CIVIL SOCIETY FAILS TO MEET TROIKA TEAM

MBABANE – Members of the civil society and other stakeholders failed to meet with the SADC Troika fact-finding mission delegation which was in the country.

As a result, the delegation of over 10 which was led by Chairperson of the Organ Troika, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Lemogang Kwape, left the country after only meeting government and a certain section of the church stakeholders.
The meeting took place on Sunday at the Royal Villas. However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Thuli Dladla, has refuted reports that government had not invited the civil society and other stakeholders, stating that it was all a breakdown in communication.

Invited

Dladla said the Troika team had arrived in the country immediately after government had invited them on Saturday and there was no time to prepare as the agenda was sent at 11pm. She revealed that when they asked the delegation for a list of the stakeholders they wanted to engage, some of the organisations were no longer in existence. She said these included the Chamber of Commerce and the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.  “We asked where they had found these organisations from and it was revealed that they had been in their database,” said Dladla. She admitted that they then made attempts to call other stakeholders after the meeting with government and one of these was the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) and the Eswatini Conference of Churches.

CANGO Director Emmanuel Ndlangamandla confirmed that he had received a call from a government representative on Sunday before 3pm and he rushed down to the Royal Villas. “However, we found that the group was already in a meeting with the ECC, but we joined them as a meet and greet session,” said Ndlangamandla. He said they were assured by the delegation that a new date would be set so that they would meet with all the stakeholders because they needed all sides of the story.  Meanwhile, it was revealed that the Roman Catholic Church had asked the Anglican Church to represent it at the meeting.

Call

The Law Society of Eswatini also received a late call from government to attend the meeting. Dladla said they were in touch with the SADC team and through the assistance of CANGO, they were getting other stakeholders. The Troika group is still in meetings over the Mozambique issue, which is why they also left Eswatini early, according to Dladla. She said the affected parties would be informed as soon as the next meeting was arranged. 

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