AGITATION OVER ‘GAWUZELA’S SIBAYA STATEMENT

MBABANE – Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) President Mduduzi ‘Gawuzela’ Simelane seems to have rubbed other political entities the wrong way with his statement on Sibaya dialogue.

Speaking to over 5 000 viewers in his Family Meeting programme, Simelane made a call to all SWALIMO members and those from other parties not to boycott but attend Sibaya in numbers to display their dissatisfaction in a picket outside Ludzidzini Royal Residence. “I am calling for a situation where buses will carry people from all the SWALIMO wards in the country to Ludzidzini Royal Residence. When we get there, we will stage a defiance picket with the whole world watching. We want widows to wear their black gowns and young women to wear pants so that the world can see what we mean when we say Sibaya does not allow certain groups of people to enter,” he said.

The Family Meeting programme was aired in the Swaziland Democratic News Facebook page on Thursday evening. Simelane’s stance appeared contrary to a stand taken by the Multistakeholders Forum (MSF), a civic group where his political movement, SWALIMO, has been an active participant. The Political Parties Assembly (PPA) and the MSF signed a document in Boksburg in December last year which affirmed that they were not going to participate in the dialogue. The document was allegedly edited by SWALIMO Secretary General Dr. Siphetfo Dlamini, who attended the meeting as an official representative of the movement.

Clarify

Ngwane National Liberation Congress (NNLC) President Sibongile Mazibuko, on Friday went on her Facebook account and stated to clarify that her organisation was opposed to the idea of hosting a defiance picket at Ludzidzini Royal Residence on the day of Sibaya National Dialogue. “Hi maSwati, I have been struggling to resist responding to the Hon MP Gawuzela’s presentation which mentioned myself as well as the organisation that I lead, Ngwane National Liberation Congress (NNLC), after receiving so many calls for clarity on the presentation of the family meeting. For the benefit of those who continue to call me and ask about this issue my response is as follows; on December 5, 2021, at Boksburg Johannesburg, South Africa we agreed and made terms of reference and a declaration in which some of the talks about item number eight was that Sibaya was not a neutral venue for dialogue and a venue shall be agreed upon by both parties to the negotiations table,” reads a verbatim quote from her post.

Mazibuko stated that the reason she was not willing to respond to Gawuzela was that any form of argument between the two was not going to add any value to the struggle. She said her political party was not willing to be swayed from its focus of fighting for the freedom of emaSwati. “It should be noted that the Boksburg Declaration document was inclusive of MSF and PPA members. SWALIMO was part of it and we appreciate the role played by SWALIMO SG Dr. Sphetfo Dlamini, who edited the document which I signed on behalf of political parties and comrade Thulani signed on behalf of MSF.

Engagement

“This was handed over to President Ramaphosa and SADC TROIKA secretariat. My take is that the issue should come to the MSF/PPA forum for further engagement on a menu of options that should be done if the King calls for Sibaya soonest,” said Mazibuko. She further reiterated that the idea of flooding Sibaya was an original idea of veteran political activist Mphandlana Shongwe, during an MSF meeting where he was supported by SWALIMO Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Gift Dlamini. She said the MSF had scheduled a meeting where the issue was going to be deliberated further.

Justifying his latest stance, SWALIMO President Gawuzela said the MSF was given over two months to decide on the idea of attending Sibaya in numbers and they could not come up with an answer. He said it was unfortunate that Mazibuko was the one making such claims, yet he personally spoke to her about the matter before going on air to make the announcement that people should attend Sibaya. He stated that in his discussion with Mazibuko before the broadcast, they agreed that he was entitled to his own opinion and that none of them sold their souls when joining the MSF.

Simelane spared no word as he added that the matter was included in the MSF agenda for two meetings, but could not be concluded because two parties were opposed to it. “It would be unfortunate for Make Sibongile to say what she said because she got a call from me personally, before I went public on the issue and she agreed that we did not sell our souls to the MSF when we joined, therefore I was entitled to my own political idea. The MSF was given two months to decide on the matter, it only appeared in the agenda of two meetings and even then it was not concluded because two parties were opposed to the idea. We had done our ground work and lobbied for support in the other organisations including Make Sibongile and NNLC and they refused together with PUDEMO. SWADEPA agreed on the lobby but changed in the meeting and that is fine, but all the other parties were with us. The reason the matter was not concluded is still not clear,” he said.

Masses

Simelane added that the reason he called for the masses to attend Sibaya was to show the international world that the people wanted to deliver a petition directly to the King. The MSF held a press conference where they reiterated their stand on the issue of Sibaya after Simelane had made the statement. MSF Chairman Thulani Maseko said they believe SADC should be the ones leading the dialogue preparations. “Just as the members have articulated, we believe that there should be a process that would lead to a national dialogue which would be led by SADC. We have written to President Ramaphosa and the chairman of SADC and requested that they should not allow the dialogue to happen under the traditional structures,” he said
Making the first call for people to attend Sibaya was the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) senior member Mphandlana Shongwe, who said the pro-democracy movement should stop boycotting Sibaya but attend in numbers to present their grievances and picket.  

Shongwe said if the pro-democracy movement were to join with the citizen and attend Sibaya in numbers, it would prove to the international community that by capacity, Sibaya would not hold the nation and therefore would not make a compelling decision on behalf of the majority. He made an example of the number of protestors that attended the petition delivery at the United States of America Embassy last year and said Sibaya would not be able to hold such numbers. He said the number of people attending Sibaya should be bigger than any other year to prove that emaSwati were ready to make their own decision. The last Sibaya was held in July last year where the King appointed Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini.

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