When dialogue turns into monologue

1 ( cannot even begin to count the number of times Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini has declared government’s commitment to the much talked about national dialogue.

Many believe this could be the most effective weapon to ‘silence the guns’. The pun is intentional. Dlamini is not the only one who has repeatedly made this undertaking, promising emaSwati the dialogue of a lifetime.

This will be a dialogue to surpass all dialogues and make every liSwati happy. There is just one challenge. The date and venue are not yet known.

Wait, the venue, according to the PM has to be the Ludzidzini Royal Residence (Sibaya).

Only the date remains unknown then and Dlamini blames this on those who have turned Eswatini into a battlefield; a country where nobody feels safe anymore.

He has occasionally been joined in singing this chorus by Reverend Alpheous Nxumalo, the Government spokesperson.

Some believe the two men are singing off-key and without rhythm. Others think the lyrics do not carry much weight.

BELIEF

There is a growing belief that government is actually not interested in convening the national dialogue. Others allege that the State is afraid the outcome might not favour it.

From a bird’s eye view, though, the PM has set the dialogue ball rolling.

He has actually placed the ball firmly in the court of those demanding change.

Yes, Dlamini has already started talking. It is just that we have all ignored him.

Each time he makes his now familiar statement about government’s commitment to talks, there are journalists on hand.

The head of government addresses them but he is clearly not talking to them. He hopes his message will reach the people it is intended for. These are the people he is in dialogue with. Dialogue, after all, is defined as a conversation between two or more people, sometimes to resolve differences. To the people he hopes will get his message, the PM usually says: “End the violence and we will invite you to talks.”

So far, nobody from the intended camp has responded. This has resulted in his attempt at dialogue becoming a monologue.

None of the people he is trying to talk to has come out to say, “Okay, fine…we will stop the violence. Just tell us how far you have gone with preparations for this important event and we will show up - unarmed.

“It is important that we know how far government has gone with preparations. We would not like to believe that you will only start making preparations when you believe the violence has ended, which might even be next year.” Some political parties have called the PM out on his call for an end to the killings, saying this was just his excuse to delay the dialogue for as long as possible.

They say government continues to host or organise other major events that require the highest standard of security but only leave out the dialogue. At a press conference on his return from an African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the PM told bemused reporters that the people who had placed Eswatini in a state of fear were known. Some of them, he said, had committed crimes and went on to boast about them on social media.