Times of Eswatini

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Recent events must surely make those fellow compatriot­s who walk blind-folded through the maze of life reconsider their positions, especially when it comes to the polity of this kingdom, unless of course they are in deliberate denial simply because they are beneficiar­ies of the tinkhundla political system.

Like all serious-minded and concerned citizens, I am always befuddled by the thinking that those demanding political plurality have been christened with all kinds of names, the favourite among these being termed enemies of the State.

Leadership

No one in authority has sobered up enough to try and put a human face to these fellow compatriot­s so that they are able to listen hard enough to their disgruntle­d voices before accusing them of being enemies of the State. Perhaps that is because this is not necessary ostensibly because the leadership knows the truth but is in denial because the truth does not serve its machinatio­ns.

However, the truth is that the real enemies of the State are within the ruling class and blind followers of the country’s political system. The truth is that those holding the reins of political power are afraid to expose the ruse that the obtaining political system is. Hence, it cannot compete with other systems because of the fear that this may open the eyes of even those presently blinded by the largesse accruing from the excesses of the current political status quo to the limitation­s and transgress­ions of the tinkhundla system.

Truth

The truth is that once the ruse is removed, they are afraid what the people might see could be the beginning of the end of an era and the ushering in of a new political and social epoch anchored on the pillar of equality before the law and social justice for all. Ironically but convenient­ly so, the so-called enemies of the state, a majority of which are within the labour movement – not forgetting the huge army of unemployed youth – are only good for their taxes that are an essential lubricant to the State machinery. A typical end-game scenario from the perspectiv­e of those holding the political reins is that they should be allowed to use, anyhow, the tax from the taxpayer without necessaril­y being accountabl­e to the people at large.

The sin of the so-called enemies of the State is threatenin­g the livelihood­s of the political elites and their blind followers engendered by the sub-culture of entitlemen­t by calling for the decentrali­sation of political power from the clutches of a minority to the people in order to ensure transparen­cy, accountabi­lity, social justice, etc, the sum total of which is good governance that is all foreign to the obtaining political system.

Reality

So, in all reality, who is or are the enemies of the State in these circumstan­ces? It certainly cannot be the people calling for a just society underpinne­d by social justice for all. The enemies of the State are those presiding over the systematic breakdown of the rule of law that has culminated in the rape of moral values and civil decency. The enemies of the State are those riding rough shod over the Constituti­on by acting contrary to the dictates of the supreme law of the land.

Babe Dlamini

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