11 October 2011
SDC thanks SA government for heeding democratic reforms before bailouts!
The Swaziland Democratic Campaign would like to thank the South African government for their principled stance against Mswati’s loan request. We are encouraged by reports in the media that the government of South Africa has heeded our call for democratic reforms before bail outs.
It has already been revealed that King Mswati appears to be reluctant to agree to SA’s tough loan conditions and has instead opted to stall the process as he scouts for conditions for free bail outs.
Already, South African Treasury spokesperson Bulelwa Boqwana has confirmed that Swaziland has still not signed the required paper work for the first tranche of the loan which was supposed to have been given to Swaziland as early as August. This is hardly surprising news to us because immediately after the King’s trusted advisor, Prince Mahlaba, declared that they would not surrender their fiefdom to ‘foreigners’ for E2.4 Billion, we knew that the monarch was not prepared to negotiate democratic reforms.
This should send a loud message to the government of South Africa about the cavalier attitude which this dictatorship exhibits against anyone who even dares to suggest democratic reforms. In a recent interview with Aljazeera, Chairman of the king’s advisory council, Prince Logcogco, unashamedly told the world that Swaziland does not need to be ‘enslaved’ by democracy. His penchant hate and misunderstanding of democracy was exposed as moronic in its insipid form. And this is the same people who advise the monarch on the economic and political path the country should take? What a shame!
There is enough reason for South Africa to lose patience with Swaziland. As the monarch continues to stall processes that would see the country avoid an economic disaster of massive proportions, South Africa will continue to urge closer to the very consequence it hoped to avoid by bailing the country out—total collapse and flow of exiles into the Republic.
We in the SDC continue to ask the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the South African government what exactly should the people of Swaziland do to show their displeasure at the current despotic regime?
This year alone there have been more than 30 strikes and pickets from different organisations calling for democratic reforms. The people of Swaziland have done everything to highlight their suffering in the world to a total silent SADC and AU. These are the same institutions that blame ‘imperialism’ whenever this monster lurks its ugly head yet they equally fail to act against recalcitrant states hiding behind the opportunistic veil of diplomacy.
Should the Swazi people start killing each other before the world wakes up to this time bomb that Swaziland is or it should slide into a Zimbabwe style kind of banana state?
We are encouraged though that despite the silence of almost all the African leaders, there is heightened momentum for change inside the country. The SDC, together with genuine friends of the Swazi people, will continue to fight the Swazi despotic monarchy side by side until final victory.
We know that the struggle in Swaziland is correct, just, and one day will succeed. Martin Luther king was right, evil thrives only when good men do nothing.
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