Rutendo Juru
This week has seen opposition political parties and political activists in Zimbabwe celebrating false reports that King Mswati III fled Eswatini as clashes between security forces and pro-democracy protests intensified.
King Mswati is alleged to have fled in his private plane to South Africa.
However, the acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku released a statement where he appealed for calm adding that reports that King Mswati III had fled Eswatini were untrue and malicious.
"Following the false media reports circulating, I would like to take this opportunity to assure the emaSwati and the international community that His Majesty King Mswati III is in the country and continues to lead in working with the government to advance the kingdom's goals," his statement said.
The country formerly known as Swaziland has traditionally been ruled by a monarch just as Britain has been ruled by the British crown since time immemorial.
It is very unfortunate for some Africans at the instigation of foreign regime change protagonists to expend their energy in pushing for regime change for the proverbial silver coin.
The British Crown has been in existence for centuries and no one and not even the British themselves have made attempts to change the old hegemonic order.
The logical questions that should bother right-thinking Africans is, if the British crown exists unscathed, why should Africans do away with their monarchs and for whose benefit if such African monarchs should go?
One wonders if Western sponsored democracy is that important to Africans to such an extent that they sacrifice their lives for foreign ideals when in fact Africa as we know in past histories has always thrived under Empires as great and powerful as the Mutapa State, the Zulu and the Ndebele Kingdoms to mention just a few.
There is no better answer to these questions than conclude that these local regime change agents were paid handsomely and are working in cahoots with foreign services to change the existing order.
We know this because this has been the script in Zimbabwe since the country attained independence in 1980.
The 1985 structural adjustment programmes were meant to cripple the country’s economy paving way for the 1999 formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which was led by the late Morgan Richard Tsvangirai which was meant to achieve political regime change.
This attempt has been a herculean task to achieve for the MDC, whose failures have seen it splinter into various factions. Despite their numerous failures to change government, regime change agents have roped in social media activists to use events in Eswatini to whip the minds and hearts of Zimbabweans to revolt against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Since the alleged flight of King Mswati III some Zimbabweans have taken to twitter to encourage fellow Zimbabweans to replicate the riots in Eswatini back home. What they don’t know is that Zimbabwean democracy cannot be removed by street demonstrations.
“A revolution not elections will change the Zim situation. #eSwatini are not seeking elections but total dismantling of the ZANU PF like system,” tweets @Mureri30.
These people should be reminded without mincing words that Zimbabwe is not Eswatini and no protest will ever achieve regime change!
While citizens constitutionally deserve the right to demonstrate in Zimbabwe and elsewhere, this should be peaceful, however opportunists will always use these as smokescreen for violent turnout of events.
The so called peaceful demonstrations have always turned out to be violent. In Eswatini this led to the burning and looting of shops such as OK Foods in Mustapha and other outlets.
This is bad for business and social life and cannot be tolerated in Zimbabwe.
Long live the Crown of Eswatini!
