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NEW PRO-MONARCHY MOVEMENT FORMED

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MBABANE – A new pro-monarchy movement advocating for political reforms has been formed.

This is according to local businessman Sabelo Nxumalo, who is currently at the forefront of the movement; which has been named September 6 Movement. Speaking on behalf of the movement, Nxumalo mentioned that they were a group of ordinary citizens who were not politically affiliated but subscribed to the notion that there needs to be political change through the rule of law.  They aim to formulate ways to compel Parliament to revisit the Constitution and do amendments that would foster positive political change. Nxumalo said this would obviously not be an easy task but everything had to start somewhere. “We believe that the push by pro-change movements is getting to a point where it is dangerous and if they are using violence to achieve their goals, it is not in the spirit of our independence attained on September 6, 1968 and that is where we are and we use Independence Day as our rallying call,” said Nxumalo.

Pivotal

According to Nxumalo, the existence of the monarchy was pivotal and in their view, they did not believe that emaSwati should go in a direction that resulted in the mornachy being superseded. He said the monarchy played a huge role in society as custodians of Eswatini culture and customs and it was also a symbol of unity that needed to be preserved and protected. Nxumalo stated that as a movement, they had realised that some of the political formations pushing for change did not want the existence of the monarchy, however, they still believed in its existence. He further said all they wanted was political change through the appropriate channels which was aligned with the spirit of the Constitution in that they were simply exercising their right to freedom of expression by wanting amendments through parliamentary forums, such as the election of the prime minister by the people, instead of an official appointment by the Monarch.

He stated that they still needed to consolidate properly as members of the movement before they could launch and register it, which would possibly be done before October 4, 2021, which will be 16 years since the Constitution of the country was enacted. He also mentioned that this day could possibly be the day when they would mobilise in order to carry out the activities currently in the pipeline. Nxumalo was adamant that their movement was built on honesty hence, although they were pro-monarchy, they saw a need to bolster political change and not turn a blind eye on the prevailing situation in the country. The movement aims to use peaceful and lawful activities to compel Parliament to start the constitutional amendment process. According to Nxumalo, they subscribed to Christian values and would appreciate if the Christian fraternity would lead the way in the political reforms. The movement aims at approaching the political reforms in a peaceful and non-confrontational way.

Changes

He further highlighted that as citizens of the country, they had a duty to take necessary steps to ensure political changes were made through the rightful processes as at the end of the day, all citizens were responsible for what happened in the country they considered their own. “At the moment, we have about 30 people who have joined the movement. However, I would like to request to withhold the names of the members for now until the formal launch after we register the movement,” said Nxumalo, who is also a businessman. He stated that the reason he did not want to divulge much on who the members were for now was because they were about truth and transparency, therefore, they wanted to formally launch and release the names at the appropriate time rather than prematurely as they were still getting their house in order.

“The members of the organisation are senior citizens, senior lawyers and professionals. Therefore, we want to do things orderly and timely hence the hesitancy to immediately reveal names until such a time when we have a formal meet up,” mentioned the September 6 Movement member. Nxumalo confirmed that once they had formally consolidated they would then be in a position to openly state who the members were. According to Nxumalo, the movement was currently working on registration and was yet to launch, however, their establishment was due to the escalation of tensions within the political party formations but also not seeing movement towards dialogue from any of the State leadership structures.

Movement

He highlighted that the movement constituted ordinary citizens and professionals from all walks of life including great legal minds within the country which require seeing positive and peaceful change in the political sphere.  Nxumalo said they were calling upon all responsible law abiding citizens, who were not affiliated to any political party or any political organisation, to break the silence and be part of the September 6 Movement as a way of expressing their views and feelings without fear. He further stated that the Constitution in Section 24 supported this. He further stated that the direction, principles and structure of their movement would be determined by the patriots who would take the challenge to become part of the history of constitutional change in Eswatini.

“It has been 16 years with a formal Constitution and the time has come to amend it and put in democratic principles and having a government by the people. This will save the King from political pressure which is threatening the very existence of the monarchy,” stated Nxumalo. Lastly, he mentioned that the September 6 Movement had created a Facebook page for those interested in knowing further details about them.

Objectives

Nxumalo was also adamant that as a movement, they did not subscribe to the objectives of Mangololo except for their stance on wanting the monarchy to remain in power. Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini, when reached for comment on the newly-formed entity and claims from the movement that government was not pushing enough for dialogue, wondered why the movement was separating itself from other pro-change entities. He did not wish to comment further. EFF Swaziland President Nombulelo Motsa was also reached for comment on the claims that political parties or formations were now aggressive in their approach of calling for change, and she said as a party, they did not subscribe to violence and had never been involved in instances where there was violence, such as using ammunition to push their agenda, but instead the system was violent towards them yet all they wanted was justice for those affected during the political unrest.

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