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SA’S MAIMANE CRITICISED FOR MEETING MANGOLOLO

07/02/2022 08:46:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE - When One SA Movement (OSA) leader Mmusi Maimane held a meeting with a delegation of Mangololo Eswatini over the weekend, little did he know that he will be strongly criticised for it.

Following the meeting, some political activists and commentators have viewed him as one whose name and brand aligns with the Monarch. The political activists also accused Maimane of betraying the struggle. Mangololo Eswatini is a pro-monarchy movement formed in August last year and made it clear that it was against multiparty organisations. A delegation of about five members of Mangololo, are said to have held a meeting with Maimane in Johannesburg, South Africa last Saturday, which has not settled well with some activists. Some of them are said to have relayed their disappointment at Maimane as they felt that the meeting meant that he was in alliance with the monarch yet they believed that he supported the calls for change in the country.

Conversation

This publication is in possession of a conversation between Maimane and one of the political activists. The political activist, who is known to this publication, but cannot be revealed as he could not be sought for comment, registered his disappointment at Maimane. “I am penning this note to register my disappointment at your meeting with the Mangololo delegation from Swaziland (Eswatini). Mangololo is the political face of the increasingly kleptocratic regime,” reads part of the message. The sender of the message mentioned that the Mangololo that Maimane met and engaged with was no more than an organ of the State for the Eswatini Government. “It would help, for your own political career advancement in this very intricately intertwined region we live in to have asked one or more organisations before you are used,” the sender wrote.

He listed the organisations that he felt Maimane should have engaged first and these included the Swaziland Solidarity Fund, Multi-Stakeholder Forum and the Progressive Party Alliance.
He then mentioned that he was deeply disappointed by Maimane’s actions and deemed them as an abject lack of political sophistication from his side. “Kindly make it a practice and habit to read and keep abreast with developments on what afflicts your neighbour,” the sender said. This publication is in the possession of a response allegedly sent by Maimane to the unhappy sender. In the response, Maimane mentioned that he respectfully disagreed with the views expressed by the sender. He then made about three points which he said were to make the sender understand.

In the first point, Maimane stated that he spoke to Eswatini political activists in South Africa to establish whether the meeting was appropriate or not. “For your information, they had invited me to the opening of Parliament, which I declined for an emphatic demonstration that I didn’t want to endorse the government,” Maimane stated. In the second point, the OSA leader mentioned that he requested a meeting with the opposition movement, including those who were jailed. Thirdly, he mentioned that he had requested a human rights investigation report on issues of violence in the country. “One principle, I learnt from the greats is that if you want to play a meaningful role in any situation, you must be willing to hear both sides. The constitutional provisions are matters in discourse. If your engagement is to argue that hearing the other side is the betrayal of the struggle, then only listening to one set is often unhelpful.

Dying

“I learnt this from the Zimbabwe situation. As much as the politics are at play, people are dying in Eswatini, a fact that is lost to both sides,” said Maimane. Again, the sender responded and first thanked Maimane for the response. He then mentioned that it would help Maimane’s name and brand to issue a statement to the media on his alleged alliance with Mangololo Eswatini. Called for comment, Maimane confirmed the conversation and reiterated the response he gave to the political activist. “When it comes to political issues, you must be willing to hear both sides of the argument. The meeting itself was a request by them because they said I needed to understand the position they are taking. I was invited to the opening of Parliament by the Government of Eswatini and I said I can’t come because that would justify what is going on,” he said.

Elaborating, Maimane said the conclusion of the meeting agreed on three things, one of them being that he wanted to come to Eswatini to meet not only the government, but members of the opposition including those in jail. “The report of the police on why the riots took place and people killed, they told me that the Human Rights Commission had investigated, so I told them that I would have to see the report first. So my views are consistent,” he said. He said when consulting prior to the meeting, he had asked members of the opposition based in South Africa on what they thought. “Their advice to me was that I can meet the people but can’t go to the Parliament opening. Those are facts,” Maimane said. It should be noted, however, that both Deputy Government Spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli and Clerk to Parliament Benedict Xaba, said they had no knowledge of an invite extended to Maimane to attend the opening of Parliament. Other social media users, who got wind of the meeting, questioned where Mangololo had obtained the mandate to meet with Maimane.

Maimane made a bold move in 2019 when he decided to bow out as a member and the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). He then formed the Movement for One SA (Mosa), which would later lead to the formation of OSA. Mosa was envisaged as a platform for individuals, civil society, NGOs, religious bodies and smaller political parties, much as the United Democratic Front was in the 1980s. Born in 1980, Maimane grew up in Soweto – South Africa’s largest township. He attended Allen Glen High School, where he matriculated in 1997.
He holds two Master’s Degree – in Public Administration as well as Theology, and is working towards his PhD in Economic Development. He speaks seven South African languages fluently.

Unrest

It should be noted that Mangololo Eswatini was formed when the country had witnessed the worst scenes of the political unrest. At the announcement of Mangololo Eswatini, its members stated that the political unrest had brought fear among some emaSwati because they no longer knew who they were and in the process of calls for multiparty democracy, had lost their identity. The members made it known that they were against the idea of multiparties and the formation of their movement was premised on the ideology to oppose such. The members also claimed that the people who talked negatively and caused turmoil in the country were not sent by emaSwati. After the formation of the organisation, this publication reported that some of its members allegedly received threats from unknown people locally and internationally. The party alleged that the callers and senders of the text messages used South African and Eswatini registered cellphone numbers to threaten them. It was claimed that the members were threatened with violence for trying to stand in their way by forming an organisation that was against multiparty democracy.