PLAN TO PETITION EU, TAIWAN EMBASSIES OVER DIALOGUE

LOBAMBA – The Embassies of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the European Union (EU) in the Kingdom of Eswatini will today be petitioned over their ‘silence’ on the violation of human rights and national dialogue.

The news about the petition delivery to the two embassies started making the rounds on Monday after a poster speaking about it was circulated.
One of the organisers of the proposed petition delivery, the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) member, Mphandlana Shongwe, confirmed the plan to deliver the petitions. In an interview, Shongwe said the petitions would be different as the two embassies were playing different roles in the country. He said the embassies were not in the country in holiday resorts but were supposed to work, and among their duties, was to see if human rights were respected.

Deaths

Shongwe said, however, none of these embassies spoke out when people died in the country during the June/July unrest. He said till today, the embassies were silent, not even condemning or calling for investigations into the deaths of the people. He said in other countries, when people died in masses, there would be investigations to unearth the causes of the death and subsequently lead to arrests of those found responsible. The activist said the issues with Taiwan were that they were seeing it bankrolling Eswatini and making the latter its spokesperson at the United Nations (UN), seeking its recognition. He said emaSwati had not been given a chance to state where they stood in the issue of Taiwan being recognised in the UN. He said, however, Taiwan was not seen or heard speaking against the violation of human rights in Eswatini.

The activist said when it came to the EU; this embassy had been silent on the death of emaSwati during the unrest. Shongwe said they were aware of the several projects in the country that were sponsored by the EU but the same organisation had not been seen sponsoring the calls for the national dialogue and the reforms. He added that they were also aware that the EU, together with the Commonwealth, injected some funding in the drafting of Eswatini’s Constitution that they believed was not even democratic. “After all the things have happened, why are they (EU) not assisting the country engage in a dialogue?” asked Shongwe.  He said the EU had been seen assisting in countries where there was violence but when it came to Eswatini, it was silent.  

Shongwe said other issues would be carried in the petitions that they would deliver to the aforementioned embassies. Andrew Chen, Secretary to the General Affairs of the Taiwan embassy, said they were aware that some people were coming to deliver a petition to the embassy. Chen said in as much as they read about the petition delivery on social media, they would receive it and any further comments would be made once they had received it. Chen added that they were hoping that the petition delivery would be peaceful.

Meeting

Efforts to get a comment from the EU Embassy proved futile as EU Political Assistant and Information Officer Michael Motsa said the Ambassador, Dessislava Choumelova, who was responsible of responding to the media, was engaged in a meeting. PUDEMO Secretary General (SG) Wandile Dludlu said they were aware of the proposed petition delivery, and were supporting such a call. Dludlu said all structures of the movement would be expected to participate in the exercise today.

Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) Spokesperson Thantaza Silolo said in as much as his party was not aware who the organisers of this activity were, but since it sought to be a call for a national dialogue, they (SWALIMO) would support such an initiative. “We are still seeking clarity on who is actually behind the call and logistics pertaining to the activity but really we support such a call,” said Silolo.

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