MBABANE: Percy Simelane, the King’s Spokesperson says, the institution of the Monarchy does not have a record of other invitations to the previous BRICS Summits adding that, with eSwatini being a non-member, no invitation directed to the King was expected.
BRICS stands for Brazil,Russia, India, China and South Africa, being the world’s fastest-growing and/or emerging economies.
It has been reported that, other African countries were invited to participate in theSummit to be held in Johannesburg,on the 22nd-24th August 2023.
But the Mail and Guardian reported on Saturday that, the Government of Morocco declined the invitation, amid strained diplomatic relations between South African and the North African country over its continued occupation of the Western Sahara.
Responding to a questionnaire from this Swaziland News on Monday, when asked to clarify why King Mswati was not invited and/or whether such decision was influenced by eSwatini’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the King’s Spokesperson maintained that, even if the invitation was forwarded, the King wouldn’t have traded the Sovereignty of the country for a mere Summit invitation with conditions.
“We have no record of other invitations to the Bricks Summits that were held before the one on cue already.Eswatini is not a member and we did not expect any invitation.We are not aware too that Bricks has issues with our diplomatic relations with Taiwan.Even if we were aware, Eswatini would not have traded its sovereign soul for a place in a summit dogged by hatred for other nations.We still believe true democracy is about a people freely defining their destiny and not about bully countries dictating terms to other Nations.Eswatini has a Sovereign soul of its own and a right to choice, including choosing its diplomatic and development partners,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
On another note,Mlungisi Makhanya, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) said, the BRICS decision not to invite King Mswati who continues to maintain diplomatic relations or ties with Taiwan, the Chinese Province, was more than welcome.
PUDEMO and other internationally recognized political parties within the Africa continent, received invitations to be part of the BRICS Summit.
“We applaud the decision of the BRICS member countries not to invite Mswati to BRICS Summit, we strongly hold the view as PUDEMO that, these exclusion of Mswati confirms our long-held view that, the current King of Swaziland is nothing but a delusional leader who heads a historical and political obsolete institution. It is for this precise reason that, we applaud the wisdom of the SADC leadership to ignore his rantings in Angola recently.However, we feel extremely sad that the oppressed people of our country have been deprived an opportunity to participate in a forum such as the BRICS Summit, because of a selfish Monarch who chooses the province of Taiwan, over the People’s Republic of China. We,as PUDEMO, have always been consistent that we subscribe to the “One China Policy” and we will never recognize the Province of Taiwan as an independent separate country from Mainland China,” said the PUDEMO President.
King Mswati.