Kenworthy News Media, 7
December 7 2016
After a coup and 22 years
of authoritarian rule, The Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh conceded power in
elections on December 1. Swaziland, another of Africa’s small authoritarian
nations, can learn from The Gambia that there is strength in unity, says Swazi
activist Bheki Dlamini, writes
Kenworthy News Media.
Swaziland and The Gambia are
two of Africa’s smallest nations, both less than 20.000 km2 and with
populations below 2 million. Both got their independence from Great Britain in
the sixties, and both are more or less engulfed by, and to a large degree
dependent on, a much larger and more powerful neighbour.
Both countries have also
endured decades of authoritarian rule, dressed up as democracy, after an
initial spate of democracy post-independence, and both are ranked near the
bottom of the world’s nations, regarding human development, democracy, political rights, civil liberties and press
freedom.
Strength in unity
Since the reopening of multi-party rule, the opposition in Gambia had remained weak and fragmented, and its victory against Jammeh in the presidential elections would not have come about, had they not decided to form a coalition recently, insists young activist Bheki Dlamini.
Since the reopening of multi-party rule, the opposition in Gambia had remained weak and fragmented, and its victory against Jammeh in the presidential elections would not have come about, had they not decided to form a coalition recently, insists young activist Bheki Dlamini.
Bheki Dlamini knows the
price of fighting for democracy in a dictatorship. He was tortured, charged
with terrorism and imprisoned for nearly four years in one of absolute monarch
King Mswati III’s prisons. He had to flee Swaziland in fear of his life not
long after the court dismissed the charges against him and released him.
And from the vantage point
of exile in cold Scandinavia, Bheki believes that the democratic movement in
Swaziland needs to unite as in The Gambia, if they are to gain true democracy.
– I am overwhelmed by the
humbleness and political maturity shown by the Gambian opposition leaders to
swallow their pride and put their country first in forming the coalition. The
democratic movement in Swaziland is fragmented and too weak to challenge our
undemocratic regime, says Dlamini.
Big challenges
Even though there are similarities between The Gambia and Swaziland, there are also differences, especially as Swaziland is still fighting for laying the foundation for multi-party democracy, Bheki Dlamini says.
Even though there are similarities between The Gambia and Swaziland, there are also differences, especially as Swaziland is still fighting for laying the foundation for multi-party democracy, Bheki Dlamini says.
– Uniting the democratic
movement has been the most challenging endeavor of the movement. The Swaziland
United Democratic Front (SUDF) is trying to unite the forces but is facing big
challenges.
Why, for instance, are some organisations that claim to be in
pursuit of democracy not part of the SUDF? We need unity, but are our leaders
willing to swallow their pride like the Gambians and build a united coalition,
he asks rhetorically.
Dlamini believes that
instead of focusing on ideology and personal differences in forming such a
coalition, the respective leaders and organization should focus on what unites
them.
– And what unites us is
that we want to bring down King Mswati’s undemocratic rule. No one organisation
in Swaziland can deliver democracy alone. Our narrow self- and organisational
interests are not taking us anywhere. Our division and weaknesses are
prolonging the suffering of the Swazi people; the unemployed, the sick, the
elderly, the rural poor. We need everyone who agrees on the need for democracy
to come together. We are stronger united than divided.
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