DECOLONISATION OF ESWATINI - PART 2

The Kingdom of Eswatini has evolved its civilisation and Monarchy for over 400 years and all the characteristics of order and development politically, legally, culturally and spiritually were well-established long before the arrival of the colonialists.

Last week, we looked at the decolonisation of the mind. How we have to free our minds of the shackles of shallow materialism which has shaped our identity as emaSwati.  We looked at the death of Ubuntu, a well-established African concept that simply stated that I am because you are. We also looked at the devastating new concept called vanity, which seeks to justify the blind purchase of useless vanity items such as expensive watches and handbags, which have no real value but boost egos and give false identity to weak-minded individuals.  This week we will look at how emaSwati can decolonise and evolve politically, legally and spiritually.

Political decolonisation

One of the greatest downfall of Africa has been the wholesale adoption of foreign political systems, with the total disregard for existing African political systems, which have sustained Africa for many centuries. The Japanese and the Chinese have used these political systems without losing their traditions and cultures. They are now world economic powers. The Western-style political systems introduced multiparty political systems, which had the effect of dividing an already divided and diverse continent. Africa has over 3 000 languages which is more than any other continent. To make things worse, Africa has no one dominant language like Asia, where Mahendran (Chinese) or Hindi and a few more. The political parties and their followers are demarcated along tribal lines, with no regard for the policies and abilities of these political parties.

We must bear in mind that the scramble for Africa of 1945, among the European colonial powers, had torn families apart and created artificial divisions. The great African kingdoms and empires were broken up and replaced by colonial puppet rulers, who only served themselves and their masters. The traditions and cultural leadership practices under the kings and chiefs were destroyed. Consensus democracy, in which the smallest of members of society was heard, was soon replaced with a winner-take-all voting system that depended heavily on money and power. The Marxist-Leninist political systems did not help either, in teams of African development and self-realisation. Religion and all forms of spiritualism were banned. Self-identity and Africanism had no place under this political system. Again, Africa suffered.

How can emaSwati decolonise their political system? The Kingdom of Eswatini, through an act of parliament, rejected the colonially imposed British-drafted constitution in 1973, which sought to undermine our traditional leadership and create a new power base that would be funded by white colonial powers. South Africa was given a Constitution in 1994, that has no real interest in protecting the interest of the Africans, but in protecting the interest of the white colonial minority. In the year 2005, a new constitution was drafted and adopted by emaSwati. This was a good start toward decolonisation; however, progress has been very slow toward the evolution of our political system. A truly decolonised African system would have the Tinkhundla System allowing open campaign for the prime minister, electing its own prime minister and the prime minister forming his government. His Majesty the King would then bless that Government and charge it to work.

We would have a House of chiefs and bantfwabenkhosi dealing decisively with land disputes, issues of succession, land policy and the coding of Swati law and customs. The monarchy will remain above petty politics and unite the nation.  Such an evolved Tinkhundla political system would be used throughout Africa to help decolonise the continent.  The tinkhundla (constituencies) throughout the country, would represent the various tribes in Africa, such that every tribe would be represented in Parliament through open election, following campaigns just as it is done today. 

Once constituted, the members of parliament would first appoint the House of Chiefs and traditional leaders from all the tribes. The traditional leaders would appoint their leaders using a consensus or rotation system. This traditional body would oversee the election of the head of government or prime minister. The House of chiefs would not affiliate with any political party, but would remain loyal to the nation, the people, and the African culture. India uses a similar system and has remained the largest democracy in the world.

Legal decolonisation

We are trapped in Roman Dutch Law, which is foreign and does not understand the traditional African laws. As King Sobhuza II instructed, we need to take what is good from the white men and discard what is bad.  The dress code in the courtrooms should represent some elements of our own culture.  Some laws have crippled into our legal system, which does not represent our culture and the laws that do represent us have been removed because they simply don’t agree with the Western culture. Until we find ourselves as African, we will not be able to decolonise our legal system. We need to go back and empower and equip our traditional leaders so that our laws will be in keeping with our culture. Traditional punishment was not always jailing time. Restorative justice was part of the culture.

Spiritual decolonisation

The indoctrination of the African people has been one of the saddest occurrences to befall any people. Two big religions, namely Christianity and Islam, whose roots are both found in Africa, have been used to enslave and hypnotise the Africans from Cape to Cairo. The Christian Bible makes more reference to Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, than Europe, but the Europeans have used it to conquer Africa, physically and mentally. They even changed the skill colour of all the bible characters to blue eyes and blonds, to justify white supremacy.  False prophets have mushroomed everywhere in Africa. Billions have been spent enriching a few and building mega churches (with no schools, hospitals, or clinics) that only serve to provide temporary relief to impoverished people. Promising them riches in the next world and fake miracles with outrageous performances void of any Godly attributes, they attract millions daily.

Spiritual decolonisation will require that every liSwati do their research on church history and start to question some of the knowledge we have been fed over the years. One can only wonder how one did not realise some of the anomalies within the bible itself. Millions are still sleepwalking. We do not have the space to deal with this topic, but we do need to decolonise our spirituality. Comments septembereswatini@gmail.com.

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