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SILENT CHURCH IS DEAD CHURCH!

24/01/2022 08:01:00 Vusi Sibisi

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It is refreshing that there remain pockets of the church, as epitomised by Bishop Mpendulo Nkambule, which have refused to be swallowed up in the apotheosis and political patronage motored by the amorphous Tinkhundla political system to the point where their leaders – in all the glory of their biblical titles – have sold their souls for earthly positions to feed their greed and ambitions.

Bishop Nkambule and the few clergymen and women remain resolute by preaching the truth, in the name of social justice, to power without fear of reprisals from a government lacking in integrity and rectitude. In the wake of Bishop Nkambule standing on the mountain-top to speak out and criticise government on the many atrocities it has visited on the people, the ruling elite not only profiled him but also went on to summon and threatened to blacklist from public tenders business leaders who associated with Bishop Nkambule’s Ambassadors House Ministries. It did not end there, some of the captured men of the cloth – whose singular preoccupation is singing for their supper – vilified church leaders such as Bishop Nkambule whom they accused of straying into the political realm.

Condemned

Paradoxically, while these captured priests, pastors and whatever else they call themselves, have condemned the recent spate of arson attacks, which have been blamed on the pro-democracy movement albeit without any evidence whatsoever, none of them had anything to say about the wanton murders of protesters during last year’s civil unrest. Like government, to them property and material possessions are more important than the lives of emaSwati that were lost. As I see it, the church cannot pretend all is well in the face of the injustices of the political order that is depriving emaSwati of their inalienable human rights. As the moral compass and conscience of society, it is the duty of the clergy, religious leaders and the church, generally, who must speak out, on behalf of the voiceless and the helpless, against the brutal might of the State hell bent on oppressing and depriving them their God-given birthright. Silence in the face of these injustices underwritten by the obtaining political hegemony can only mean one thing and one thing only, tacit support. Therefore, a silent church is a dead church along with its leadership. Now on to my next issue for today.

Optimism

Such is the optimism of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) over the much vaunted national dialogue that it has penciled a by-election to replace former Siphofaneni Inkhundla Member of Parliament (MP) Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane to take place immediately thereafter notwithstanding the fact that the nation is still in the dark on its modalities. The former MP lost his seat for missing 20 consecutive sittings of the House of Assembly after fleeing the kingdom and injustice in the wake of warrant of arrests for him and two of his former colleagues who were arraigned for terrorism, charges for which they are currently being tried in the High Court.

To date, no one has a clue about when the national dialogue will be convened, its form and how long it would take. The nation was earlier informed that it would happen at Sibaya after the Incwala Ceremony. Significantly, the Incwala Ceremony has come and gone but there has been no mention of when the dialogue will take place – that is assuming it will happen. Which makes EBC’s sanguine outlook somewhat out of place not only because its duration cannot be predetermined but also because the process itself has not been defined, not to speak of how its outcomes may impact and influence the future political trajectory of the kingdom.

If experiences, from elsewhere, are anything to go by, the dialogue could stretch up to five years and beyond. Of course it is the agenda that would determine the nature and substance of the dialogue. For instance, if left to the whims of the leadership, the dialogue could take the form of the usual Sibaya where people blow up steam for over a week or so of the so-called ‘People’s Parliament’ after which the ruling elite would routinely author outcomes in the name of the people for implementation, no questions asked. That is rule by consensus wherein emaSwati purportedly have a say on how they are governed, the world would then be informed. This perhaps is the end-game scenario that the EBC is also anticipating, a quick fix solution to the political imbroglio, then proceed with its normal business as usual while in the other scenario it may have to wait for months or even years to fill up the vacancy – which may never happen or would become redundant if the by-election is premised on the completion of the national dialogue.

But a genuine dialogue, which the ruling elite is definitely not looking forward to judging by the toxic vitriol spewing forth, is not a charade like Sibaya, but a serious interaction governed by rules of engagement. A rule of thumb of these rules is that it cannot be convened and presided over by a party with a vested interest just like a criminal cannot adjudicate his own trial.
Another dimension to the envisaged dialogue is the matter of the murders of emaSwati protesters during last year’s pro-democracy protests, some of which, if not all, were committed by the police. Government has run out of steam trying to shift the blame to imaginary mercenaries without providing an iota of evidence in support, a situation not helped by its refusal and failure to institute an investigation especially since it was able to launch a process of restitution to those whose properties were razed during the civil unrest. That omission could well be government’s, indeed the leadership’s, acknowledgement of culpability for the mass murders, a matter that may need to be addressed before substantive negotiations can resume.