Times Of Swaziland: SEEK PEACE NOT WAR

SEEK PEACE NOT WAR
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Editor on 19/05/2022 09:12:00


It is becoming more apparent with each violent day that the sooner we can find
the time to sit and talk to one another about the challenges we face, the sooner
the blood will stop flowing onto the streets.
We can no longer afford to drift towards the polarisation of our society driven
by diverging political views on how to address our social ills, when this could
easily be harmonised through dialogue. The glaring consequence of this dilemma
are the intensifying acts of violence being visited upon citizens and
reciprocated on members of State security forces. The abduction and torture of
the student union President Colani Maseko by the army, was uncalled for and
ought to be condemned with the contempt it deserves. So should the shooting of
the police officer and burning of the soldier’s house, which have been
preceded by similar incidents on civilians, politicians, members of the armed
forces and political activists. This has to stop. This is not us, this is not
who we are and it is certainly not the way to fix the problems facing this
country.
What we need right now is sound leadership that is geared towards finding
peaceful solutions to the current impasse - urgently. Fighting fire with fire is
definitely not one of them. Employers and worker representatives have recently
shown us how at the Dialogue for Jobs 2022. What is stopping the rest of us from
doing same? No peace can be attained by deploying soldiers to address civilian
issues such as the students’ strike at the UNESWA Kwaluseni Campus. Military
training is primarily geared towards the destruction of the enemy force’s
military capacity.  No surprise that their deployment was characterised by the
unnecessary use of force and violence that added another black page of brutality
in the files against our security forces. Army officials have promised an
investigation that could result in action being taken against the implicated
soldiers. We will believe it when we see it. Such promises have been made in the
past yet almost 12 months later, no action has been taken on the June/July 2021
killing of protesters.
Conversely, retaliation on the armed forces by civilians will only exacerbate
the already volatile situation and this must be discouraged. Our leaders need to
urgently invest their time and effort towards reuniting people and bridging the
gap between the reactive security measures with proactive conflict prevention
strategies. This is the only way in which trust and relative peace can be
restored in this once peaceful country. A starting point would be to take stern
action against this escalating brutality and send a strong message that Eswatini
is a country that values human life and dignity.