When King Mswati commanded his police to deal with insurgents “eye for an eye” on Friday and the subsequent death of the Operational Support Services Unit(OSSU) officers who were chasing members of the PUDEMO Youth League, the story of Pharaoh, the Egyptian King who unleashed his forces to pursue Israelites came into my mind.
There are many similarities between the conduct of King Mswati, the ongoing calls for democracy and the conduct of then King of Egypt who failed to understand that the political project that sought to liberate the Israelites was commanded by God himself, the Commander of all freedom fighters.
Like Swazis, the Israelites first delivered petitions to God through prayer urging him to intervene and liberate them from the cruel hand of King Pharaoh.
God subsequently approved their petition and commenced the process of liberating his people.
Even though God had investigated Pharaoh in the spirit and discovered that he would attempt to use an iron fist and refuse to release his people, he started the process fairly by sending Moses to engage the King of Egypt in a political dialogue.
Moses was a human rights defender,despite being adopted by royalty, he was against the persecution of his fellow Israelites.
As a result, Moses killed an Egyptian in defense of an Israelite and subsequently fled to exile, that was where the political project that sought to liberate the Israelites was communicated by God to him.
God used an alleged murderer who killed an Egyptian in defense of an Israelite to liberate his people, Moses killed for a just cause and therefore, in the eyes of God, he was innocent.
While in exile, Moses was ordered to go back to Egypt and engage the King in a political dialogue, God wanted Pharaoh to release his people without any bloodshed and or loss of lives.
Like King Mswati, Pharaoh became arrogant such that God, through Moses had to use an iron hand.
It should be noted that there was a time when God had to send his spiritual forces to kill first-born Egyptians just to prove that the political project that sought to liberate the Israelites was driven by him, King Pharaoh first agreed to release them but later changed his mind.
There are many Egyptians who died in defense of Pharaoh just like the police officers who died on Saturday in defense of Mswati.
When the Israelites were about to cross the Red Sea to safety in their journey to the promised land, Pharaoh unleashed his forces to bring them back by force.
Moses had to cry to God for intervention and God assured him that the Egyptian security forces who were approaching the Israelites at a high speed, would never be seen again.
Indeed, members of Pharaoh’s security forces who took an oath to protect the King of Egypt drowned and died in the Red Sea.
It should be noted that as per the book of Genesis, the sea came into existence through the word of God, so it listened to him when ordered to swallow the Egyptians.
On Saturday, Mswati’s ppolice officers within the Operational Support Services Unit(OSSU) pursued members of the Swaziland Youth Congress(SWAYOCO) after receiving an order from their cruel King on Friday during the Police Day Celebrations.
Police were warned several times to stop killing God’s people who are demanding freedom but some of them would tell everyone who cared listen that they took an oath to protect a mere cruel human being, King Mswati.
Like King Pharaoh, Mswati spoke with arrogance and urged police officers to meet insurgents “eye for an eye”, however, some of the police officers who took that order subsequently died along the Manzini-Nhlangano road while pursuing citizens whose crime was to demand democracy.
Let me bring to the attention of King Mswati that Swazis will be liberated, whether he likes it or not, it’s just a matter of time.
After killing dozens of civilians during the political unrest, the King must ask himself why the calls for democratic reforms are intensifying because he did that hoping the people would be afraid to demand freedom.
The police officers who died in the ‘Red Sea’ while pursuing SWAYOCO members are useless now, their children are orphans just because they opted to listen to an order influenced by an alleged mental disorder patient.
But, in the spirit of humanity, we send condolences to their families.
Some of the police officers who sang Mswati’s praises during the Police Day on Friday when he declared war against the people did so for the last time, they will be buried this coming weekend after perishing in the ‘Red Sea’.
It was shocking to see police officers cheering sentiments from a King that incited violence, such sentiments can only be uttered by a mentally challenged Head of State who doesn’t understand that war results to deaths and disrupts people’s lives.
King Mswati is an absolute Monarch with all the powers to restore peace, introduce democratic reform through a dialogue and bring life to the Nation, however, he opted to choose death by urging his police officers to meet an “eye to an eye”.
But then, like King Pharaoh, let’s wait and see if Mswati can risk the lives of police officers and soldiers to the end,bsurely, all his troops will drown in the ‘Red Sea’.
An OSSU vehicle that was allegedly shot by Solidarity Forces.