When Member of Parliament(MP) Musa Kunene urged government to deploy the police and the army to deal with protesting children, it became clear that Parliament is dominated by individuals who don't understand the implications of their sentiments and how this might be used against them once the International Criminal Court(ICC) launched investigations.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund(UNICEF) must monitor the situation, after the sentiments of MP Kunene, there is a possibility that children might be secretly killed by security forces, protesting remains a serious crime in eSwatini despite the existence of the Constitution that guarantees human rights.
It is important for the UN to start monitoring the situation and protect the children from being massacred by King Mswati’s government who uses the police and army to silence anyone who raises a voice against this regime.
As the situation stands, over one hundred(100) citizens were silenced through a barrel of a gun, they were brutally killed merely for demanding democratic reforms.
The citizens started by delivering petitions to MPs in the various Constituencies, but King Mswati who is above law decided that some of them must die, under the current government, the King has the power to decide who should die without being taken to court.
Before these Swazis were killed merely for their political beliefs, King Mswati’s brother Prince Simelane, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development urged soldiers and the police to fight ‘fire with fire’ when dealing with protesters and we subsequently witnessed dead bodies on the streets during the unrest.
Prince Simelane, an Army General, is a member of the royal family and his sentiments were like a command to the armed forces. Perhaps, he spoke something that was discussed within the royal family and eventually, it manifested into reality.
Now, a Chairman of the incompetent Public Accounts Commitee(PAC) wants soldiers and the police to be deployed in the various schools.
Is it the temporal political power that blinded MP Kunene not to understand the implications of creating a society where children would be used to gunshots and or where shooting and killing another human being would become a normal practice?
Is MP Kunene not aware that shooting children comes with trauma and that traumatised students cannot learn properly in an environment where soldiers are shooting people with impunity?
The political defense mechanism government suggesting that there are people who are influencing the children to boycott classes and demand democracy does not make sense.
It should be noted that if the King’s Government is now claiming certain people are influencing children, it means this regime has lost legitimacy and influence among the people.
Indeed, if government was for the people, the children would have taken the directive not to boycott classes, but if there are certain political structures who now influence the Nation including children, it means Mswati Throne is about to fall.
Silencing children with a gun will not only affect them but the entire country, these children are slowly getting used to hearing gunshots, King Mswati and his allies want to mess-up this country and create disorder.
In conclusion, let me urge international human rights organizations to monitor the conduct of the police against these protesting children.
It is a human right to protest and those in power have an obligation to listen to the people and address their concerns.
Protesting students in eSwatini.