By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Sicelo Mngomezulu, the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF) has, subsequent to King Mswati’s “I can’t dialogue with terrorists” speech, warned that, the revolution was not over in this tiny Kingdom of eSwatini.

Mswati, an absolute Monarch with Executive, Judicial and Legislative powers, told Heads of State during the Southern African Development Community(SADC) Summit held in Angola on Thursday that, he will never dialogue with terrorists who are perpetrating violence in the country.

The King, who recently unleashed his security forces to shoot and kill dozens of innocent civilians merely for demanding democracy, subsequently told SADC Troika to immediately remove the Kingdom of eSwatini on the agenda as peace has been restored. 

“Given that not even one terrorist is named in the King’s speech, the nation must therefore accept that there are, in fact, no terrorists. In any event, it is not for the Head of State to label any citizen as a terrorist, it is for the courts to do so following a fair trial.It’s quite ironic though that, a regime that has it’s hands full of blood of innocent and defenseless citizens, which it mercilessly killed on 29 June 2021 can think that, it has the moral authority to unilaterally determine that any Swazi citizen is a terrorist.By now, one would expect the leadership of this regime to know that it’s foolhardy for it to mistake silence for peace and tolerance for weakness. As long as the conditions that precipitated the 2021 unrest still persists, the Government must know that it sits of a revolution time bomb. It is only  through a mediated dialogue, including with those that King refers to as terrorists, that the country can secure peace and long lasting stability. Of course there's a lull in hostilities,hence this the moment which must be seized by the regime to embark in a process of dialogue”, said the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF).

Eswatini is not democratic, political parties are banned from participating in elections, human rights defenders are arrested, tortured or even killed for demanding democratic reforms.

The MSF is an internationally recognized coalition of eSwatini pro-democracy groups, collectively working towards amplifying the calls for democracy in eSwatini.