Mbabane - King Mswati’s government will be offering up prayers for the ANC so South Africa’s ruling party can see the error of its ways and rid itself of its sins.
“We will continue to pray for it (ANC) as it battles its teething problems and disunity,” government spokesman Percy Simelane told the Times of Swaziland on Sunday.
The Swaziland government is clearly seeking divine intervention for the ANC because it is upset with a statement released by the ruling party on May 7 that reads in part, “The democratisation of Swaziland must preoccupy the work of the ANC.”
Simelane quoted Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s article in the Mail&Guardian last week as proof that the ANC is incapable of running its own country and therefore has no business questioning how Swaziland is ruled under sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
“Tutu said, ‘It does not seem to me now that a freedom fighting unit (ANC) can easily make the transition to becoming a political party’,” Simelane said.
He told the Times of Swaziland that Tutu confirmed the Swaziland government’s belief that the ANC must get its house in order. He responded to ANC calls for the return of political exiles to Swaziland and the release of political prisoners by denying that there were Swazi political exiles or prisoners.
Several pro-democracy activists overseas claim political exile status. Recently several political activists and union leaders were detained or arrested in Swaziland.
Simelane said the ANC’s call for the unbanning of political parties in Swaziland went against the will of the Swazi people as expressed in the national constitution. This refers to the iSibaya gathering which Mswati occasionally calls to discuss big issues with the populace.
The last one was in August last year and the one before was in 2005.
Generally, the international community views the Swazi constitution, which gives King Mswati supreme governing powers and protects him against political opposition, as a palace-authored document imposed on the Swazi people without their participation.
Simelane added: “We shall not compromise this great nation’s right to choice, the capacity by which a person acts as his own defender or destroyer.”
Political observer Obed Maphalala, who is not aligned with any political organisation, noted, “The Swaziland government rejects all calls for democracy by finding fault with its critics and saying they are hypocrites because they have their own problems.
“Every time the US renews its calls for democracy in Swaziland, King Mswati’s people say, ‘Look at the Iraq War! Look at the Boston bombings! How dare they interfere with us?”
Independent Foreign Service