Mbabane: Political activist Mphandlana Shongwe has advised that the newly appointed Prime Minister must choose ‘the de Klerk route’ in order to serve the best interest of the people of Eswatini.
The ‘the de Klerk route’ according to Shongwe is the strategy which former South African President F.W. de Klerk used to end apartheid rule in South Africa.
De Klerk was the President of South Africa from 1989 to 1994, who brought the apartheid system of racial segregation to an end and negotiated a transition to majority rule in the country. De Klerk and Nelson Mandela jointly received the 1993 Nobel Prize for Peace for their collaborative efforts to establish nonracial democracy in South Africa.
The outspoken political activist told this publication that if the newly appointed PM wants to be remembered in the history books of the country as the premier who was in office in the time of tough political tension but brought a turnaround, he should choose ‘the de Klerk route’, this Shongwe said he can do by adopting the same strategy of de Klerk and be the first prime minister to usher the Swazi people into a new democratic dispensation.
Shongwe said if Cleaopas fails to do this especially in this critical moment, he will collapse with the system, and go down in the books of history as one of the other prime ministers who failed the nation.
Asked if Cleopas could be the right man to lead the country in such a critical political stage, Shongwe said there is nothing he can expect from the current prime minister. He said he was nothing like the other prime ministers who were appointed and brought nothing for the nation but served the interests of the appointing authority.
He said, however, if the prime minister can exercise his right consciousness and consider the need of the people, there can be a turnaround, but he can rather choose whether to save the nation or to collapse with the system.
Shongwe said, Cleopas is in a better position to choose either to side with the nation and advise the King to consider the demands of the people, and go for peaceful negotiations. “Cleopas is in a better position to advise the King and be recorded in the good books of history. The choice is up to him,” he said.
Shongwe said when two armies cannot defeat each other, they then go for negotiations, where the best interests of both parties are served.
He said de Klerk saw that apartheid was collapsing and can no longer be sustainable, therefore he opted to engage the opposition for a negotiated settlement.
Shongwe highlighted that this was a critical moment for the country in politics. He said the new prime minister must not take it as an event, but it is a struggle. Shongwe said a struggle has phases and this was just part of the many phases of the struggle. He made reference to the previous phases of the struggle which some were propagated by unions. He said all the phases were aimed to shake the foundations of the Tinkhundla System of Government which he said does not serve the interest of the masses.
He said no big strategy at this moment can help the country except removing the Tinkhundla System, which he said the new prime minister was in a better position of doing so. “May previous prime ministers have come up with good strategies, but they never worked because of the interests of the appointing authority,” he said.
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