Home | Feature | MAY THE REAL SWALIMO PLEASE STAND UP

MAY THE REAL SWALIMO PLEASE STAND UP

17/09/2022 08:26:00 Welcome Dlamini

Font size:

When King Sobhuza II read, as historian Hilda Kuper described, slowly and very quietly, the April 12, 1973 proclamation that revoked the independence constitution that allowed for multi-party democracy, he said that instrument of government had failed to provide machinery for the maintenance of peace and order. He said instead, it was a cause of growing unrest, permitting the importation of foreign political practices incompatible with the Swazi way of life, “and designed to disrupt and destroy our peaceful and constructive and essentially democratic method of political activity”. I wasn’t there at that time but, if I may ask those who were already politically active or conscious, isn’t what we are witnessing today a case of Déjà vu? The hate that is currently evident within and between political party organisations is perhaps what King Sobhuza saw at the time hence he felt the need to deal with it by repealing the constitution of that time. Almost all the political parties are faced with a certain degree of internal strife, even though some of the conflict has not been publicised. But it is being spoken of in dark alleys. But that of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) is at the moment being played on a ‘free to air’ service. Anyone is free to view or listen without requiring any subscription. A close acquaintance recently remarked that there is currently no need to pay your Dstv subscription because SWALIMO is providing content without end. The battle for the soul of SWALIMO is on. You have Mbekezeli ‘Mdabula’ Zulu who claims to be the one who founded the organisation.

Believed

There is Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane, the SWALIMO president, who is believed to be the founder of the organisation. There is then ‘Agent 001’ who looks to be gunning for the organisation’s leadership. Don’t forget the organisation’s Secretary General Siphetfo Dlamini and National Chairperson Busi Mayisela who, in the ‘breathing session’ with ‘Agent 001’ appeared ready to challenge ‘Gawuzela’ for the SWALIMO leadership. And then you have the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) which has come out to claim ownership of the name SWALIMO. The NNLC argues that SWALIMO is originally the name given to their youth wing which was founded by their leader Prince Dumisa. History, as they say, has no blank pages. On September 14, 1978, South African newspaper The Star reported that SWALIMO had issued a threat against the life of King Sobhuza II. This happened on the 10^th anniversary of the country’s independence. The threat was reportedly not taken lightly by the country’s authorities who unleashed the army to ensure the safety of the king. Under the headline ‘Defense force shows strength on anniversary’, The Star reported that during the celebrations to mark the 10^th anniversary of the kingdom’s independence, the “fast-growing and well equipped Swazi Defence Force’, which was first mooted in 1973, ‘had a chance to demonstrate its military muscle”.

“But it was not just in the arena at the national stadium that the soldiers were in evidence. A threat to the life of Swaziland’s ruler, 79-year old King Sobhuza II, a few weeks earlier put the country in a virtual state of emergency for the celebrations,” reported the newspaper. It said heavily armed troops were stationed in and around the stadium and soldiers could even be seen guarding strategic bridges along the main road linking the main towns of Mbabane and Manzini. “The threat on the monarch’s life had come in pamphlets distributed by a group calling itself SWALIMO, a movement advocating violent ‘revolution’ in Swaziland and an extreme left-wing philosophy,” reported The Star. According to The Star, while observers in Swaziland did not take SWALIMO seriously, the government and the king decided not to take chances.

Secrecy

“Although strict secrecy surrounds the size of the army, and government expenditure on it, some observers estimated that there might have been 1000 soldiers in the vicinity of the stadium,” the newspaper wrote. It further reported that the demonstration of the army’s strength – in comparative terms taking into account that the country’s population at that time was only 500 000 – raised the question asked in some quarters at the time the formation of an army was announced: does Swaziland really need a defence force when it already has an efficient and well-trained military police wing? This was during the time of Colonel Maphevu Dlamini as the country’s Prime Minister, whom The Star said people were complaining about for unleashing the army.

The S.A publication said while there were no chances of any external threat to the kingdom from its neighbours – South Africa and Mozambique – observers believed the army had been formed to deal with the possibility of an internal challenge to King Sobhuza’s authority. One view was that Maphevu reportedly used his influence on the king to increase the size of the army; while another was that it was the king’s wish to do so. “One unofficial theory put forward to explain the military build-up is that the king is concerned about possible trouble in Swaziland, and even a possible left-wing coup, when he finally dies,” said The Star. Apart from The Star, the Times of London also reported about SWALIMO on September 6, 1978, under the headline ‘Extended Detention Curbs Dissent’. The newspaper described SWALIMO as an ‘illegal organisation’ that distributed pamphlets urging people to stay away from the 10^th independence anniversary celebrations. Also, the newspaper said SWALIMO had claimed responsibility for ‘rescuing’ leader and founder of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), Dr. Ambrose Zwane, from prison where he had been detained.

SWALIMO is said to have also demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners in the kingdom. Although there is no mention either in The Star or Times of London of who the leaders of SWALIMO were, information available is that the movement emerged as an underground entity. This was not until 1985 when a face emerged as leader of the party and this person could not have come bigger than Prince Dumisa, the nephew of King Sobhuza II.

Founded

Information from the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) is that SWALIMO was founded by Prince Dumisa in 1985. A book titled ‘SWAZILAND: POLITICAL CRISIS, REGIONAL DILEMMA’ presents a somehow different SWALIMO of the one launched by Prince Dumisa compared to the one that issued a threat against King Sobhuza II. The one launched by Dumisa was reportedly in support of the installation of the current monarch, His Majesty King Mswati III. When Dumisa launched SWALIMO, he was already in exile in London, having been escorted to the Matsapha Airport in 1984 when he was made to choose between going into self-exile and serving a 60-day detention in prison. The book states that there was organised dissent in the country in the second half of 1984 and the main site of opposition was the University of Swaziland, which staged a series of boycotts, strikes and protest marches that led to an enquiry into the causes of student unrest. The enquiry is said to have 'uncovered' an 'unhealthy preoccupation with the philosophies, aims and objectives of the African National Congress' on campus and, as a result, the Liqoqo forced 21 students and two staff members out of the University.

Simultaneously, the book said, graffiti, slogans and secret pamphlets announced the existence of the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and called for unity among all groups opposed to the regime. “In London an exiled politician, Prince Dumisa Dlamini, announced the formation of the Swaziland Liberation Movement with the objective of protecting the royal family from abuse by Prince Mfanasibili and George Msibi, restoring constitutional legitimacy to the throne and ensuring the accession of Prince Makhosetive — a reference to a view that some Liqoqo members had no wish to see a new king installed,” the book states. Dumisa was co-founder of the NNLC alongside Dr. Zwane. There you have it; now you know about SWALIMO.

Retired University of Eswatini political science lecturer Dr. Petros Qambukusa Magagula (popularly known as Dr. PQ), in his ‘Swaziland's relations with Britain and South Africa since 1968, Durham theses, Durham University’, wrote that Prince Dumisa was a University student in Roma, Lesotho, before he withdrew to participate full time in the politics of Swaziland. He said Dumisa played a major role in arousing the feelings of workers during the industrial strikes that hit Swaziland between 1962 and1963. These strikes spread over Big Bend, Mbabane, Usuthu Pulp and Havelock Asbestos Mine and were largely engineered by J.J Nquku’s Swaziland Progressive Party and the NNLC. During these strikes leaders of the SPP/NNLC were arrested and prosecuted for causing public disturbance, Dr, PQ said. This was before the 1984 period when Dumisa was given the option of exile or detention and he chose the former, hence he went to London, where he launched SWALIMO.

The prince died in exile

Rumours were being circulated by political party leaders that Sobhuza had lost the support of the ‘nation’ and that the viewpoint of British officials, personified by Brian Marwick, the support of the majority. Sobhuza, however, had his own sources of information, and the day after the final constitution was announced he declared that the issue of national support should be decided by a plebiscite. Marwick refused Sobhuza’s request for cooperation as a pointless exercise and warned him that Sobhuza would be responsible if there were any trouble. Sobhuza replied that the queen’s commissioner was responsible for keeping law and order, and if he wished he could prohibit the holding of a referendum, recognised as a Western democratic way of gauging public opinion.

The referendum spoken of later as ‘the reindeer election’ took place on January 4, 1964. The form was simple, direct and graphic. There would be only one question: Do you or do you not agree with the petition submitted by the Ngwenyama to the British Government? Since at that time some 75 per cent of Swazi adults were illiterate, the choice was represented by two animal symbols; a lion for Swazi King and the reindeer, a foreign animal described as ‘with horns on horns’, for the opposition. Though leaders of the political parties, for reasons of their own, called on their followers not to vote, the turnout was remarkable and the results convincing. According to the organisers, 122 000 Swazi of an estimated voting population of 125 000 chose the Lion, 154 the reindeer. And despite criticism of the loaded symbols and allegations of rigging the results, it was clear that Sobhuza had won a major victory.