MBABANE: Pastor Bakhe Dlamini who opposed democratic reforms saying politics was not for Pastors has been removed as Guest Speaker for writers awards event.
This comes after members of public threatened to boycott the event by not buying tickets, the event will be held at Sibane Hotel on the 27th November 2021.
Speaking to this Swaziland News, Thando Dlamini, the organiser of the event and founder of the Swazi Fest said they decided to remove Pastor Bakhe after they discovered that people were no longer buying tickets because of his comments that encouraged Pastors to ignore politics.
“After he(Bakhe) released that, we received threats from concerned citizens saying if we don’t remove him, they will boycott the event. We then decided to remove him from the list of Speakers because people are angry at him. Actually, we removed him because we wanted to prevent chaos as well and continue with our event in peace. I sent him a Whatsap message informing him that we decided to remove him because people are angry at him” he said.
Dlamini said Pastor Bakhe was not the only Speaker who was removed as they once removed Manzini North MP Macford Sibandze after information emerged that he wanted to buy guns and protect himself against the electorate.
Pastor Bakhe Dlamini who was recently quoted by the Times of eSwatini saying Pastors should involved themselves in politics, did not respond when reached by this publication.
Reached for comments, Sakhile Aviwa Nxumalo, a member of the Swaziland Youth Congress(SWAYOCO) who was one of the citizens who called for the removal of Pastor Bakhe welcomed the new developments.
“As young people, we were upset by Bakhe’s sentiments who said Pastors must not involve themselves in politics. People were killed in this country and he said nothing and later uttered these sentiments because he wanted to protect his interests. Pastors must involve themselves in politics because even the the right to religion is influenced by political decisions” he said.
Pastor Bakhe Dlamini(pic: Bakhe FB)