NEED TO DEMYSTIFY ROLE OF BEMANTI

National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police William Tsitsibala Dlamini described the Water Party (Bemanti) as conducting the ancient tradition of Eswatini and urged the nation to embrace them since they were on national duty, while in the same breath warning those captured on video harassing and insulting the troupe that they would face the full might of the law.

Short on specifics, such as unpacking the ancient tradition or the national duty he was referring to, the majority of the people have been left none the wiser on the exact role and value of the Water Party/Bemanti except that they are a nonsense and troublesome. Of course rumours have always swirled about their role and importance to the fabric of the political and social order of emaSwati. And some of these rumours are far from flattering and in fact have no place in the 21st century era of algorithms and robotics.  

Fact

The fact is at about this time of the year, the Water Party is sanctioned to roam across the nation during which period they are known to invade people’s private homes to collect ‘dirt’, harass and fine females they come across wearing pants or without headgear en route and generally demand money from anyone they come across to let them pass through, kwendlulisa. The moment the troupe gets on the road, His Majesty the King and Ingwenyama goes into seclusion, which signals the beginning of the sacred Incwala season. Official information about Bemanti, indeed Incwala itself except a romanticised version, is not readily available. In glorifying the ceremony, Incwala is formally referred to as a national prayer and/or tasting of the first fruits/produce minus unpacking its intrinsic processes, including the essence and practical role of Bemanti and the bare-handed killing of the black bull by virgin boys upon returning from cutting the lusekwane shrub, up to the Main Incwala event or even extending to the burning of the log or kushisa lukhuni. Some rumoured elements of this sacred ceremony are not necessarily a part of culture with which one would be proud to be associated.

Pride

As I see it, the irony is why, if these events and ceremonies are integral to the lives and a pride to emaSwati, they are shrouded in secrecy and not above board. Is there any plausible reason justifying this apparent lack of comprehensive information about these so-called important institutions? It seems the only logical explanation and justification is to hide certain information from emaSwati ostensibly because the nature and practice of some aspects of these institutions simply have no place in a modern and progressive society. But whatever has been passed down from the ancients, these should be done in accordance to the tenets of the national Constitution, which is the nation’s touch stone against which everything we do or do not do as individuals, groups and nation generally is tested. As it were, the Constitution does guarantee privacy to the individual and family for peaceful and uninterrupted occupation and existence in the space called home. This therefore makes any intrusion by anyone, including the Bemanti, into private homes without the permission of their owners unconstitutional and illegal in a normal society that abides by the rule of law.

But then again ‘law and order’ is a set phrase which usually does not examine too closely either the justice of the law in question or the nature of the political order. Those not blinded by the largesse accruing for prioritising their stomachs over principles and the truth have a candid understanding of the political order in question; devoid of real and genuine rule of law, prevalence of social injustice and a lack of a culture of human rights and individual liberties which, while entrenched in the Constitution, are routinely violated by highly politicised law enforcement agencies at the behest of their political principals. Put differently, the obtaining polity and belief systems are not compatible with the concept of the rule of law. Hence one wonders what piece of law the police chief will unleash against those captured on video allegedly harassing and insulting members of Bemanti while turning a blind eye to the latter’s transgressions, especially in the absence of complainants if no crime has been reported to the police at the time. Perhaps the political makhundu, the Suppression of Terrorism Act, the weapon of choice that is used to deal with opponents of the tinkhundla political system as evidenced by the ongoing political persecution of Members of Parliament Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza (Hosea) and Mthandeni Dube (Ngwempisi).

Responsible

While on the subject of the rule of law - or absence thereof - there is this matter of the Swaziland Women Empowerment Trust (SWEET), an organisation that never existed – at least in law - but was responsible for taking and disappearing with tens of thousands of Emalangeni invested by women who had hoped to one day transition from poverty to a better life of bliss and self-sufficiency. SWEET was finally liquidated last week, yet to date the police have made no progress in bringing to account those who were in charge of the organisation in the wake of preliminary investigations concluding that there was a case of criminality in the disappearance of funds that were to kick-start the establishment and operation of a women’s bank. Yet again this speaks to the cliché of the rule of law in the context of the obtaining political order. A political order that allowed an organisation that did not exist in law to rob especially peasant women who dreamt of breaking free from the shackles of poverty that is the legacy of the same polity. As I see it, the two issues and many others cannot be proficiently addressed under the tinkhundla political environment that birthed them and will be passed on to the in-tray of a new people-centric democratic dispensation beckoning on the horizon.  

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