By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:King Mswati has been restricted from participating in the upcoming BRICS Summit amid diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a province of the People’s Republic of China.

BRICS stands for Brazil,Russia, India, China and South Africa being the world’s fast-growing and emerging economies, the Summit will be held in South Africa on the 22nd-24th August 2023.

A questionnaire was sent to King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane, however, he had not responded at the of compiling this report.

Reached for comments, Mlungisi Makhanya, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) said, the BRICS decision not to invite King Mswati who continues to maintain diplomatic relations or ties with Taiwan, the Chinese Province, was more than welcome.

“We applaud the decision of the BRICS member countries not to invite Mswati to BRICS Summit, we strongly hold the view as PUDEMO that, these exclusion of Mswati confirms our long-held view that, the current King of Swaziland is nothing but a delusional leader who heads a historical and political absolute institution. It is for this precise reason that, we applaud the wisdom of the SADC leadership to ignore his rantings in Angola recently. However, we feel extremely sad that the oppressed people of our country have deprived an opportunity to participate in a forum such as the BRICS Summit, because of a selfish Monarch who chooses the province of Taiwan, over the People’s Republic of China. We,as PUDEMO, have always been consistent that we subscribe to the “One China Policy” and we will never recognize the Province of Taiwan as an independent separate country from Mainland China,” said the PUDEMO President.