Umntfwana Longakhali Ufela eSwatini

Swazis have the popular proverb “umntfwana longakhali ufela embelekweni.” “Imbeleko” is used mainly by mothers to carry babies on their back. Thus, this proverb can be directly translated to “a baby that never cries dies on its mother’s back.” The interpretation to English is that no one knows your problems unless you voice them out. A person therefore cannot expect to get any assistance unless and until she or he tells others about the problems she or he is facing.

This popular proverb has forced me to reflect on the Swaziland struggle in so far as exposing the royal regime is concerned. Stretching the meaning of the proverb, in context with our struggle, it is clear that umntfwana longakhali ufela eSwatini (a child that never cries dies in Swaziland). This is in reference to the level at which we are in terms of communicating the problems facing Swaziland to, first, the people inside Swaziland and, secondly, to people outside Swaziland. Thus, we, the oppressed people of Swaziland, shall die in Swaziland, without anyone ever noticing that we are suffering, because we fail to take the necessary steps in order to report on our struggle and expose the royal regime.

Background

We have been criticised many times before for not popularising our struggle very well. Some have criticised us for not doing enough to go to the people in the communities in Swaziland and mobilising them, including telling them about our alternative plans for Swaziland. On the other hand, some have claimed that the international community does not know much about the Swaziland case, that we are doing too little to inform the international community about the royal system of Swaziland, its crises and our alternatives for the future democratic Swaziland.

The above criticisms, whether they stem from legitimate intentions or not, have a great deal of validity. Inside Swaziland, we have succeeded in forcing the regime to make some mistakes in its response to issues affecting the country. This has been mainly through pamphlets, graffiti, and some other ways. In certain instances some of our cadres have been able to sabotage the regime through the limited means that they had at their disposal. However, all these rarely happen nowadays. It appears as if we have given up on exposing the regime. Some of our cadres keep hiding behind the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008 for not implementing this tasks. We see a problems in Swaziland but we do not seem to be complaining about them. This is wrong! We will die in Swaziland and no one will ever remember that we died because of the brutalities of the regime.

No one can deny the fact that the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) has done a lot in the recent past in exposing the dirty secrets of the regime to the international community and to people inside Swaziland. We must acknowledge such bravery because it is not easy to conduct a thorough investigation on the royal family and its government, especially where one has very limited access. One of the biggest embarrassments the royal family has ever had to endure was the release of the Without the King documentary which exposed to ordinary people in Swaziland the dirty secrets held by King Mswati and his close family members, including the unthinkable riches that the royal family enjoyed without a care about the poor. This was for the first time that people were able to see for themselves the things that were only talked about as if they were fairy tales. Who can ever forget the undercover investigations that were conducted by the SABC3’s Special Assignment program into the case of political prisoners in Swaziland whilst the government was refuting such a fact? We must acknowledge such efforts by those who were responsible for the investigations.

Election after another (1993-2013), the regime triumphs without any glitch in terms of propaganda. The regime has managed to force people to register for its elections simply by using the most limited amount of propaganda at its disposal. We may claim that the regime is in a much better position than us in this instance since it controls state media and muzzles the independent ones. However, the question is not what the regime has done, but rather what we have done, except to call for the boycott of elections, in countering state propaganda in so far as Tinkhundla elections are concerned.

In three years’ time (2018) the regime will conduct another election programme. Are we ready to counter the propaganda that will be scattered all over the place by the regime? Are we ready to push our own revolutionary propaganda? King Mswati messes up on a daily basis, and his chiefs, police and soldiers abuse people every single day. Are we doing enough to expose all that? The Swazi media has already reported on the eviction of people at Nokwane, but have we taken up that propaganda war so that we show the people who the real enemy is; the monarch? Or we just merely sympathise with the affected families without any political programme on it?

Who is this “We”?

In this article, reference to “We” has been continuously used. One must therefore hasten to clear any confusion and doubts that may exist regarding this “We” that is continuously being called upon to act accordingly. In our efforts to organise and unite the masses of Swaziland against the royal regime, organisations have been formed to achieve that. This organised formations are in many instances collectively referred to as the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM). The most prominent organisations under the MDM include; Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) and the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS). It is in this context that “We” has been adopted in this article.

Solving the problem

Identifying a problem is important, but the point is to find a solution to it. The struggle needs cadres who will always be ready to forward solutions and be ready to implement them instead of bringing only problems to the table. The main point in solving such an issue is not to always wait for leadership to give a solution, but for cadres to always take the initiative, guided by revolutionary discipline.

We know that every day the regime abuses people in the communities. Chiefs and their headpersons, as direct representatives of the royal family in those respective communities, continuously mistreat families and individuals. In many cases our own cadres are aware of such abuses. Instead of reporting on such issues, using whatever medium of communication we can lay our hands on, we usually simply watch and hope that Tibiyo TakaNgwane’s Swazi Observer or the Times of Swaziland under the leadership of the Prime Minister’s right-hand man, Martin Dlamini, will report on them without any self-censorship. But if not us, then who? Obviously if we ignore our task as revolutionaries the ever-docile Swazi media will publish watered-down reports on such issues and later accept bribes so that they kill the same stories. In some instances we fail to report even protest actions that have been organised by us. We let the royal-controlled media tell our own stories and then moan the next day when they have reported wrongly. Surely something is seriously wrong, and unless we accept this fact we shall never be ready to find a solution. PUDEMO, for instance, has branches deep in the communities inside Swaziland. It is the task of these branches, the heart of the organisation, to monitor the happenings in those communities in which they are based and thereafter expose them if there is a need. Is that not what branches should always be engaged in, amongst other things?

Where to Begin

The first people who need to be informed about the brutality of the king’s representatives in the communities are the community members themselves. This should solve the criticism that we do not go to the people and talk to them about the struggle and what we stand for. Whenever a chief threatens any family with eviction, for instance, we must immediately alert the whole community about such and further agitate the members of the community to support that particular affected family. As to how this should actually be done is a matter of tactics, shaped by conditions prevailing on the ground. This calls for us to read and study the documents of PUDEMO (and other relevant revolutionary documents) on tactics.

In the struggle for freedom, revolutionary organisations must always learn secret ways of implementing their programmes. Our struggle is no exception to this general rule. We must learn the skills of using pamphlets and combining them with today’s technology. Has anyone ever checked that we are getting deeper into the 21^st century? Even if one does not have a computer, internet or cell phone, it does not mean that nothing can be done. There is always something that one can do in their community to agitate the masses against the regime.

The police are always known to physically abuse people in road blocks. Comrades who reside next to the border line of Swaziland are aware of the atrocities committed by the army on people who either leave or enter Swaziland through those informal border crossings. Many women and girls have been raped by king Mswati’s soldiers there and their stories have gone without being reported, sadly not even by us. This is a clear disservice to the oppressed people and by extension, a sabotage on our own struggle. Our cadres are aware of such atrocities, but never report them. The oppressed people depend on revolutionaries who have been able to properly organise themselves into revolutionary organisations (MDM) to report and expose the royal regime on such and many other issues. But we are dead silent! Sibahle Sinje?

Do we have the necessary skills?

One does not wish to ask for too much from comrades, except for them to implement what they have been tasked by the Swazi revolution to do. We should ask ourselves, in this instance, whether our cadres are well capacitated to implement what the revolution has tasked them to do. This then throws the challenge straight into the hands of the leadership of the MDM in so far as searching for, gathering, organising and publicising information is concerned. The need to empower comrades to conduct such tasks using the least of the means at their disposal is urgent. In implementing such work, we surely need to arm our cadres on how, for instance,   to avoid arrest whilst engaged in such work.

Technology today is far advanced than it was during the days of Lenin, Karl Marx and other revolutionaries who have long passed. Those revolutionaries took advantage of the technology that existed during their time in order to advance the struggle. We should thus also take advantage of the technological advancements of our times if we are to properly lead today’s society. I dare say, a 21^st revolutionary who does not even wish to know where the Power-button of a computer is positioned is not worthy of being referred to as a revolutionary. Many of our comrades do access internet through computers and cell phones. We should use these very modes of communication to expose the regime. Branches must take charge of such processes in their own communities. If all our branches could do this, the people would be daily mobilised and over a short period of time their level of consciousness would rise sharply.

Whilst one has deliberately thrown the challenge on our leadership to assist in the capacitation of our comrades with regard to the topic under discussion, one should mention that individual comrades also have a duty to capacitate themselves. The main point in self-capacitation is for comrades to start doing what they wish to do and grow along the way. Experience is the best teacher. A few years ago there emerged one of the biggest earth-shattering stories about What Happens at the Swaziland Incwala Ceremony. How was this report investigated and compiled? The simple truth is this and this only; Individuals decided to focus on implementing what they had to implement instead of lamenting that they have not been taught how to do such work. A few years ago the SSN also released an exclusive report about the true history of King Mswati III and the events that led to his coronation. What then stops us from doing such on a daily basis and cause untold headaches to the regime?

Conclusion

We struggle under conditions not of our own making. The iron boot of the regime is firmly on our necks. As such, we must learn the skills of using legal and illegal means in alerting other people about our suffering. The best people to do such is not those who are outside Swaziland or people in the United Nations (UN). It is certainly not the African National Congress (ANC). We are the ones who are oppressed. As such, it must be us that lead the way in daily making noise about the atrocities committed by the royal regime of Swaziland. All those people who live in democratic states cannot support us if they do not get a sense that the oppressed people themselves need help and are doing something to ensure that they set themselves free. Umntfwana longakhali indeed ufela eSwatini. Liswati lelingakhononi lifela etandleni taMswati njengentfwala (A Swazi that never complains dies in the hands of King Mswati like lice). Thus, we must go out there and fight! Investigating and reporting on the atrocities committed by the royal regime is one of the many things that need to be done in order for us to fight the regime and also inspire people outside Swaziland to give solidarity.