By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: The Southern African Development Community(SADC) Extraordinary Summit on eSwatini political crisis has been postponed again after King Mswati avoided to appear before the regional body that facilitates a political dialogue.

Mswati, an absolute Monarch is currently unleashing his police and soldiers to shoot and kill dozens of civilians merely for demanding democratic reforms.

The Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Troika was expected to be chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday in his capacity as the Chairperson of the SADC Troika on Politics, Defense and Security.

“Please take note the extraordinary summit of the SADC Organ Troika, scheduled for July 21 2022, has been postponed until further notice. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,” reads a message sent to the media by the Department of International Relations in South Africa.

Timeslive, a South African publication reported that in October 2021 Ramaphosa said he had called Eswatini’s King Mswati to convince him to “engage in dialogue” to help bring peace to the troubled country.

“Days later, Ramaphosa, Chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, sent former cabinet minister Jeff Radebe to Eswatini as his special envoy.Radebe was accompanied by representatives from Namibia and Botswana, and the delegation was assisted by the SADC Secretariat. The move followed four months of pro-democracy protests in Eswatini that escalated that week. About 100 people died in the violence, many killed by the military and police, according to reports,” TimesLive reported.

A questionnaire was sent to Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

Reached for comments, human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the Chairperson of the pro-democracy Multi-Stakeholder Forum said Mswati has demonstrated that he was not ready to listen to anyone including his peers being the Heads of State in the region.

“SADC advised him that the dialogue must start within the framework that was produced in February and there were timelines, he ignored that advice. They postponed to allow Mswati more time to think about the proposal.Just like he did in April, he still indicates that he is not only prepared to listen to his peers in the region but not committed to a process of engagement which he cannot manipulate and control. Even if Mswati disagrees with the SADC leaders, he was supposed to go there and express his own views to his colleagues in the region so that his concerns could be heard by his peers,” said the Chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholders Forum.