MBABANE: King Mswati has been avoiding to meet senior royal family that wanted to advise him to engage with the people, introduce democratic reforms and save the institution of the Monarchy.
Reached for comments on Saturday Prince Thumbumuzi, a senior member of the royal family and son-in law of former South African President Nelson Mandela confirmed to this publication that as sons of the late King Sobhuza, they were concerned about the current situation and hoped for a better solution.
“We are concerned about the state of affairs in the country and we are trying as brothers to engage the King siyocela kuye wekunene kutsi natsi sicela kufaka i-advise njengaboMnakabo labadzala kunaye(meaning; we want to advise him on how to resolve the current situation)”, said the Prince who mentioned that he was ready to go public with his position regarding the current situation.
It has been disclosed that after an attempt by sons of the late King Sobhuza to meet Mswati, the powerful pro-democracy faction wanted to make submissions to the SADC Troika Special Envoys, however, they couldn’t do so in the absence of a family resolution.
“Before, the King would call us in a meeting before taking important decisions ngoba phela naye ulapha esihlalweni nje on our behalf. During these meetings, we would advise him on how to address the people, simvunulise. Now, he doesn’t do that, so we want to talk to him because we don’t want people to blame us in the future saying we were quiet when all this happened”,said a senior Prince who cannot be named for ethical reasons.
Government and King Mswati’s Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
Speaking this publication, Sibongile Mazibuko advised the senior royal family members to hold a meeting and then agree on a public statement disassociating themselves from the decision of the King to kill protesting civilians.
“It’s simple, they must come together, agree on a public statement in support for democracy and disassociate themselves from the ongoing killing of civilians. The King is on the Throne on their behalf and once they disassociate themselves from what he is doing, the people will understand, then we will take it from there”, said the NNLC President whose organization is part of the political parties assembly.
It has been disclosed that some members of the royal family are concerned that Mswati’s political arrogance might completely destroy the institutions of the Monarchy as people have started to display placards during protests calling for his removal from power after the killing of civilians.
Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, the Executive Director of the Coordination Assembly of Non-Governmental Organization(CANGO) thanked the senior royal family members who are now willing to discuss issues of democracy adding that the calls for democratic reforms were actually not meant to destroy the institution of the Monarchy but to create a system that cared for the people.
“It is therefore important that they engage him because the Monarchy is an institution that appoints someone to the Throne. So the senior royal family members are elders of the institution and they are expected to call him to order. Naye(King) bekumele kutsi nakusuka lomsindvo ababite boMnakabo atsi; kulesitulo lenangibeka kuso sengidibane nenkinga senta njani? (meaning; The King was supposed to engage the elders of the institution and report the current political challenges. But we are happy that some of the royal family members now understand the issue of democracy, this is not about destroying them”,said the CANGO Director.
King Mswati