PUDEMO NEC TRAVELS TO CHINA

MBABANE -The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) National Executive Committee (NEC) recently travelled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to meet with the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The purpose of the trip, according to the executive of the proscribed entity, was strictly for learning about that country’s inspirational experiences, both on its struggles and governance.  
The PUDEMO NEC’s visit to China comes hardly three weeks after four members of two political parties, Sive Siyinqaba National Movement (SSNM) and the Swazi Democratic Party (SWADEPA) representatives also travelled to that country to meet the CPC. Meanwhile, PUDEMO President Mlungisi Makhanya confirmed their recent trip to China and meeting the CPC, with the purpose of learning from its aspirations.

Achievements

According to Makhanya, China has made significant achievements that no other country has ever achieved in the world, lifting over 800 million people out of poverty, in a short space of time. He explained that all these achievements occurred under the leadership of CPC. “There is no organisation that will not want to learn from a governing party that governs so effectively, for the betterment of the lives of the citizens. If you want to learn about governance and struggle, the first place you will want to go to is China, because of what they have been able to achieve,” Makhanya said. He described PUDEMO as a revolutionary liberation movement, with relations with other progressive revolutionary movements across the world.
 He highlighted that among the organisations that PUDEMO identified with was the CPC, which they sourced their inspirations from.

Ideological

“As an organisation, we will always have a relationship with the communist party on the basis of its ideological outlook and its glorious history of the struggle and governance in PRC. We have many platforms where we participate and the CPC is there. Our relationship is based on the fact that these two organisations  are progressive organisations and secondly, having  fraternal relations will  lead into  having programmes, where we share experiences and practices  on how to run our organisation, how  to wedge the struggle and also on how to govern better,” he said. Makhanya clarified that their trip to China was in line with their revolutionary ethos, where they undertook political trips to interact with political formations. He went on to state that as an organisation, they had been clear that they subscribed and fully supported the one-China principle and recognised that there was but one China, of which Taiwan was an integral part.

The PUDEMO president told this publication that China had also brought development in many countries they had diplomatic relations with. Makhanya stated that Eswatini was missing out on participating on a global initiative, where China was changing the continent in terms of infrastructure, among other developments. He said the people deserved better, to benefit from a country with the best leading technology. He disputed the notion that China was a one-party State, saying, there were eight other political parties in that country, with the CPC being the largest. According to Makhanya, elections were conducted in China, but people overwhelmingly voted for the CPC, because of the progress achieved in the country, with CPC uplifting their lives. “Even after elections, the CPC engages with the other political parties to establish political party consultation forums. This is where they consult with the other political parties,” Makhanya said.

Constitutional

Furthermore, the president clarified that in Eswatini, they were fighting for constitutional multi-party democracy where the people’s living experiences would be uplifted. He said they wanted the living standards of the people to be improved in every level. “We are fighting for social progress in people’s lives. When they go to hospitals, there must be medication, hospitals must be clean, have nurses and doctors.  “When they go to school, they must receive quality education, when they finish school, there must be employment opportunities. Currently, this is what the people are struggling with and PUDEMO is about ensuring that their lives are improved,” Makhanya said. Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said they were pretty much aware of the individuals who had travelled to China and their mission in that country. Nxumalo said government had no particular reaction to their (PUDEMO executive) trip to China and had no interest in it. He said everybody was allowed to dream under the sun.

Meanwhile, the trip to China undertaken by the quartet of SSNM President Ngom’yayona Gamedze, SSNM senior members Gideon Dlamini, SWADEPA President Barnes Dlamini and Mbongiseni Shabangu, raised questions with government. The result was that the government issued a statement stating that the four men had travelled to an overseas country purportedly to plan for a second wave of national unrest in the country. The two political parties’ representatives disassociated themselves in the strongest terms from the allegations by government. They stated that government was not referring to them but another delegation.

Hosted

They admitted to have undertaken a business trip to China, where they were hosted by the China People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs. The four men said their visit was meant to explore business opportunities with PRC businesspeople, as they had observed that PRC was the second largest trading partner with the Kingdom of Eswatini, when it came to import trade.
They also mentioned that their visit was also to learn more about that country’s political system and how political parties operated, given that the PRC was one of the most non-violent and peaceful countries in the world. They stated that the PRC publicly denounced the use of force and or violence to bring about any political change or even transformation. A notable thing about the political parties’ travel was that they all went to the PRC to learn about its governance model. Over the past hundred years, the CPC has grown from a small party, with just over 50 members, into the largest governing party in the world, with more than 95 million members in a country of more than 1.4 billion people.

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