MBABANE: Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will, on 21st July 2022, hold an Extraordinary Summit to address the escalating political crisis in eSwatini, the Daily Maverick has reported.
Eswatini is in the midst of a political unrest after Mswati banned the delivery of petitions in demand for democratic reforms, and subsequently unleashed the police and soldiers to shoot and kill dozens of civilians.
It has been reported that King Mswati who earlier demonstrated reluctance, subsequently agreed to be part of the Summit.
According to the Daily Maverick, the South African Department of International Relations and Security announced the Summit on Thursday and further confirmed that it would be chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa who is currently the Chairperson of the SADC Troika Security Organ.
Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
The online publication further quoted human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the Chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum(MSF) who welcomed the announcement of the SADC Summit adding that he hoped the regional organization would persuade Mswati to agree on a dialogue process with firm timelines that could be shared with leaders of the eSwatini pro-democracy movement.
"It is clear that the Government envisages some dialogue through Sibaya. That is unworkable and not acceptable to the mass democratic movement. All the King can do through his unilateral Sibaya meeting would be to announce his commitment to an all-inclusive political process, not to seek to manipulate and control it,” said the human rights lawyer as quoted by the Daily Maverick.
This comes after King Mswati unleashed his forces to shoot and kill dozens of civilians merely for demanding democratic reforms in June last year.He later promised a political dialogue but he has been delaying it ever since.
King Mswati.