By Nokwanda Mamba

MBABANE: Wandile Dludlu, the Secretary General of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika to stop allowing King Mswati to play hide and seek. 

This comes after the SADC Troika Extraordinary Summit that sought to address the eSwatini political crisis was postponed for the second time following King Mswati’s refusal to attend, the Summit was to be held in Pretoria on Thursday,21July 2022.

In a public statement released on Thursday,the PUDEMO Secretary General said the SADC has been nursing Mswati’s ego for the past  twelve(12)months without holding him and his Government accountable for gross human rights violation adding that Mswati is known for not accounting to anyone except God and ancestors. 

"As the oppressed Swazis we call upon SADC to up her sleeves and hold the bull by the horn if they hope to salvage the imminent violent environment and political crisis festering in Eswatini. We  remain committed  to a political dialogue process which will be laid down with clear timelines and outcomes", reads the statement in part.

In a statement  released on Wednesday, Alpheous Nxumalo, the eSwatini Government Spokesperson denied that the Kingdom of eSwatini snubbed the Extraordinary Summit adding that a delegation from eSwatini was told upon arrival that the Summit had been cancelled. 

"On the afternoon on July 2022, a delegation from the Kingdom of Eswatini that was attending a preceding SADC Meeting, the 24th Ordinary Meeting of Ministerial Committee of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation at the DIRCO in Pretoria was verbally advised by the SADC Secretariat that a decision had been taken to cancel the Summit and official correspondence was to follow thereafter,”said the Government Spokesperson in a public statement. 

Eswatini is in the midst of a political unrest after King Mswati allegedly unleashed his forces to shoot and kill dozens of civilians merely for demanding democratic reforms. He has avoided at least two of the SADC Troika Summits that sought to address the eSwatini political crisis.