EFF wants Thabo Mbeki to mediate in eSwatini

The Economic Freedom Fighters say former South African president Thabo Mbeki has a track record of resolving conflicts in several African countries and the Middle East.

RUSTENBURG, July 5 (ANA) – The volatile situation in the Kingdom of eSwatini calls for immediate intervention and mediation, South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said on Monday.

“It is only through decisive mediation that peace will be achieved in eSwatini. This will require concession by those who are confronted by the revolution to the demands of the people. Failure to do this will result in prolonged bloodshed and conflict, which is detrimental to the project of African unity and independence,” the party said in statement.

The EFF said the intervention and mediation should be guided primarily by the need to meet the demands for democracy and equal redistribution of the wealth of the country.

The party recommended that former South African president Thabo Mbeki be deployed to bring stability in eSwatini, adding that Mbeki had managed to resolve conflicts in Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Libya, Cameroon and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sent a team on a fact-finding mission to eSwatini on Sunday. The team left after meeting with the eSwatini government and several civil society organisations but did not meet political parties, according to reports.

Times of Swaziland, the oldest newspaper in eSwatini, reported that the team allegedly did not attempt to contact or meet members of parliament (MPs) advocating for change.

Member of Parliament Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza told the newspaper that the government apparently told the SADC team that violence erupted in the country after a call for change was made by some MPs, but the team did not meet with the MPs.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said the government attempted to mislead the SADC team by organising a team of “royal praise-singers” to pretend to be the legitimate voice of the mass democratic movement and the country’s civic groups.

Spokesperson Lucky Lukhele said mass democratic movement leaders heard about the SADC team’s presence and rushed to the hotel where the meeting was being held.

“These leaders immediately rushed to the hotel, where they politely asked to be given a chance to state their case. Despite the Swazi government’s feeble attempts to sabotage this, the SADC team promised to give the mass democratic movement and all other civic groups adequate time to make their presentations,” he said.

News website Swaziland News reported on its social media platforms that Natural Resources Minister Jabulile Mashwama has banned the sale of petrol in containers as protesters continue to burn the government’s and companies’ properties linked to King Mswati III.

The publication further reported that pro-democracy protesters issued a notice of their intention to burn homes belonging to soldiers and police officers starting on Monday in response to the ongoing killing of civilians by security forces.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher