Sive Siyinqaba National Movement | |
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Abbreviation | SSNM |
President | Ngomuyayona Gamedze |
Secretary-General | Vusi Nxumalo (Acting) |
Founded |
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Preceded by | Musa Nkambule |
Succeeded by | Ngomuyayona Gamedze |
Student wing | Youth Front |
Youth wing | Sive Siyinqaba Youth Wing |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-right |
Colours | Blue, yellow |
Slogan | High Discipline High Moral |
The Sive Siyinqaba National Movement is a political party in Eswatini. [1] [2] It is led Ngomuyayona Gamedze as of 5 November 2022 as president, taking over from former Minister of Tourism Musa Nkambule and calls for a constitutional monarchy as a replacement for the absolute monarchy currently in place in Eswatini. [3] Sive Siyinqaba National Movement also calls for a government by the people, for the people.
Marwick Khumalo, a founding member of Sive Siyinqaba, was elected as Speaker of the House of Assembly of Eswatini in 2004. [4] This caused King Mswati III to indefinitely delay the opening of parliament.
On 28 November 2019, Nkambule fled from his home and went into hiding to avoid arrest following his calling on Mswati III to make Eswatini a multiparty democracy. On 18 December, he was among four individuals arrested by police on charges of treason. [5]
Sive Siyinqaba has called the tinkhundla system of government a "dismal" failure in terms of decentralization. [6] In 2018, the youth wing of Sive Siyinqaba National Movement was launched by Letsiwe Gama, with Ronald Dlamini as the first president, Nontsikelelo Manana as the first Secretary General of the Youth Wing and Samkelo J. Dlamini as the first Chairperson of the Youth Wing of the party.
Before the national celebration on Incwala of 2021, the Acting Chairperson of Sive Siyinqaba National Movement of the time, Ngomuyayona Gamedze of Siphofaneni was expelled from Kings Mswatis III's traditional regiment because of his activity in the pro democracy movement, same as most members of the party.
In early 2022, members of the leadership of the party, including founder Marwick Khumalo we subjected to arson attacks at their homes which were assumed to be linked to the leadership of the Tinkhundla regime due to similar attacks on other political party leaders. In mid 2022 the chairman of the party Musa Nkambule had his home ransacked by members of the armed forces and the Royal ESwatini Police for suspicions of him having knowledge of an underground military group attacking Royal armed forces to pressure the King to political freedom.
In 2021 a Sive Siyinqaba Youth Wing delegation led by Ronald Dlamini and the National Executive Committee led by Musa Nkambule revised the constitution of the party which was then made public on the 5th November 2022 during a elective convention which begun the leadership of Ngomuyayona Gamedze as the first president of the party. The leader of the party previously held the position of chairman.
Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and also known by its former official name Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age have been found in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. Later, the population became predominantly Nguni during and after the great Bantu migrations. People speaking languages ancestral to the current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the 11th century. The country now derives its name from a later king named Mswati II. Mswati II was the greatest of the fighting kings of Eswatini, and he greatly extended the area of the country to twice its current size. The people of Eswatini largely belong to a number of clans that can be categorized as Emakhandzambili, Bemdzabu, and Emafikamuva, depending on when and how they settled in Eswatini.
Mswati III is Ngwenyama (King) of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family.
The Swazi or Swati are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa, and South Africa's Mpumalanga province. EmaSwati are part of the Nguni-language speaking peoples whose origins can be traced through archaeology to East Africa where similar traditions, beliefs and cultural practices are found.
The Parliament of Eswatini is bicameral, consisting of a lower chamber and an upper one. Some of the members of both chambers are elected, while the rest are appointed by the King of Eswatini. Election is by secret ballot in a first-past-the-post system of voting. Members of both chambers serve for five-year terms. All candidates run on a non-partisan basis, as political parties are banned.
The People's United Democratic Movement is the largest opposition party in Eswatini. It is a democratic socialist party. Formed in 1983 at the University of Eswatini, it is led by Mlungisi Makhanya.
Ndlovukati is the siSwati title for the female monarch of Eswatini. The title is given preferentially to the mother of the reigning king, or to another female royal of high status if the king's mother has died. The title is roughly equivalent to a queen mother, though she is jointly head of state, ruling alongside the Ngwenyama. The title can also mean doctor. When there is no king, the Ndlovukati rules as queen regent. The current Ndlovukati is Queen Ntfombi Tfwala, the mother of Ngwenyama Mswati III and wife of Sobhuza II. She was also queen regent from 1983 until 1986 when Mswati became king. The most notable queen regent was Ndlovukati Labotsibeni Mdluli who ruled Swaziland from 1899 until 1921 when she abdicated for Sobhuza II.
The status of political parties in Eswatini is not clearly defined.
The House of Assembly of Eswatini is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament. The Assembly may debate and pass bills, although as the country is an absolute monarchy, the role of the legislature is mostly advisory.
Mbandzeni was the King of Swaziland from 1872 until 1889. Ingwenyama Mbandzeni was the son of Mswati II and Nandzi Nkambule. His mother the wife of King Mswati had died when he was still very young.
iNgwenyama is the title of the male monarch of Eswatini. In English, the title is sometimes translated as King of Eswatini. The iNgwenyama reigns together with the Ndlovukazi, a spiritual leadership position held by the iNgwenyama's mother or another female royal of high status.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Eswatini have limited legal rights. According to Rock of Hope, a Swati LGBT advocacy group, "there is no legislation recognising LGBTIs or protecting the right to a non-heterosexual orientation and gender identity and as a result [LGBT people] cannot be open about their orientation or gender identity for fear of rejection and discrimination". Homosexuality is illegal in Eswatini, though this law is in practice unenforced. According to the 2021 Human Rights Practices Report from the US Department of State, "there has never been an arrest or prosecution for consensual same-sex conduct."
Tibati Madvolomafisha Nkambule, was the Queen Regent and Indlovukati of Swaziland from 1889 until 1894 during the minority of her grandson king Ngwane V.
Sibonelo Mngometulu, known as Inkhosikati LaMbikiza, is the third and senior wife of King Mswati III of Eswatini. Sibonelo married Mswati III in 1986, becoming the first wife he personally chose to marry, following two ceremonious marriages. She is the mother of Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini and Prince Lindani Dlamini.
Thulani Rudolf Maseko was a Swazi human rights lawyer who was imprisoned from 2014 to 2015, and declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He launched a court challenge to King Mswati III of Eswatini in 2018 and was assassinated in 2023.
Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini is the union government created by the constitution of Eswatini where the monarch holds supreme executive, legislative, and judicial powers. The Ngwenyama (lion) is a hereditary leader, rules the country, with the assistance of a council of ministers and a national legislature.
Events in the year 2021 in Eswatini
A series of protests in Eswatini against the absolute monarchy and for democratisation began in late June 2021. Starting as a peaceful protest on 20 June, they escalated after 25 June into violence and looting over the weekend when the government took a hardline stance against the demonstrations and prohibited the delivery of petitions.