we can look after other developments.’ Indeed , the trade mission’s brief included consular, aid and security matters, all of which constitute the normal functions of a consulate. At least two of the acredite diplomats attached to the trade mission were known to be police or security officials, one of them a brigadier in Pretoria’s National Intelligence Service. It was no surprise then, Sterban described South African/Swazi relation as being ‘good’, remarking that:

                                             The policies of both countries are reflected between two

                                             Police forces … I think this is to be expected between police forces

                                             of any neighbouring two countries that have a similar policy.

In early December, shortly after the opening of the mission, the Swazi Deputy Police Chief, Petros Shiba, was gunned down in Mbabane and the ANC was blamed for the killing. Despite ANC denial, Police Commissioner Majaji Simelane claimed that the ANC had a hit-list of Swazi police man who were to be ‘eliminated’, and that the ‘ANC had declared war on Swazis as their number one enemy’.

As the search for Shiba’s killer’s intensified, a man and a woman were arrested while Simelane said that he had to tell the Swazi nation about the ‘ANC war’. He warned that Swazis giving shelter to ANC members were, ‘placing their own lives in danger. They may be hit in the cross-fire during operations if there are near them’. On 18 December Andreas Sono Ngcobo of Soweto cornered and shot dead by Swazi Police. Two passers-by, one of them a twelve year old boy, were killed in cross-fire. A further series of expulsions followed, including the deportation of the ANC’s chief representative at the time, Bafana Duma, who had spent the last twenty years of his life in Swaziland.

(An extract from “When the sleeping grass awakens” by Richard Levine {Title and Subtitle is my authorship})

Notes:

       Ibid. 4 May 1984.

       J. Hanlon and T. Smart, Apartheid’s new Ally, New Statesman, 11 May 1984:19.

        Ibid.

        Swazi News, 21 April 1984.

        Hanlon and Smart, 1984:19.

        Swazi Observer, 7 May 1984.

        Africa Now, Feb. 1985:24.

        8 May 1984.

        City Press, 20 May 1984.

           Daniel and Vilane 1986:64.

     Africa Confidential, 15 mar. 1985.

      Africa South of the Sahara, 1987. London: Europa, 1986:984.

      Daniel and Vilane, 1986:65.

      Rand Daily mail, 10 Dec. 1984.

     Times of Swaziland, 11 Dec. 1984.

                              

THE ANC CANNOT CARRY THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD

IN DEFENCE OF THE ANC

The ANC is a liberation movement that has had to contend with one of the most damaged governments in the world. Besides that it has had to deal with a million loose ends that it inherited from the apartheid regime, it also had to deal with an economy heavily compromised by sanctions that had to be enforced by the international community to force the National Party to see reason. After the formation of the government of National Unity, the international community – especially those who secretly support racism – then watched like a vulture stalking the wounded, if the ‘black person/kaffir’ could actually administer his own destiny.

South African High Commissioner Happy Herby Mahhlangu
and his wife Andrea

To then say that the ANC should have jumped to the assistance of repressed Swaziland as soon as 1994 is wishful thinking, as it had many fires to extinguish, especially those caused by the new home of the old order’s racist individuals. Again it would be wishful thinking to conclude that the legion of South African racist found Jesus, repented, and racism disappeared into thin air, and the ANC was left to run the country without these pests. The ANC has had to deal with racism after racism was officilly done away with. So to ask the ANC to be Jesus Christ and turn water into wine would be unfair, even though when looking at South Africa at present, it becomes easy to believe in miracles.

WHEN ARE YOU SELF-KEPT ENOUGH TO BECOME THE BROTHER’S KEEPER?

Even though I would have personally preferred if the ANC had become decisive earlier on the Swaziland issue, but here in Africa we are grateful for what we are offered at the time we are offered in order to fight the filthy habit of ingratitude. So it becomes easy to say that the ANC acted at the opportune time that it acted and now I am comforted that my brother stands next to me with clear resolutions on how we are to both take a stand against tyranny. I will now not say ‘my brother left me to the dogs’, because we avoid such language in Africa, for purposes of civilisation and other.

But the issue is not if the ANC has taken a stand or not, but if the ANC is practicing the habits of the snake. It would be doing the ANC a great injustice to, at present time, accuse it of ‘saying this and doing the other’, because its foreign policy on Swaziland is unambiguous, which comrade Lindiwe Zulu has reiterated to assure those who wait at corners to take unwarranted gibes at progress. But it may seem that some of us formulate conclusions on catchy headlines and entertainment tabloids.

AN INDIVIDUAL’S POINT OF VIEW IS NOT ORGANISATIONAL POLICY

It may then seem that the South African High Commission to Swaziland issued a statement on behalf of the South African government when he said that South Africa shouldn't meddle in Swaziland's democratic issues, but that is not the case. What the South African representative did was to give a personal opinion, because if his utterances were ANC’s policy, it would be written somewhere in one of ANC’s documents. And it is commendable that COSATU, through a statement issued by its Second Deputy President Zingiswa Losi, sternly rebuked such uncalled-for verbal diarrhea  So South African High Commissioner Happy Mahlangu cannot be said that he had spoken on behalf of the South African government when he embarked on the impulsive utterances, hence COSATU saying that, ‘We will arrange a meeting with the ANC Leadership to recommend that Mahlangu be recalled for training on ANC policies and decisions, especially with regard to offering assistance towards the democratisation of Swaziland’.

What is also worth to note is that there are known ANC members who are in business with the Swaziland government, and at times compromise the organisation by standing alongside those who are known to be oppressors. Upstanding ANC members have at times shamefully admitted that greedy tendencies of some ANC members have at times compromised the organisation’s integrity. Not to say that comrade Happy Mahlangu is one of the takers, but to bring to clarity that when individual members of the ANC are seen to be running amok, the ANC’s name cannot then be dragged in the mud along with such unscrupulous characters. So it would be very wrong to crucify the ANC for comrade Happy Mahlangu’s sins. It is then up to the ANC to reprimand its renegade member in a manner appropriate to the seriousness of the irresponsible utterances.

SEEKING DIALOGUE

CLOSING SPEECH (WITS - SWAZI ELECTIONS DIALOGUE)

There cannot be any rivalry if there is no bone of contention. Swazi progressives cannot consider one another rivals when the task at hand is still to fight for the power that is to be contested. Either we admit the fact or not, but as progressives we are a coalition; if not by choice then by circumstance; this we cannot run away from, however limited the parameters that we view the situation from. What our leaders are not aware of is that what they hold so close to their bosom are not valuable patents kept for profit but the suffering of our people. Political organisations want to style themselves as “head physician”, labor organisations want to live in a bubble where they want to solve political matters in a way that is not going to upset the king. When we ask for the whereabouts of the suffering of the people we are told that PUDEMO allegedly holds the patent to the struggle and NNLC is fighting day and night to dispute this. It is this very paranoia that at times presents an image of disunity when in reality it is just an unfortunate parade of egos.

Political Panelists
Picture by: Philani Courage Ndebele 

Another area that lacks definitive demarcation is to what extent those with common interests should engage one another until that engagement reaches the point where the only thing achieved is just keeping appearances. As much as democracy dictates that all must he heard, but there are times when the product presented to democracy has all the signs of a dictatorship. Do we then tolerate such for the sake of keeping appearances, or we bravely betray the comforts of convenience in pursuit of the ideal?

In this dialogue we have learnt that democracy is a system where human beings have an equal say, where people have the right to organise, a right associate,  a right to assemble, and a right to express themselves, and also that those rights should be enjoyed while being cognisant of the fact that one’s right cannot impede on another’s. Which then takes us full circle to the appreciation that the indulgence in these rights cannot be one sided hence the core principle of the “equal say” or rather equal indulgence, if you will.

Now considering the context of the dialogue which was aptly defined by professor Friedman”, it then becomes easy to identify the lack of the “ideal” in whatever electoral system that is being critically analysed, and in this case the system being the Tinkhundla electoral system, which is not only flawed as a as an electoral system, but is founded on a shaky foundation of an equally flawed constitution.

It then falls into the category of common sense that one elected on a faulty electoral system which is founded on a faulty constitution will surely walk into a faulty parliament. But it would be good to remember that Babe Hlophe actually mentioned that fighting the system from within did at one point yield a certain fruit whereby the purchase of an airplane was discouraged and those campaigning for the wings of the king were stopped. But it would be unjust to omit the fact, that, as we speak, the king of Swaziland has a private jet which was mysteriously acquired and Sive Siyinqaba, Sibahle Sinje is still in parliament.

A Section of those that attended the Election's Dialogue        
Picture by: Philani Courage Ndebele

Another thing that Professor Friedman mentioned is that, assuming that all agree on embarking on the experiment of fighting from within, there is still the risk of being demobilized  of weakening the ability to organise and mostly the risk of giving legitimacy to the very system we rightfully accuse of being illegal.

Having concluded this dialogue session, we can’t really claim to have a waterproof conclusion on either to participate or to boycott the elections, but again we cannot claim not to know what democracy is, and what a democratic electoral system is. Professor Friedman gave us an easily comprehensible breakdown and definition – Manqoba Nxumalo said it wasn’t about us but about the people – Muzi Masuku literally painted for us a picture of a judiciary held hostage - Ms Hleli Luhlanga said it was about giving women an equal opportunity as men, and also consciously noting the plight of the children who continue to be the prime recipients of the consequences of society’s moral decay – Make Zodwa Mkhonta said it was the pulling together of those with a common interests – Skhumbuzo Phakathi said it was about contesting state power.

So as we disperse to our various destinations, there are pertinent issues that it then becomes incumbent on all to mull over and scrutinize if the goal is to be the object and not the subject. That if the object and the goal is democracy, then wouldn't the efforts of dethroning the king replicate chasing the rooster when the intention is to capture the bull. That maybe our definition of the people and their needs is but perpetual pursuit of the shadow in trying to define a fantasy and missing the reality. That to internalize the struggle is to interact with source of the struggle. And finally, that a good athlete cannot gain the goal without losing some sweat.

WHEN DICTATORS RULED THE LAND

The Art of Requesting Democracy from a Dictator

It would be fascinating to watch a group of Al Qaeda  extremists discussing  how they would execute the bombing of an American city while asking American President Barack Obama for his input on how to successfully achieve that end.  As absurd as that sounds, it is what a group of progressive Swazis did when they organised an Election’s Dialogue on 10 – 11 May 2013 at the Wits University, in anticipation of the upcoming elections/selections that Mswati 111 and his government of stooges uses every five years as a process to dupe the gullible on a purported democratic dispensation in Swaziland.



from left to right: Sam Mkhombe (Sibahle), Simeon Simelane (Sibahle).Skhumbuzo Phakathi (PUDEMO),
 (Moses Ndlela(NNLC), and Kenneth Kunene (CPS);
standing: Professor William Gumede (moderator)

So it was with much curiosity that I arrived at the Wits Club to witness what I had already dubbed the Irony of the Gullible Swazi. Considering that Swaziland is not known for its ability to progress, but its affinity to a satirical existence. The country's public service wage bill currently exceeds 18 percent of gross domestic product, taking it to the highest level in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is at present well acquitted with the rude finger that the Swazi Tinkhundla authorities are so fond of presenting to anyone that dares offer opinion contrary to the favored life of convenient irony. Swaziland has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world, it is the fifth poorest in the world at 69.2%, and it is a place where the average person is expected to live just 48.3years.  Under such unfavorable conditions the expectation would be that Sub-Saharan’s last absolute Monarch king Mswati 111 would be the shining example to his subjects by at least trying to show some restraint in unprotected sexual indulgences, but his children are continuing to increase from the 13 different wives, which is evidence enough that he is unashamedly singing solo without knowing the lyrics.

When the ramblings of the bourgeois find fertile soil

No country has the right to defend, fund or justify a dictatorship. That is not an assertion that holds true in global foreign policy, hence the justification in the corridors of diplomatic corps that the one oppressed must be subject to whatever meager opportunities of inequality that the dictator in question offers. Mswati 111 and dictatorship incorporated has offered a bait of an election so flawed that the Commonwealth responded to it by saying, “We cannot therefore conclude that the entire process was credible”, but there are those of the International community including the American embassy to Swaziland that find it just to insinuate that participation in Mswati’s elections would be advisable as American Ambassador to Swaziland Makila James hinted at a meeting held at the American Consulate in Sandton Johannesburg not so long ago. Not to find fault with employees of foreign missions but to expose a double standard that seeks to keep the oppressed further enslaved and to justify relations built on the misery of the oppressed and funded by those in the trade of buying and selling mortgage relationships.

It wouldn’t be surprising then that an alleged political party, (Sive Siyinqaba, Sibahle Sinje “Liberation” Movement) that from conception, unapologetically styled itself as the Monarchy’s PR tool, would be invited in a dialogue event where the main aim was to find a way to do away with the dictatorship of the Monarchy. So many will be the mistakes as even the most astute are consumed by paranoia and impatience born of the lack of appreciation that it takes time to perfect a dictatorship hence the expectation of an instant reversal carries dangers of embracing an illusion.  

A Dialogue of World Class Status

Besides the Monarch’s representatives the attendance register turned into a collector’s item when the attendees started pouring in. There were academics, international organizations, policymakers, embassies and respected personalities. Three of Swaziland’s banned political parties –PUDEMO, NNLC, and CPS - were also at hand to give a sort of a telescopic view of what the future Democratic Swazi government might look like. The keynote address was conducted by Professor Steven Friedman, Director at the Centre for the Study of Democracy. He made comparisons with the Bantustans of the apartheid regime and how the experiment of participating in structures of a dictatorship has no good results to be seen in present day. Refusing to preempt the dialogue he summed up his address by saying that democracy boiled down to “an equal say for all”.

Ibrahim Fakir, the current manager of the Governance Institutions and Processes department at the electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), seemed to be bursting at the seams as he evidently tried to contain his honest opinion on the quality of the Tinkhundla electoral system. But finally he couldn’t hold himself any longer and said, “I don’t know why you guys call it an election when there are no political parties contesting for it”. He said an acceptable electoral system was one that could be described as “credible and legitimate”, which the Tinkhundla electoral system is obviously not.

When I was exchanging pleasantries with American Ambassador to Swaziland, Makila James, she hinted on the need for “consistency” within the ranks of the activist’s organization which is more or less the buzz word among activists as the Swazi struggle seems to be reaching a new threshold in optimism.

Google Mapping Swaziland

It seems the struggle for democracy in Swaziland is within the boundaries of favorable coordinates, because two of Swaziland’s arguably most influential political parties are well aware of the fact that the coordinates to the exact location of Swaziland’s democracy will not be handed out like candy at a spoilt kid’s birthday party. It is good to also see that a great number of Swazi people are now seeing that King Mswati 111 will not be emotionally touched by a litany of  pleas, requesting to be handed democracy on the very silver platter that is keeping the royal family in power. There is no art of requesting democracy from a dictator.  As PUDEMO has always maintained “WE WILL NEVBER BEG FOR OUR FREEDOM”.

 

 

 

 

 

TO WISH UPON A THRONE

A KINGDOM TOO EARLY
In Swaziland there used to be a King called Sobhuza 11. His was a character shrouded in so much mystery, witchcraft, and fear that the Nation would respond like trained slaves when summoned to either cultivate his fields, donate a beast out of the few they had, or for any other task Sobhuza 11 felt he was entitled to as King and absolute ruler.

King Sobhuza 11 The Warrior King?

Such was the shrewdness of Sobhuza 11 that he ordered the nation to contribute towards the establishment of a 'trust of the nation'. The trust was to insure that whenever the nation fall on bad times, or if there ever was some economic need, the trust would insure that the Nation had provisions to fall onto. An idea of a genius it might have seemed; if there was ever such a thing called evil ingenuity.

That promise was to add on to a medley of Sobhuza 11's empty promises that the Nation had heard time immemorial, but being mental slaves of Royal indoctrination the people continued passing praise and giving credit where credit was neither due nor deserved.

Such was the indoctrination in regard to his character that way after his death many kept repeating the praises that were embedded deep within their minds that had been molested from the cradle. But for a short time which was to prove perpetual, Sobhuza 11 seemed to have finally done something worth looking forward to. Some sort of undefined hope, but hope nonetheless; and so it seemed.

By dying Sobhuza 11 had done Swaziland the incalculable favor of allowing a new beginning, a new King, a sort of a Nation's rebirth, even though that rebirth was to be delayed by an interim uncertainty of a feudal traditional council that saw to a legitimate Queen Regent being held hostage and dethroned, and the installation of a rumored 'maid come baby mama', come mother of King, come Queen mother.

Nevertheless none of the power struggle mattered to the people as long as the promise of a new King was kept alive. As much as there was bitterness, and uncertainty in relation to evil exchanges within the Royal house, but if the promise of the Son was kept, then most sins could be forgiven.

Then rumors started filtering down to the people that the promised Son was alive and kicking and studying in the land of the English, and that in 1986, The Child (as he was affectionately called) would ascend the throne. So it was with much eagerness that the people donated towards the 'pencil' of The Child, when they were ordered to do so.

Fathers started whispering to their sons on the significance of The Child and what benefit he would bring with his overseas education. Mothers would occasionally brag on how the beauty of their girl child would catch the eye of The Child which would catapult the lucky family from peasantry to royalty in a moment. Hopeful were the times, and the waiting just seemed too long for Swaziland's personal Jesus Christ to come back from England.

On coronation day, The Child did not disappoint either. He looked the part. Lean in body, with clean defined facial features; a figure that would be described as handsome. He stood on the podium; all eighteen years of him, dripping with unearned medals, with the red carpet rolled from the podium to infinity.

The scene was Hollywood and the actor, a mixture of a young Denzel Washington and God himself. Swazis were cheering endlessly for a mere teenager. A child they did not know anything about; a stranger being welcomed like a conquering hero. The child should be commended though for not sinking a mile into the ground because the deceptive metal honor on his chest rendered him literally top heavy.

If there was one thing that the Swazi Nation has not received due credit for, is its gullibility. The moment The Child opened his mouth was the moment that the Swazi Nation was supposed to demand their 'pencil' money back, because it was clear from then that The Child hadn't grasped even the English Language when he had been among the English people, never mind the expensive English tuition.

Instead his poor command of English was to be echoed by Swazis after a few gulps of the neighbor's brew. Suddenly speaking with sleep inducing gaps in between words was considered Royalty by the Nation. Failure had turned viral as even government officials would try by all means to include as many as possible of the 'droning' gaps in between the words.

Gullible Swaziland was not the wiser that the 'ehhhh' was because The Child had to be at pains to string the words together because he hadn't adequate grasp of the language as to roll it without effort on the tongue. But such tongue gymnastics were to become fashionable as every Tom, Dick and Mama Jack tried their utmost to incorporate the 'ehhhhh' in their speeches.

The Child who then after was known as Mswati 111 did not waste anytime in proving his globe trotting capabilities, and the trust fund which he was supposed to be holding in trust for the nation became nothing but his personal bank account, as his father had been clear on his handling of the Fund that it had been a scam from the beginning; the trust fund was not for the Nation, but for Royal indulgence.

By then Swaziland had a airplane (a fokker 28 model), but Mswati did not find such a jalopy to be fit for Royalty, so when a more modern fokker 100 model was said to be part of the national budget, the nation went up in arms. But the nation was to come second in that situation too as Mswati 111 always had his way.

So in earnest Mswati 111 began putting together his entourage of concubines and traveled on chartered turbines that were to be nothing but a well engineered drainage system to both the fund and the taxpayer's money.

Not only did Mswati 111 help himself to the fund, but his ascension to the throne saw to the increase of evictions of the poor so he could control most of the land which was termed 'Swazi National Land'; that land too was supposed to be held in trust for the Nation. A more of a 'evict the poor from their land so that you can hold their land in trust for them" scenario. A tongue twister it might have seemed, but the Royal family wouldn't be where it was without the tongue of the snake. Before Nigeria had the 419, Swazi Royalty had already multiplied that number a thousand times over.

For twenty six years Mswati 111 has been ransacking Swazi money, and when recession presented itself, Swazi Royalty was not to be left behind on the 'wagon of opportunity'. They tried to sell the scam to the IMF, but the IMF being like Thomas of the bible was quick to rightly diagnose the opportunist's ailment; it wasn't a case of the "Greece Effect", but an obvious case of decades of gluttony. 'Control your appetite' is what IMF prescribed; 'first control appetite, then we talk.'

Swazi Royalty could not tolerate IMF's deprivation, and disrespect, so it ran to South Africa with 2.4 billion reasons why it couldn't control the need of sucking the blood of the Nation. 'Structure yourself in a manner that such funds can be guaranteed to filter to the people.' Is what South Africa said. That too was unacceptable to Swazi Royalty and home they went to 'ponder' on the misfortune. It seemed somehow that there was a confusion in the Royal House as to why the world was not buying the Royal scam anymore.

If we can then go back to the day of the coronation and try to track the people that were more expectant than a pregnant barren woman, then we may understand the discontent that is eating up Swazi people in present day.

After the people had praised endless 'Bayethe' at the coronation, it was then that the dreams and hopes had to result in reality and better life for the people. The eighteen year boy had to disembark the podium and provide the better life for the people. But such was not to be.

Instead of using his authority to garrison his unlimited troops to Human Development, the boy seemed to be on endless trips and such trips resulted in a pool of luxury cars that were valued in the millions. His birthdays parties became more and more extravagantly ridiculous. Palaces appeared like mushrooms after a thunderstorm. Out of the nothing that the people had, Mswati 111 kept demanding.

Children were dropping out of school, crops were poor and the chauvinist was a relentless burden on the shoulder of the woman that was already burdened with feeding a family when crops were not forthcoming. The 'eunuch' male took to the calabash, and the depressed woman followed suit. Cholera became rampant, and HIV was sowing its seeds. New-borns were dying on their mother's backs on the way to far away inadequate clinics. The girl child was being 'traditionally' raped on a daily basis, and the boy child had to be on standby to serve the local Chief through back-breaking toil. Such was the legacy that Mswati 111 was giving to the nations while he, his legion of wives and his children where wining and dining in the most luxurious hotels of the world.

The boy that had been whispered good news by his father kept on gazing at an empty horizon, and reed dance after reed dance the 'beautiful' girl child was not chosen by the King, but was forcibly married to an old pervert whose merit was the size of the herd of his cattle.

So let it not misconstrued as jealousy that the Swazi Nation is now up in arms. The Swazi Nation believed in the eighteen year old boy without even knowing him. The Swazi nation was willing to assist the boy in whatever Development of the Nation the boy chose to embark on. But the boy just refused to care about the welfare of the Swazi Nation.

The boy chose Selfishness, and as soon as he sat on the velvet throne, nothing mattered besides feeding the gluttony that worsened as the years passed. The boy became a man, but still he behaved like a boy. Let not anyone blame the Swazi nation for wanting to govern itself because the teenager that became a man but still remained a boy failed dismally at leading a nation. The Swazi Nation gave Mswati 111 more than enough time to prove himself as a leader but instead he plunged the nation into an economic crisis, a political sewer, and a social disaster.