Citypress Online
Monday, November 20, 2006
Zinkie Sithole
Swaziland's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, and a coalition of about 70 renegade South African royalists are taking their fight to "reclaim" vast parts of Mpumalanga to the World Court.
King Mswati claims the land - which is home to an estimated one million people and includes Mpumalanga's capital, Nelspruit - was illegally stolen from the Swazi kingdom by white colonial settlers.
The Swazis are not only relying on colonial "reparation" agreements - they've also dusted off an international treaty signed by South Africa's apartheid government in 1982.
The treaty pledges to cede thousands of square kilometres of South African territory to Swaziland for the kingdom's support against "terrorists" working for the ANC and other liberation movements.
"The apartheid government was a pariah, but it was recognised as the legitimate government of the day. This treaty therefore has legal standing in international law," said South African leader of the secessionists, Swazi Prince Tikhontele Dlamini.
The disputed territory includes Malelane, Barberton, Ermelo, Piet Retief, Badplaas and Pongola. It also covers a string of peri-urban settlements along KwaZulu-Natal's borders with Swaziland.
The region is South Africa's winter breadbasket and grows almost 50% of its export-quality subtropical fruit, sugar and maize.
It also has significant forestry, tourism and mining industries.
"The land is ours. It was stolen from us by the [Boers]," the chairperson of Swaziland's government-sponsored Border Restoration Committee, Khuzulwandle Dlamini, told SABC's Radio Ligwalagwala last weekend.
But when pressed for details, Dlamini collapsed and had to be hospitalised for high blood pressure. He remained unavailable for comment this week.
Prince Tikhontele, who is the most senior Swazi royal living in South Africa, is heading the local campaign. He is rallying local traditional and cultural leaders loyal to Mswati.
"The Swazi royal house has run out of patience. We have been in discussions with the ANC government since 2000 when we first delivered a detailed petition to President Thabo Mbeki explaining the issue," said Prince Tikhontele.
"We filed a new petition again in 2003, but all we get from the government is that they are looking into the matter.
"They have ignored all the king's correspondence on the issue since then ... "
The Border Restoration Committee and South African Swazi royals are now preparing to take the case to the World Court.
"We have an extremely strong case. In addition to the treaty, the ANC in exile also formally acknowledged the territorial dispute in 1982 and pledged to resolve the matter in the spirit of African brotherhood and mutual solidarity when it achieved liberation," Prince Tikhontele said.
The ANC's founding fathers helped spearhead the original anti-colonial petitions for the return of the land dating back to legal documents penned by ANC founding president Pixley ka Seme in 1932.
Mbeki's office publicly confirmed receipt of Mswati's petition in 2003 but presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said this week that he was unaware of the issue.
"I am not aware of the latest developments and I will only be able to check with the president on Tuesday," he said.
South Africa's foreign affairs department also declined to comment. It said it needed to first verify the facts before reacting to the claims.
"We are immediately looking into the matter and will comment as soon as we are able to," said department spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota.
Swaziland is sub-Saharan Africa's last surviving absolute monarchy and one of its smallest nations. The small landlocked kingdom also suffers from the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection, and an Its ailing economy relies on levies from the Southern African Customs Union. - African Eye News Service