Just a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairmanship, an Eswatini pro-democracy group is demanding decisive leadership from the bloc to force structural reforms in the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III.
On Monday, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially handed the rotating SADC chairmanship over to Ramaphosa at the closing ceremony of the 16-member bloc in Durban.
On Tuesday, the Swaziland Liberation Movement (Swalimo) held a picket in the vicinity of the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, where the SADC meeting concluded on Monday.
The movement, which is fighting against King Mswati’s despotic rule, is now calling for democratic reforms that would curtail the king’s absolute powers. Speaking at a picket supported by the South African Communist Party, Swalimo coordinator Richard Nzima called on Ramaphosa to be bold enough to call out the king for what he described as gross human rights abuses in the Eswatini kingdom.
“We are calling on South Africa and SADC to implement a real national dialogue in Eswatini which would bring about democratic reforms. SADC must be able to tell member states if they are wrong. SADC and the African Union always say they do not recognise undemocratic takeovers of power, yet they are unable to do the same in Eswatini. The time for absolute monarchs has long passed,” said Nzima.
King Mswati holds massive executive, legislative, and judicial powers, more than any other African state leader. He appoints the Prime Minister and judges, and can dissolve parliament at any time. The country gained independence from Britain in 1968 under King Sobhuza II; however, he abolished the British constitution to establish an absolute monarchy five years later, immediately banning all free political activity.
In his acceptance speech Ramaphosa pledged to prioritise economic integration, regional industrialization, and conflict resolution across the 16-member bloc.
However, political analysts cast doubt on Pretoria’s capacity to drive meaningful regional integration or hold autocratic neighbours to account.
According to political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe, Ramaphosa’s regional authority is fundamentally constrained by domestic political vulnerabilities and a compromised moral standing.
He said, firstly, that the Phala Phala farm scandal continues to hang over Ramaphosa and the problems facing SADC member states are self-created and to overcome them, leaders must start by first acknowledging their complicity in the socio-political and economic crises that are playing out in the region.
willem.phungula@nationalmg.co.za