Are the Swazis being just a tad hypocritical?

05 July 2015 - 02:00 By BBK

An angry outburst greeted the announcement that Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs will take a sho't left to Swaziland to flex their pre-season muscle against Royal Leopards and Mbabane Swallows respectively. The announcement had hardly nestled in my mailbox and the angry outburst from Pudemo followed hot on its heels.This Kings Cup - the King Mswati III-organised one-day three-game tournament whose winner will pocket R1-million - was touching them aggressively in their studio, roared Pudemo.Pudemo, to the uninitiated, is not pudding, but it's the People's United Democratic Movement dedicated to creating a democratic Swaziland, it declared in its manifesto upon formation in 1985.They speak in unison with the Swaziland Solidarity Network, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party against South Africa's soccer giants gracing the shindig.story_article_left1Doing so will not be giving 67 minutes - make that 90 plus possible penalties - for Mandela, seeing that the football fanfare is scheduled for July 18, the birthday of the late former president Nelson Mandela.Pudemo and co implored Amakhosi and Amabhakaniya "to reconsider their decision to be involved in a tournament that seeks to put a human face on a government that has made it its prime occupation to govern the people with fear and dispossession".SSN spokesperson Lucky Lukhele raised the ante this week, promising action against ignorant people pissing on their struggle."All systems are in place underground and overground in South Africa and in Swaziland should they [Pirates and Chiefs] decide to ignore us."Our revolution will not be peed on by ignorant people," he said, adding: "We have a network of people who are helping us and we are ready for anything."They met Kaizer Motaung and Irvin Khoza, the Chiefs and Pirates chairmen. Lukhele posted a picture of himself and his comrades posing with the duo. The wall-to-wall smiles on their smitten faces betrayed the fiery language of their statements.Their struggle was aided by the voice of ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who this week said of the kingdom: "Our neighbour Swaziland is not democratic, it is a police state. The people of Swaziland need our support. They helped us but today it is a police state."Some will wonder what Mandela, whose framed picture occupies pride of place on the wall in Motaung's boardroom, would make of this merriment.story_article_right2Some will venture further and question if this is the same Khoza who invokes Mandela's example with the conviction of a pastor in a trance, who feels his Bucs are fit for a king.Accusing fingers like those of Pudemo and SSN will point in their direction for aiding a king seen as adopting the same modus operandi as the apartheid government.The pariah apartheid state organised rebel cricket and rugby tours to use them as a ruse designed to paint a picture of a normal society while the progressive people of our country and the world argued that there could be no normal sport in an abnormal society.Pudemo and SSN see the king through similar eyes. Chiefs and Pirates can turn around and accuse their accusers of hypocrisy.They can charge that nobody objects when Bafana Bafana play friendly matches against Swaziland.We all know that whenever Bafana need a pick-us-up result - where they are guaranteed to score more than three goals no matter who is the coach - it is Swaziland they turn to. And as things stand, our under-23s will exchange friendly fire with their Swaziland to prepare for a clash with Zimbabwe. Ahem@bbkunplugged99..

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