Times Of Swaziland: NO ONE SHOULD DIE IN POLITICS - ALPHEOUS

NO ONE SHOULD DIE IN POLITICS - ALPHEOUS
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Mfanukhona Nkambule on 29/01/2023 16:26:00


MBABANE –Government Press Secretary Reverend Alpheous Nxumalo says no one
should die in politics.
Instead, he said the only thing that should die in politics should be the
inferior ideas in order to allow superior ones to prevail and thrive. He said
government wished that the pains of the past week might only result in the birth
of a peaceful and stable 2023 for all emaSwati. Nxumalo did not specify the
pains of the past weeks, but the country lost Thulani Rudolf Maseko, the human
rights defender, who was shot dead at his parental home in KaLuhleko, Bhunya. He
was killed by an unknown person last Saturday night. The mouthpiece for the
government said the Kingdom of Eswatini was emerging from one of the most
difficult, daunting and challenging weeks of almost explosive emotions and
temptations of a life resigned and sold to fate as opposed to design and
purpose. He said government was committed to creating and maintaining an
enabling environment for the nation to be safe, protected and peaceful, while
the wheels of the electoral process began to roll.
political perspectives
He said government’s expression of this commitment was in line with His
Majesty the King’s command that no one should die for his political
perspectives, convictions and opinions this year of elections. Nxumalo pointed
to the fact that people were basically doing business in politics, trading with
and by words, terminologies and statements. He warned that there was no way
people should be trading with guns and bullets in politics. The government
spokesperson said emaSwati should trade on the principles and values they stood
for and those they projected to the society. “Therefore, no one should die in
politics. The only things that must die in politics are the inferior ideas in
order to allow the superior ideas to prevail and to thrive. Government wishes
that the pains of the past week may only result in the birth of a peaceful and
stable 2023 for all emaswati,” Nxumalo said.
He said in a country like Eswatini where the citizens have crafted one of the
best Constitutions in comparison with others around the globe, the fight should
be about the implementation of the provisions of the supreme law as opposed to
the fight with guns, bullets and terrorism. He said anyone who was concerned
with ‘justice for all’ should demand total adherence to the Constitution as
opposed to the political mobilisation of the people to overthrow the existing
socio-economic and political order through engaging in violence and other
revolutionary subversive instruments. He said those who were showing the spirit
of Judas Iscariot by rejecting the national Constitution were actually
contributing to the suppression of civil liberties and opposition of emaSwati.
democracy and freedom
Nxumalo said the fight for democracy and freedom was distinctively different
from those who had chosen the line of terror as a way to pursue politics. He
said terrorism was an instrument of the rule of a tyrannical minority whether in
or out of power. “Democracy involves respect for rules when engaged in
disputes and conflicts. No doubt, terrorism’s strategy is based on the
transgression of rules of civilised conduct,” he said. He urged emaSwati to
stand firm against those who have chosen to reject the national Constitution as
pathfinder and guider to the nation.  He said there was no substitute for
constitutionalism. “The rest will not only compromise and betray the long
cherished national cohesion and unity which defines our distinctiveness as a
nation,” Nxumalo advised. He emphasised, in his parting shot, that any vision
or desire for more open political space in running the country should not and
could not be achieved outside the national Constitution.