Africa-Press – Eswatini. We need to accept that at the heart of every and any legitimate political process sits the verifiable popular support of the people.
Political processes and actors that lack this fundamental requirement of popular support should never be allowed to masquerade as such, such actors are entitled to their political opinions but they are certainly not entitled to forcefully impose their opinions on others.
The prevailing expectation for political engagement should be driven by a motivation/desire to cotinuously explore how we can make our political institutions and processes efficiently and effectively deliver the political goods meant to make the lives of our people better.
The motivation of fear, which sadly appears to be the strongest force, for a national dialogue threatens to render the nation’s hopes for a peaceful, more democratic and prosperous future a still birth. A national dialogue motivated and occurring under a climate of fear can only serve to undemocratically reward the perpetrators of violence.
All patriots desiring to exercise their democratic rights in shaping the future of our nation must be assured of their freedom of expression, such freedom should never be fettered by threats of violence emanating from tyrants who don’t have the decency to respect fundamental human rights.
The ‘Ngitsi Mine’ attitude
It is a sigh of absolute tyranny that exactly at the time when we should be ceased with serous debates about our political discourse instead, we have a fear-enforced avoidance of political debate.
We have heard even elected members of parliament express fear to debate within the sacred chambers of the house. that’s the extent of the damage to our fledging democratic fibre. The political murders and arson attacks have created an atmosphere of fear where only rogues and tyrants usurp the nation’s right to freely engage with issues.
One just has to listen to the sludge of audio messages attributed to some of these tyrants, the most topical one being attributed to a so-called commander; never has the nation been addressed with such disdain and disrespect.
Here is a guy who masquerades as an activist for democracy spewing threats to murder anyone who dares to ignore his orders.
To hear any man with some semblance of conscience openly brag about the murder of a poor rural traditional leader is really tragic, there’s just no words to express the level of utter shock.
The gentleman’s audio has one most repeated phrase in the over 10 minutes clip, which is clearly embedded in his everyday language. ‘ngitsi mine’, this repeated phrase tells us so much about the speaker, for one it shows an inability or unwillingness to listen to other voices, ‘ngitsi mine’, is a forceful and violent expression that silences every other thought.
The ‘ngitsi mine’ phrase and attitude is what is also behind the brutal domestic violence culture as witnessed in the ever-increasing incidence stats, perpetrators threaten with violence anyone who refuses to heed their orders. The thought- provoking words of a good friend, Dr QS would perhaps enrich our reflection here;
‘My living in England left me thinking kutsi (that) those people did make a conscious effort to create some desired citizenry ,which we have left to chance. The modern-day Eswatini can be and is anything.’’
There is absolutely no justification for the ongoing political violence, and agitators for multi-party politics must never flimsily justify this violence by claiming they are only responding to the state’s violence. Nelson Mandela, who fought the most brutal and inhuman system in the world, had some really dignified words to express his vision in his speech made from the uncomfortable courtroom dock during the Rivonia trial;
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.’’
One has to admire the obstinate dignity and moral rectitude of these liberation leaders, they adamantly refused to sacrifice their moral high ground.
We need to fiercely protect the integrity of democracy; the concept of democracy can certainly not be in the same sentence with the violent and forceful ‘ngitsi mine’ phrase.
And it must be emphasised that this phrase is prominent in a clip that is not just exclusively addressed to the speaker’s advisory/s, no, the bulk of the audio is addressed to the simple man and woman in the street. Guanine democrats of all ideological persuasions have a moral obligation to reject this ‘ngitsi mine’ repressive attitude.
Respect for democratic institutions is a non-negotiable
No society should ever be subjected to the ‘ngitsi mine’ decree rule, democracy enjoins us to respect the fact that the speaker has a following, but we have an obligation to educate everyone about their democratic right to be heard.
We have made the point that leaders of organisations who demand a seat around the dignified table of democratic engagement must be able to demonstrate that they lead organisations with sound internal democratic processes.
Efforts to evade democratic institutions in the haste of attaining lucrative public office must be repelled with the disdain they deserve. Democratic institutions such as elections, dialogue, political debates, referendum, parliament, courts of law, etc, cannot be evaded, however defective such institutions may be.
And the defectiveness of some democratic institutions cannot be denied, but democracy demands that such institutions are actually improved through their robust engagement as opposed to evasion.
Democratic institutions everywhere are a ‘work-in-progress’ and their engagement ought to expose their weaknesses and thus facilitate their continuous improvement. A debate about the weaknesses of our democratic institutions right now is not only desirable but helpful, we must all keenly listen and participate in such debates – it’s really not an esoteric subject for a selected few.
Evasion of democratic institutions is as worse as their manipulation for selfish ends, institutions are improved through sincere interrogation and engagement, they are certainly not totem poles to be worshiped.
We have witnessed a growing tyrannical tendency not only to avoid democratic institutions, but their brutal affront, the burning of a vehicle belonging to one of our media houses represents a brutal attack on the democratic institution of a free media.
Any freedom of action that is at odds with democratic values must be strongly criticised, failure to do so will see our tiny country become a haven for tyrants. Politics are about learning about the people’s needs and jointly designing solutions to their problems, it is normal democratic practice to persuade people through candid debate.
The tyrants poisoning our political discourse have chosen to evade this common democratic practice of persuasion, opting instead for ruthless threats of violence and murder against those who refuse to heed their orders.
The right to practice one’s culture
The same ‘ngitsi mine’ audio orders traditionalists, who have every right to participate in their cultural activities, to refrain from exercising their rights and should they dare ignore the order/s the speaker promises them certain bloody and brutal death.
This level of tyranny is shocking, even more shocking is the fact that it is succeeding in creating an atmosphere of fear where citizens have no choice but to comply with these undemocratic orders.
Women who are married to traditionalists who religiously attend the annual Incwala ceremony have been threatened with imminent loss.
The tyrannical orders know no borders, as even the youth have been ordered to abandon their cultural practice of attending the lusekwane ceremony.
These cultural practices are entirely by choice and demands for their abandonment constitute a serious violation of cultural rights, democrats of all ideological inclinations should never countenance this kind of abuse.
Our dedication to democracy finds effective expression when we demonstrate our tolerance by allowing others to peacefully practice their democratic choices on issues of faith, culture, political affiliation, etc.
Progressives have been for years alleging that participation in national cultural ceremonies was under coercion, its bizarre that the same people now are threatening those who attend such activities.
The principled democratic position is that we are culturally richer when all of us are able to enjoy the freedom to practice our cultures, this freedom does not infringe in anyway on democratic aspirations.
The emerging tyrants need to be sensitive to the whole range of human rights and to embrace the biblical golden rule -do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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