SWAZILAND ELITE REWRITES HISTORY

The Swaziland government wants to rewrite history to make sure schoolchildren do not learn about groups fighting for democracy in the kingdom.

A change in the school history curriculum unveiled in November 2009 put groups such as the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) on the syllabus for Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE) history.

But PUDEMO, which is fighting for human rights and civil liberties in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is banned in Swaziland.

Last year Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, declared PUDEMO to be a terrorist group.

Now, the Swaziland Ministry of Education has ruled PUDEMO will be dropped from classes. Also set for the axe is the history of Liqoqo, a controversial council that helped King Mswati manipulate his way to the throne.

Months after publishing the history syllabus only now has the government realised that PUDEMO was to be taught in classes. This doesn’t say much for the government’s powers of observation since the media in Swaziland and the Internet worldwide covered the announcement in some detail at the time.

In a staggering exhibition of his own ignorance, Pat Muir, Principal Secretary at the Swaziland Ministry of Education, said it would have been impossible to teach schoolchildren about PUDEMO because there was no material that could be used by teachers and pupils for teaching about the group. (Doesn’t he read Swazi Media Commentary?)

SOURCES ON SWAZILAND’S STRUGGLE

I wrote on Saturday (12 December 2009) that there were no suitable textbooks detailing the struggle for liberation in Swaziland available to support the new Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE) syllabus in history that Swazi schoolchildren will have to learn from next year.

A reader informs me that although there may be no textbooks there is quite a lot of information about the subject on the EISA (formerly the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa) website.

Among the materials there are descriptions of the legal status of political parties and links to some of them.

Included is research paper specially commissioned by EISA written by the late Joshua Mzizi, of the University of Swaziland, titled Political Movements and the Challenges for Democracy in Swaziland, which is well worth reading for anyone interested in politics in Swaziland.

Also available on the website is an EISA research report called Swaziland’s Struggle with Political Liberalisation, edited by Claude Kabemba, which includes a chapter on the deficiencies of the present tinkhundla political system in Swaziland.

To access the EISA website click here.

NO BOOKS ON SWAZILAND'S STRUGGLE

Swazi schoolchildren who will have to learn about the presently banned pro-democracy groups in Swaziland as part of their history exams classes are up against a major problem – there are no books.

This isn’t the usual problem about the near bankrupt kingdom of Swaziland not being able to afford to supply books, This time the problem is more complex: the books haven’t been written.

The history of the struggle for democracy in Swaziland is largely an unwritten one. Which local publisher would dare to allow a book that was against King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, onto the shelves?

I have cast doubts that the new history syllabus required for the new Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education by Cambridge University would ever see the light of day and here’s another reason to be sceptical.

The new syllabus requires students to work under their own steam and research historical subjects. This goes against the traditional method of teaching (at school and university) in Swaziland which is dictation and note taking.

In schoolchildren are to ‘research’ they must have materials to research from.

According to the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, the unavailability of books and other material will require teachers to invite people who know about the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and its demands, to visit schools to make presentations.

PUDEMO and its youth wing, the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), have already said that they are willing and able to do this on request.

Because no books are available, the only available sources are the people who were present during the era of the struggle for democracy, which continues to the day.

Meanwhile, Mphandlana Shongwe, a schoolteacher, says he, is writing a book which will document the history of PUDEMO.

‘At the end, after reading the book, I want Swazis to know that PUDEMO is not a terrorist group as the state wants the nation to believe,’ he said.

FALSE DAWN OF SWAZILAND HISTORY

The joy in some progressive circles that has greeted news that Swaziland’s schoolchildren will be made to learn about the banned pro-democracy organisation PUDEMO in their history classes may be misplaced.

PUDEMO will form part of the syllabus in the new Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE), which has been devised by the University of Cambridge, UK.

Children will also be required to learn about how King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and his backers manipulated his way to the throne and how King Mswati’s predecessor King Sobhuza II tore up the Swaziland constitution and ruled by decree thereafter.

Or maybe they won’t. It seems true enough that a new history syllabus has been drawn up that centres on Swaziland's history, but it is far from clear what schoolchildren will actually be taught.

It was Winston Churchill who said that history is written by the victors. Or put another way history is written and taught from the point of view of those who hold the power.

In Swaziland, King Mswati and his hangers-on rule and it is not in their interests for people to learn that the king isn’t sent from God (as many of his supporters want us to believe) but his capture of the throne was as the result of a power struggle within the ruling elite worthy of any Shakespearean play.

Nor, will they let the children know that Swaziland is not a democracy and that groups like the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) are fighting for human rights in the kingdom.

I can’t see how history teachers in Swaziland who do not know the real history of their own kingdom will be able to teach such a syllabus even if they were allowed to.

Wandile Dludlu, president of the PUDEMO youth wing Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) is quoted by the Times Sunday today (29 November 2009) saying the news of the new history syllabus is good news and too good to be true.

Sorry, Wandile. It is just that: too good to be true.