Home | Feature | WHAT EXACTLY IS MANGOLOLO?

WHAT EXACTLY IS MANGOLOLO?

23/08/2021 08:14:00 By Vusi Sibisi

Font size:

Mangololo Eswatini is the new kid on the kingdom’s political landscape, ostensibly formed to oppose multiparty democracy.

One cannot be faulted for deducing that those behind the formation of this movement have found a welcoming and warm embrace from the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution and specifically by invoking the twin freedoms of association and assembly, apparently the same enabling section that proponents of multiparty democracy are riding on in their opposite demand for a plural body politic, to claim a place in the sun. I should confess that when I first came across the newspaper article announcing the arrival of this new kid, I, perhaps like many more like-minded compatriots, burst out laughing.

Recalled

Somewhat at the same instance I recalled my sojourn in the UK in the early 90s that coincided with, in 1992, one of the most hard-fought and memorable elections in that country’s history that pundits and pollsters had given to the opposition Labour Party and its leader, Neil Kinnock, was poised to move in at No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British prime minister. Lo and behold, it was not to be. In the aftermath of it all pundits and pollsters were left agonising how they had it all wrong when the Conservative Party emerged victorious. Some blamed it on the Labour Party’s grand Manchester post-campaign celebratory rally on the eve of the elections that resembled the same razzmatazz of American presidential election victory rallies that had strangely scared and helped change voters to rally around the Tories. Kinnock was never a tenant of 10 Downing Street but later became a Cabinet member of the European Union. But it is not the fate of Labour’s and Kinnock’s now-you-have-and-now-you-don’t that the formation of Mangololo jogged my memory but something else.

Woke

The 1992 British elections woke me up to the reality then that I only had a cursory knowledge of British politics and that all along I had been drowning in utter ignorance. For example, before then I had always thought there were two political parties in our former colonial power, the Conservatives or Tories and Labour Party. As it were there were in fact three dominant parties then, which included the Liberal Democrats that completed the triumvirate. But these were not the only political parties resident in the British political space.

I was to learn then that there was a long list of political parties, although I cannot recall the exact number, but as of August 2019 there were a total of 408 parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Of all the political parties at the time the one that had captivated yours truly, for which the formation of Mangololo takes credit for jogging my memory, was the Monster Raving Loony Party, which is among parties considered as fringe by the media, formed by musician David Sutch, also popularly referred to as Screaming Lord Sutch, in 1983. I had initially thought someone was pulling my leg in the newsroom about the existence of such a party with such a strange name. But not only was I convinced when I saw their inclusion on the ballot but was in fact favoured with the opportunity to attend one of their campaign rallies but I choose not to bore you with the details thereof. Reflecting on this specific political party, I reasoned silently then that the British had the pleasure of adding colour to their politics, a pastime that was probably not available to African politics given the serious challenges faced by post-colonial African nations not to speak of the nature of African politics. That conclusion turns out was definitely premature, in the aftermath of the formation of Mangololo.

Here we are in 2021 in the midst of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and a political rapture that has torn the kingdom apart and out of the blue emerges Mangololo … not to contest political power but to fight multiparty democracy presumably on the side of a tyrannical political status quo. It may well be that the powers that be are not party to the formation of this movement – although certainly not beyond them – but what it stands for is music to their deaf ears to the calls for a plural body politic. Consequently, it may not be long before the people’s tax Emalangeni starts flowing in their direction considering the lack of transparency and accountability on the employment of national resources. Already Mangololo founders are sounding like Cabinet ministers in their condemnation of petitioners demanding political reforms.

Explanation

In their explanation of the motivation behind establishing their movement, Mangololo founders were short on substance on how they hoped to accomplish their mission – that is opposing multiparty democracy. Perhaps this detail will be shared when Mangololo is formally launched in the near future where its founders promised to unveil its vision and mission. In the meantime we still have to deal with the question; is Mangololo Eswatini a political party established for the sole purpose of opposing political parties and proponents of multiparty democracy? If the answer to this question is affirmative maybe Mangololo could begin its stated objective by opposing itself.