Mbabane: The multi-stakeholder engagement forum has thanked EmaSwati who boycotted Sibaya and went for the march in Manzini.
In a statement issued in response to Sibaya by the chairperson of the stakeholder Forum, Thulani Rudolf Maseko, it stated that the Sibaya has seen no significant value to the ordinary Swazi and this was seen in the failure of the King to address any of the issues raised by citizens in the events leading up to the civil unrest, and totally ignoring the expectations of the nation that he would bring unity in a situation where Swazis are angry and hurting.
“We wish to thank all Swazis that defied the call to Sibaya and stayed away as a show of their support for the call for democratic changes. This is the clearest indication that the Tinkhundla system has lost all manner and form of legitimacy.”
“We also thanked those who braved the brutality of the security forces and attended in their numbers the disrupted march in Manzini. We know that had that march been allowed to proceed, the true intentions of the Swazi people on the political direction of the country and self-determination would have been displayed for all in sundry,” reads the statement.
The Forum also stated that its position to the way forward of the country cantres on five demands which are; an all-inclusive mediated political dialogue, total unbanning of political parties, a transitional executive authority, a new democratic constitution, and a multiparty democratic dispensation.
Among other issues raised by the forum as it expressed dissatisfaction about the Sibaya was that the speech of the King was characterized by a worrisome indifference to the legitimate concerns and demands of citizens on the current state of affairs of the nation.
“Through the sarcasm insults directed at the citizens, the King blatantly displayed the dictatorship tendencies he spoke of the county and the citizens as belonging to home as though they are his property”
It also stated that the king showed no compassion for the lives lost but rather focussed on property.
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