- Former South African president Thabo Mbeki says it is important to respect the boundaries on the ground because if anything would be changed, it would create a situation of conflict right around the continent.
Mbabane: Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has vehemently stated that the kingdom of Eswatini will not get the land it deeply yearns for.
The former statesman who is also vice-chancellor of the university of south Africa (UNISA) disclosed this during a questions and answers session held at the university.
Responding to questions possed by the first-year students on 22 march 2018 on the sideline of the Timali Students contracts session, the seasoned politician said in 1964, the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now called African Union (AU) took a resolution that the arbitrary colonial boundaries were to be maintained as they were.
We are to continue to respect the boundaries on the if anything was to be changed, it will create a situation of conflict right around the continent, said Mbeki.
He cited only two cases that were challengable, this is the Sudan situation, where an agreement was reached by the southern and northern regions of the country to merge the two countries, thus making it one country.
The other case is that of Etritea and Ethiopia. The two countries share borders with the former being annexed by the former on 15 November 1962 following the pressure from Haile Selassie on Eritren Assembly.
Mbeki said that the case of Eswatini was different because there was no agreement that was ever reached pertaining to land restoration. He said if South Africa will be forced to relinquish some of its land, then conflict will definitely ensure.
The vice-chancellor reminded the students that wars and fights in Africa have ensued mainly due to land and disputes and that wisdom dictated that the subject of land restoration has to be dropped and countries move on.
Way back before 1994, the subject of land having to be returned to Eswatini was brought up by her government and they claimed land as far as Johannesburg, saying the land needed to be returned,” said Mbeki.
He added that internal resolution never surfaced hence the colonial border between the two countries remained intact.
His Majesty the King wants the land back
Despite resistance by South Africa to return the land to the Kingdom of Eswatini, His Majesty King Mswati III continues to press for action in his quest to claim large parts of South Africa, including the capital Pretoria, for the Swazi people.
The Sunday Observer dated 4 march 2018 reported that some Swazis believed that now was the opportune time to reclaim land lost from South Africa, as they were also insisting on land expropriation.
The local publication reported that the economic freedom fighters in South Africa successfully moved a motion of land expropriation without compensation, which has since sparked widespread debate over Eswatini’s pursuit of reclaiming its lost land from south Africa.
Eswatini Formed a Border Restoration Committee which the King wanted to negotiate with South Africa over returning land occupied by people of Swazi descent.
The Observer reported that according to the Border Restoration Committee, the old map of Swaziland showed that South Africa’s administrative capital of Pretoria and larger portions of the Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Kwazulu natal provinces belonged to Eswatini.
In March 2017, the border restoration committee met with the newspaper editors, in Eswatini to press its case.
The Observer on Saturday reported at the time that the committee revealed that its mandate as directed by the king is to recover all the Swazi land lost during the colonial era both on the east, west, south, and north which goes as far as Pretoria and the Limpopo province.
The newspaper reported that the Border Restoration Committee told the meeting that the present landlocked kingdom should stretch to the Indian ocean and include parts of modern-day Mozambique.
The land was lost to Swazis as a result of concessions to the white settlers around the 1840s. No Swazi King had in fact signed the land away.
The observer reported that Swazis were never defeated in war to warrant the nation to relinquish any of its land. The border restoration committee said it was in a draft agreement between Eswatini and South Africa to solve the land dispute amicably.
Discussion about this post