Christianity not national religion
THE hypocrisy that is definitive of the emaSwati nation, especially those programmed to support the political status quo, is best illustrated when it comes to matters of religion as ably demonstrated by the storm that blew in the face of the ever obedient and politically correct President of the League of Churches, Bishop Samson Hlatjwako, in the wake of his announcement of the annual so-called national Easter services prayers at the national church and Somhlolo National Stadium, respectively.
It appeared as if Bishop Hlatjwako had, in his announcement, stopped all other Christian churches from announcing and convening competing prayer services over the Good Friday weekend.
Rights
Perhaps owing to the unpredictable and still fragile political environment during a week when government was put on the defensive by the 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Eswatini by the United States Government, which labelled the kingdom as an absolute monarchy, Bishop Hlatjwako’s announcement was even disowned by the King’s Office.
This was a rare occurrence since it is an established fact that the official Easter weekend national prayers always take precedent and, therefore, religious leaders of whatever hue are somewhat obligated to do likewise.
Previously, thias has never been an issue but probably given the fragile political climate in the face of demands for a pluralistic body politic, this has heightened sensitivities of the authorities over anything or pronouncements that can and may be construed or depict them as undemocratic and, therefore, besmirch their so-called bland of unique democracy.
Previously, government had not gone to any lengths to counter or contradict the absolutism of the monarchy narrative ostensibly because it considered it a non-issue for as long as emaSwati remained politically comatose.
But since the June 2021 pro-multiparty democracy protests that culminated with the State sanctioning the massacre of many protestors to reassert its authority, there has been an irrevocable change of attitudes not least the polarisation of the political climate.
Hence government has pulled all the stops, including enlisting the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) fronted by its Chairperson, Prince Mhlabuhlangene, to defend the indefensible. However, there is a huge body of empirical evidence to nullify and flatten this defensive wall that has been erected on a foundation of untruths because emaSwati, at least a section thereof, have finally harnessed the energy to emerge from the political coma imposed on them since 1973, which required them to merely exist as serfs in the new order.
Leadership
What is unfortunate, indeed regrettable, is that the Christian church has been dragged into the political milieu without as much as a whimper coming from its leadership, a fair number of them having been co-opted and are guilty of the sin of apotheosis apropos the monarchy. None of them, especially those orbiting the seat of power, could even summon the strength to condemn the massacre of protestors by the State’s military machine in 2021.
They all kept quiet to protect their meal tickets yet claim to worship God and apparently lead blindfolded flocks every Sunday. Nowadays, with the Constitution having become a refugee of the political elites in their bid to render calls for a democratic dispensation a nullity – notwithstanding trampling on the so-called supreme law of the land with consummate ease since its adoption in 2005 – they seem to suffer collective amnesia that this country has no official religion because all religions are, or should be, equal.
Christianity is, therefore, not the official national religion of this the Kingdom of Eswatini. Although at the time of the enactment of the Constitution legislators of the time had unanimously inserted Christianity as the national religion of this country, this was later removed as a prerequisite for passage of the Constitution to becoming an Act of Parliament.
This was at the height of the ‘Look East’ unofficial policy by the leadership to avoid increasing pressure from the west to democratise.
Subterfuge
As I see it, the Constitution is not only useful as a refuge but useful also a subterfuge for what is really happening beneath the so-called supreme law.
Were the Constitution supreme and respected there would be no such thing as a national church or a national prayer that excludes other religions because that would be unconstitutional, as indeed it is.
As it were all religions, including Islam, deserve a place in the sun as envisaged by the national charter.
Yet Ramadan does not fall under the category of a national prayer. Consequently these national prayers under the banner of the Christian faith, including the annual Somhlolo National Festival of Praise, are unconstitutional for as long as they exclude other religions. It’s not that Christians are precluded from worshipping as they wish but it should not be under the banner encapsulating the entire nation.
The nation must live with and through the denial of Christianity, in the Constitution, as the official and national religion of emaSwati. But to a hypocritical nation there is nothing wrong even when everything is wrong.
That stomach politics are as active in church as they are outside it just about defines the kind of hypocrites that emaSwati, at least a section thereof, are.
This matter is one in a plethora of issues that must be on the national agenda of the new Eswatini that is under construction where freedom of speech and expression shall be guaranteed.