LOZITHA: King Mswati who is facing poor political governance issues in this Kingdom amid killing of civilians, was literally embarrassed on Thursday when only one(1) Head of State showed-up for the Southern African Customs Union(SACU) Summit held at Lozitha Palace.
Two(2) Heads of State who literally boycotted the Summit include His Excellency Hage Gottfried Geingob who has been consistently, calling for a political dialogue in the Kingdom of eSwatini and Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, the President of the Republic of Botswana.
Worth-noting, Mswati had organized a dinner for the Heads of State on the Eve of the Summit, none of them arrived only for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to arrive on Thursday only for Summit and left.
Reached for comments, President Mlungisi Makhanya whose political organization, the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) wrote to the SACU Heads of State urging them not to attend the Summit said, they were extremely happy with the positive response they received from the regional leaders.
“We are extremely happy, as the People’s United Democratic Movement and want to extend our profound thanks to the President of Namibia of Namibia and the President of Botswana particularly. These leaders stood with our people and responded positively to our plea that, it would be a grave insult for them to grace the SACU activity on a day where, just two(2) years ago, a lot of Swazis were killed by a regime that sought to keep them oppressed forever,”he said.
The PUDEMO President said even though they were dissatisfied with the decision of the South African President to attend, they were happy that he boycotted the State banquet prepared by Mswati on the Eve of the Summit.
On another note, Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo ran to the media ahead of the Summit, blasting PUDEMO for writing letters to the Heads of State ahead of the Summit.
A questionnaire was sent to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo where he was asked to share his comment regarding the decision of the Heads of State to listen to PUDEMO and snub the Summit, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
But, diplomatic sources alleged that one of the reasons Botswana President Masisi did not sent even his Deputy, to represent him but Mmusi Kgafela, the Industry and Trade Minister, was that eSwatini was also housing former President Ian Khama, a fugitive of law in Botswana.
Namibian President sent his Prime Minister Kuugongelwa-Amadhila to represent him.
Eswatini is slowly being ‘sanctioned’ by the international community amid killing of civilians.
Recently, Mswati’s alleged mercenaries allegedly killed highly regarded human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF).
King Mswati during the Summit.