Burning Eswatini needs a new plan to force king’s hand
This is the view of fugitive MP Mduduzi Simelane, who has been in hiding since the first outbreak of violent protests in that country in July. A warrant for his arrest has been issued, while two fellow MPs – Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube – have been in jail since July 25.
A new wave of protests erupted last month when pupils started burning and vandalising schools across the country to demand reforms. Schools have since been closed, but the police have become even more heavy-handed.In Mpaka, police allegedly beat up three pupils and rolled them into a fire, and video footage showed police tear-gassing buses full of protesters and shooting them as they jumped out.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as chairperson of the Southern African Development Community Organ on Defence, Politics and Security Cooperation, this week appointed former minister Jeff Radebe as a special envoy to assist in resolving Eswatini’s unstable political climate. “We need a Plan B now and other strategies as soon as possible,” he said, because Mswati was not prepared to listen to his people’s demands.
“They said that the report had recommendations to government and would not be made available to us as political parties because it would then become public. We’re not satisfied with this envoy because they’re restarting the same process of finding facts,” Ngcamphalala said.He said that the party would not wait for the situation to calm down before they begin bargaining.