On Tuesday, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa states that his hands are tied from intervening in the violent pro-democracy protests now rocking Eswatini. The position was taken as the United Nations called for the Eswatini army and police to exercise restraint on the protesters amid reports of deaths and injuries. President Ramaphosa is the current chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an organ for politics, placing him in the spotlight to act on Eswatini.
However, South Africa’s minister in the presidency, Mondli Gungubele, stated that the SADC is yet to receive a report of the previous unrest that hit Africa’s last absolute monarchy in June and July. Gungubele stated that this was what is blocking President Ramaphosa from intervening in Eswatini but would only get involved if other SADC members give them the green light to do so.
Eswatini, a landlocked country nestled between South Africa and Mozambique, was called “Swaziland” until 2018. The very last absolute monarchy on the African continent has been facing a growing wave of unrest since June 2021. What initially started as peaceful demonstrations was met with repression, violence and death. King Mswati III is being blamed for not listening to his subjects’ demand for a modern political system and more democracy. As the protest movement keeps growing, Caroline Dumay and her team bring us this report from the troubled monarchy.
