SEPTEMBER 6 INDEPENDENCE AGENDA

Looking back at September 6, 2021, a few months after the historic and unprecedented nationwide political unrest that swept through our country, one cannot imagine the changes that have occurred to the political mind of emaSwati. 

One would have never imagined emaSwati criticising the monarchy to the extent of openly insulting the person of His Majesty the King. It became tempting for those who are not politically inclined to the dynamics of Eswatini politics to conclude that it is over for the King. The veil of fear for the monarchy was removed and it has been open season against the monarchy, particularly on social media. However as days became months the excitement created by numerous erroneous reports on social media soon gave into the realization that the monarchy and the King were going nowhere fast.

September 6th Movement

A small group of emaSwati calling themselves the September 6th Movement took a great risk by openly standing for the monarchy at a time when it was quite unpopular to do so. I was one of them. The realisation that our monarchy was in danger, it was more popular to attack it without offering any solutions. However, it was also just as important to point out that there was a real need for change. Our Monarch cannot remain at the centre of politics and not expect open criticism. The call for a constitutional monarchy remains the only solution for a pending political disaster that will surely come sooner than later.

Following a meeting of the members of the September 6th Movement, it was clear that the position of the movement must be articulated clearly to the public. The movement was not a political party or owned by any one person. It has no intention of becoming a political party or joining any formations designed to undermine the monarchy. However, the members felt the need to put a message across that there are still emaSwati who identify with the monarchy and strongly believe that the King should remain the head of State, commander-in-chief of the security forces, the mediator and Monarch to all emaSwati.  Nevertheless, they also strongly believe that the continued direct involvement in the formation of government posed a danger to the monarchy and that an elected PM should be allowed to form his or her government. That the King should only remain as the appointing authority as the head of State and allow government to manage the economy. Government should take full responsibility of delivering services to the people and if it fails, the voters must punish them through the ballet box not the monarchy or the King.

Political leadership must be influenced by national aspirations

The movement felt that there was a need for the nation to first speak together and deliberate on national aspirations, goals and ambitions for all emaSwati. This, they felt, must be done under the umbrella of the Constitution through Sibaya.  The only deference is that Sibaya has to evolve into a seven-day policy conference with representation from all groupings within Eswatini.

Sibaya national policy conference    

The dream is to see the International Conference Centre (ICC) being finally completed and housing seven-day future Sibaya national policy conferences. EmaSwati from all walks of life, including chiefs, members of Parliament, women, the business community, youth, unions, churches, professionals (doctors, educators, engineers etc), farmers and emaSwati minorities (Asians, mixed race and Caucasians). The policy conference must establish where the Kingdom of Eswatini will be in five to 10 years’ time; and the role the kingdom will play in the SADC industrialisation agenda of 2014.

This means that the top educators chosen by all educators to represent them, for example, would break into their panel of discussions and design strategies and a syllabus framework suitable for the attainment of the policy. They would create a framework by which government policy makers must work under. The engineers, quantity surveyors, contractors and architects would create a framework for the required infrastructure to attain industrialisation. They would have to tell us how government can cut overruns, after all the private sector never has excessive overruns. They would create policy frameworks on how we can make money through our mineral deposits.

The ordinary woman and the youth chosen from discussions within imiphakatsi, tinkhundla and city dwellers can inform the policy conference about issues that affect them and create a structure using the best minds within the conference. Please note that the conference would have to hire a team of experts who would work with the conference secretariat on an advisory basis. The doctors and caregivers would also contribute to the policy framework; including farmers and the business community.

Political leadership would only implement policy  

EmaSwati, through the Sibaya policy conference, would have finished their job and the remaining task would be to vote for the political leadership (government) to implement their policy. The political rivalry, as to who can best deliver a government that can meet our needs as emaSwati, will always be there. The leadership should not be chosen based on personalities or individuals but based on the ability to understand deliver our policy. The chosen PM and Cabinet must be able to deliver because they will be voted out as soon as they fail.

Political power must remain within the people through the Sibaya policy conference, which must remain united and only have the good of the country in mind. This is the real traditional way where the King is the chairman of the Sibaya policy conference and hold the leadership in trust for emaSwati. If emaSwati choose to take the political parties system to elect their government, they must only be two political parties, only two, so as not to divide themselves for the ambitions of individuals who love power. We must not glorify individuals at the expense of our country. The Chinese are now a superpower because they used a one-party one China first system.

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