‘Survival’ is main driving force NXUMALO
M Yarticle today is a response to a well-crafted article that was published on Monday February 26, 2024. The heading of this article was ‘EmaSwati not hungry enough for change’ by ‘Son of the Soil (My two cents worth).
As an advocate for a true constitutional monarchy, I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in that article. EmaSwati are seemingly paralysed, they are able to see what needs to be done but are unable to move towards that point of change. I have also taken time to analyse the nation and try to understand if we are indeed cowards or something else. We must understand that emaSwati find themselves in two unique political situations as compared to the whole of Africa.
The first is that emaSwati live in a kingdom where the King is the absolute Monarch and has a lot of political influence. As much as we have a Constitution but the reality is that we still live in an absolute monarchy.
The Monarch has absolute power over Parliament, which represents the ordinary citizens, to the extent that both the Speaker of the lower House and the president of the upper House are endorsed by the monarchy to take these positions even though they are voted for.
The second reality is that our monarchy is one of the last absolute monarchs in the whole world. This simply means they have been around for a long time and that they will do anything to remain in power.
Their experience gives them an advantage over their opponents and gives them the luxury of time and resources. They can wait for the opponents to tire as they fight for their survival. totally mismanaged economy, where no services work and there is poor service delivery, the reality is different. I am not by any standard saying that things are perfect in Eswatini, but people can survive, even though just barely. The most widely used and respected measure of a country’s development status is the United Nations’ annual ‘Human Development Index (HDI)’.
This advanced metric tracks a wide range of indicators, from adult literacy rate and life expectancy to income inequality and mobile phone subscriptions, and then compiles them all into a number between 0.00 and 1.00. This score slots each country into one of four different classifications:
Low human development (0 to .55),
Medium human development (.55 to .70), High human development (.70 to .80) and Very high human development (.80 to 1.00). As of the 2021/22 HDI, only one of Africa’s 54 countries, Mauritius, is considered to have a ‘very high human development’ index. Eswatini came in at number 15 as a mid-income country in Africa, out of 54 countries. Basically, emaSwati are not hungry enough to seek change and risk it all.
Personal survival comes first, and they all seem to have something to lose. It has nothing to do with being cowards but self-preservation in the face of a stronger traditional system. The convicted former Members of Parliament add to the survival fear factor.
Survival of monarchy
It might not seem obvious, but the monarchy is fighting for its survival too. Everything in life is about survival. The show of expensive cars is necessary as a show of strength, hence fewer challenges.
If you take time you will notice that there are not many absolute monarchies left. Each monarchy has had to fight for its survival, and some have remained but others have disappeared.
And yet others are a shadow of their former selves. The vast majority lost everything as they were not able to assess the strength of the progressive forces coming with various democratic systems.
Others were able to survive by amassing enough wealth (the British royal family) to secure their continued existence outside political influence. Most have remained only as custodians of tradition and culture devoid of all political power. Only the oil-rich monarchies remain with absolute power.
Character of Monarch
The character of a ruling Monarch determines the survival of that monarchy. Under the rulership of King Mswati II (1875-1865), representing 10 short years, the kingdom grew strong extending throughout the present-day Mpumalanga Province in South Africa. The colonial era arrived, and the only way of survival was to lose the land to a more powerful adversary.
Our current Monarch, King Mswati III, faces daunting challenges internally and externally. Internally, the national unrest came, presenting an opportunity for the progressives movement to push their agenda, however, they proved to be no match for the King.
EmaSwati simply vented their cost of living frustrations but doubted the political leadership and manifesto presented by the progressives, to the extent that they could not risk their survival on them. Externally, His Majesty has been one step ahead proving to be a shrewd geopolitical negotiator.
His choice to remain with Taiwan against Mainland China keeps him in the good books of the United States of America, which in turn keeps not only the local progressives in check, but also the South African pro-American ANC faction led by President Cyril Ramaposa in check.
The Israel-Palestinian ICJ case can change all that later. The Taiwan alliance has put this tiny kingdom on the world stage as the only remaining country still with Taiwan in Africa. China must be ready to pay big money for little Eswatini now.
One would notice that I keep saying the King did this and that because there was never any debate in Parliament about the status of Taiwan. Citizens are not consulted or involved, and that is how it is.
Things just get done, no long parliamentary debates about such issues. We just hope and pray that the King takes the best decision which will be in the best interest of the country, and we continue to survive as emaSwati. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com