ESWATINI GRAVITATING TOWARDS TURMOIL - CHURCHES

MANZINI – Seemingly, the ongoing socio-political standoff in the country has now drawn the attention of the church. In fact, the Council of Swaziland Churches (CSC) has found itself having to analyse the prevailing political situation in the country and respond to it.

After its analyses, the CSC has come out and relayed its fears that the Kingdom, which had been long celebrated for its peace, might be gravitating towards turmoil.
The CSC said this through a statement which was released by the Chairman Bhekindlela Magongo and General Secretary Zwanini Shabalala on Thursday.

Sparked

They said over the past week or so, political groups, civil society formations and labour force have been meeting in various settings to discuss the socio-political situation in the country, which was largely sparked by government’s spending pattern.
According to CSC, government’s spending pattern recently was put in the spotlight by the purchase of a fleet of luxury vehicles in the face of a dwindling economy and a confessed state of cash flow challenges.

They said the economic problems were demonstrated by the zero per cent offer which was consistently offered by government on the negotiation table with civil servants, high domestic debt and poor service delivery among a litany of other challenges.
It is worth noting that recently a fleet of luxurious BMWs were delivered in the country and it was later gathered that the units were 126 and its estimated cost is around E90 million.

The 126 units, was made up of 42 BMW K1600 GT motorcycles while the remaining 84 units were made up of BMW X3 xDrive 30d and BMW 540i models.

Frustration

In their observation, they said the level of frustration among many citizens was at an all-time high and that was why political groups, labour force and civil society organisations convened meetings in various settings.

On that regard, Magongo and Shabalala said in what had been reported to be resolutions of the groups in their bid to find what they believe was a lasting solution to the challenges. 

“As a church we are saying this, not as a prophet of doom, but as an institution tasked with speaking truth to power and most importantly, as God’s vessel of peace and love,” they said in the statement.

Thereafter, they said they had noted that government, in its reaction to the calls for immediate action on the challenges facing the country, had come to make certain clarifications and undertakings.
They said through the Head of government, Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Dlamini, the administration tried to clarify the issue of the fleet of BMW’s.

Satisfied

However, they mentioned that the public was still not satisfied, thus there were meetings held in various settings.
Having said that, the duo highlighted that while emaSwati in their various sectors were plotting a way forward, the CSC was also doing likewise.
“We will advocate for peace and dialogue because it is our firm belief that violence begets violence,” they said.

On that note, the CSC leaders said they would continue to appeal for calm among emaSwati and their leaders as they look for solutions. They said their intervention would include urging all parties; the citizenry and leaders, to realise that violence would take the country back a thousand years.
Therefore, they said as a church, they would place themselves at the service of the nation at this critical time in the history of the Kingdom.

Peace-building

“We see ourselves playing a critical role in conflict prevention, peace-building and mediation,” they said, while adding that they also offer themselves at the disposal of the critical stakeholders.

Furthermore, they called upon all Christians to pray for the country so that through these challenges, they could all emerge as winners and be a beacon of hope to the whole world that peace could be attained through dialogue.
On another note, they announced that the CSC would host its annual Day of Prayer today. They said in light of the above national issues, the CSC would this year be praying for the nation.

They said the event would be held under the theme; ‘Journeying with Christ in the quest to restore human dignity’.

Prayer

According to the chairman and general secretary, the guest speaker during the prayer would be Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, who is the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
The prayer will begin with a march from King Somhlolo Park in Manzini at 8am to the Bosco Skills Centre where the programme will continue.

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