King Mswati III and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday agreed that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat would assist eSwatini to establish a forum to facilitate dialogue to resolve the political crisis in the kingdom.
This emerged out of a closed-door meeting between the king and Ramaphosa where it was resolved that eSwatini should embark on a process that would result in the establishment of a national dialogue forum.
In a statement issued at the end of the meeting on Tuesday night, Ramaphosa said he had agreed with King Mswati III “that the SADC Secretariat would work closely with the Government of eSwatini to draft terms of reference for the national dialogue forum.”
“These terms of reference will specify processes for the forum as well as the composition of the forum,” said Ramaphosa who currently chairs the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
He said the process towards the national dialogue would “take into account and incorporate structures and processes enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of eSwatini, including the role of the Parliament of the Kingdom, and the Sibaya convened by His Majesty King Mswati III.”
“This preparatory process will take place during the coming three months,” Ramaphosa said but did not say when the actual dialogue is expected to commence.
The meeting with King Mswati follows a visit to eSwatini in October by special envoys appointed by Ramaphosa as part of a regional process to resolve simmering political tensions in Africa’s last absolute monarchy where pro-democracy activists have been demanding political reforms since June this year.
King Mswati has responded by deploying soldiers in the streets to disperse the activists, resulting in allegations of killings by the security forces.
JN/APA