The oppressive Eswatini regime should be toppled by revolution – News24

The inclusion of someone called King Mswati III in the SADC troika is an insult to the intelligence of the people of the region and has made the SADC a laughing stock. Photo: Elmond Jiyane/GCIS

VOICES

The entirety of the African continent must be democratised so that all people can benefit from the economic fruits that accompany democracy. It is therefore disgraceful that we still have in our midst, the barbaric and oppressive system of Eswatinis tinkhundla (administrative area) system.

The inclusion of someone called King Mswati III in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) troika is an insult to the intelligence of the people of the region and has made the SADC a laughing stock.

Africa has suffered enough due to colonialism and its manifestations. In this century, aptly declared as the African century by leading Afro-optimists such as former presidents Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Abdoulaye Wade, the archaic tinkhundla system should no longer be a negotiable matter, but must be toppled through mass rebellion, general civil disobedience and revolution.

I find it hypocritical of the international community to make vociferous objections and express disgust against Robert Mugabe and the ousted Taliban rule in Afghanistan but keep mum on the barbarism of the tinkhundla system which is responsible for the plundering of Eswatinis economic resources and widespread suppression and oppression of the impoverished majority.

It is very disturbing that police and prison officials in Eswatini do not have any rights whatsoever; instead, they are being used as knobkerries and pangas to legitimise this stinking and archaic tinkhundla system. All public service workers should stand up.

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The controversy of King Mswati IIIs wife, Zena Mahlangu, was just the tip of the iceberg, for there are more objectionable things that happen behind the closed doors of the so-called royal family.

The tinkhundla system is self-discreditable for it enriches the few at the expense of the majority. The system is outdated in the sense that it entrenches docility, feebleness and mediocrity in women, thus perpetuating the fallacious notion that women are inferior beings not deserving of human dignity.

The 1973 decree is a despicable political tool used by the monarch to silence free political activity. Through this decree, Eswatini has become a police and military state similar to the apartheid state that maimed and murdered thousands of freedom fighters during the struggle for liberation in South Africa.

The system is outdated in the sense that it entrenches docility, feebleness and mediocrity in women

It must be argued that the monarch should no longer be engaged in political dialogue to transform the political and economic landscape in Eswatini, but the only solution is a revolution that should elect a democratic government for the people of the land.

The royal family has been abusing the absolute power afforded them by the tinkhundla system, all in the name of culture. They abuse women and oppress the entire populace in the holy name of culture. It must be mentioned that, if culture supports the barbarism that is going on in Eswatini, then war unto this culture.

The inclusion of someone called King Mswati III in the SADC troika is an insult to the intelligence of the people of the region and has made the SADC a laughing stock. Photo: Elmond Jiyane, GCIS

The so-called King Mswati should be tried for crimes against humanity for subjecting the people to a blood-dripping illegal military dictatorship. He should also account for the deaths resulting from forced hunger, malnutrition and the scourge of HIV/Aids that continues to ravage the Swazi people.

Ka-Soko is an independent political analyst

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The oppressive Eswatini regime should be toppled by revolution - News24