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KING CONDEMNS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

By BODWA MBINGO | 2023-11-12

Following a spate of killings between partners in recent weeks in the country, resulting in women’s rights activists calling for such a scourge to be declared a national disaster, His Majesty King Mswati III has come out to condemn Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the country.

He said there was no amount of bad deed between partners to warrant the killing of the other.
This comes amid shocking statistics that were revealed by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) on Friday, that there have been 147 murders and 133 suicides recorded within a space of 10 months.

Furthermore, this was shortly after six people died due to GBV within a space of two weeks. This forced the law enforcers, REPS and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) to also spring into action and engage in a gender based-violence and femicide (GBVF) awareness campaign on Friday.

His Majesty speaking at the 2023 end of year thanksgiving service at Mandvulo Grand Hall in Lozitha yesterday, said he had noted in recent times that men and women have hurt each other, something which was not right.

The service was under the theme; “The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy’ and was also attended by Amahlubi King and Prophet Uerbert Angel as his Majesty’s special guests.
The king reminded the nation that when God created a man, he said he would live with a woman and that when God created a woman, he again said she would live with a man.

“There is no reason to kill each other. For such things we then turn to God and ask Him to come so that he can rebuke such evil spirits. This is especially when we see such reoccurring frequently. It is when we should seek God’s intervention. That is because when God comes and intervenes, then there will be a huge change,” said the king.

His Majesty further emphasised that God changes a lot of situations.
Meanwhile, the startling statistics presented by the law enforcers on Friday comprise, among others, the heartless murder of four women who were allegedly brutally murdered by Deputy Sheriff Vusi Mncina, as well as the callous murder of Nosipho Dube, who was allegedly shot by her husband, Mandiso Khanyile, who later turned the gun on himself.

Apart from the gruesome murders, a woman is also lucky to be alive after she was doused with petrol by her boyfriend.

The police said fighting the scourge cannot be reliant on policing interventions alone, especially as most incidents unfolded in private spaces, out of the reach of the police, hence, a multi-stakeholder approach for each and every partner to make interventions that will coalesce to an effective response was needed.

They further warned members of the public against ignoring abuse and violence when they see it occurring, but that they should intervene, through reporting to the police or other agencies involved in the fight against the scourge.

King: God will give Emaswati jobs

Following wide indications from the nation, through Sibaya, that most Emaswati are engulfed by poverty, resulting from huge unemployment, His Majesty King Mswati III believes God will give Emaswati the jobs that they most desire to put food on the table.

This is soon after His Majesty also declared poverty a national disaster at Sibaya last week. He reminded the nation that the word of God dictates that one should be humble to be blessed with whatever they desire.

He recalled a biblical story of a handful men who went fishing at night, but until morning they had not caught any fish.

However, when Jesus arrived in the morning, just like light comes in the morning and just when they had given up they were instructed to cast their nets in the water and that is when they were able to make a big catch.

“As there have been wide cries on the economy coming from the Eswatini nation, but there is still hope that God has heard us. And since the nation is crying about lack of jobs then God will give Emaswati the desired jobs,” he said much to wide applause.

Speaking during Sibaya at Ludzidzini Royal Residence last Friday, the king highlighted that it was now clear to all that poverty was prevalent in all corners of the country, hence the need to declare it a national disaster.

He said there were those who were unemployed where it is very gloomy and they cannot afford to put bread on the table.

However, he added that there are even those who are employed who are equally having it tough.
He said after carefully considering all the nation’s concerns on poverty, then he felt it was important to declare it a national disaster. He said indeed poverty is a national disaster and, therefore, there was a need for the nation to unite and come out with lasting solution to get the country out of this disaster.

‘Rely on God’s blessings, not earthly blessers’

His Majesty the king has warned the nation against depending on earthly ‘blessers’ to give them opulent things, but to rely on God’s blessings as their way of life.

He said people should not then rely on these inhabitants of the earth for blessings, but should look up to God to give them proper blessings. He said if the nation gets a blessing from God, that is indeed a great blessing.

He observed that Eswatini was very blessed for receiving blessings from God and thanked the Almighty for blessing the nation.

“The theme for today is clear that we should thank God for all the good things he has done for us. What we should do is lift up our hands and say Hallelujah and say we are indeed blessed in the kingdom. I like to speak about the word ‘blessing’ because blessings are life to people.

“We have seen that God is with us since the time we were talking about a year of a turnaround. The message of was from God himself.

That was a blessing indeed. It is always good to receive because if one continues to receive then a lot of good happens in their life,” he said.

He added that those blessings are not meant for a particular person, they would not land on their lap by mistake.

He said what was most important was that once one receives blessings, they should kneel down and thank him, hence everyone was gathered at Mandvulo Grand Hall yesterday.

King praises powerful messages from men of God

His Majesty King Mswati III yesterday praised all the powerful messages to the nation that came through the various men of God at the Mandvulo Grand Hall.

He urged the Almighty God to bless all of them for their powerful messages. He said it was such a blessing for the country, that at such a time everyone gathers to praise the Lord for the wonders and miracles that he performs for everyone.

He said as he was coming to the service yesterday, he felt blessed because he knew he would get the word of God as it is from these men of God.

The king said he had not obtained enough time to prepare himself to deliver a sermon, as what was vital was that when one was delivering the word, it had to be very clear what they were saying.

assignments
“We have been busy with various national assignments in recent days, but when I came here I realised that the men of God had prepared themselves for the service and they preached very well. It is indeed enjoyable here at Mandvulo and I wish the day would not end.

We have enjoyed beautiful music that brought us closer to God. They were asking if God is present here at Mandvulo,” said the king.

In welcoming the service’s attendants, the king said it was gratifying to have them all attend what was the end of year prayer for the country.

King recites bible teachings of avoiding eye for an eye route

The nation was yesterday taken by His Majesty the King through the bible teachings of a person refraining from taking the eye for an eye route, but instead extending a good deed to someone who had wronged you.

The king recited the situation of Jacob and Esau, stating that the former decided against taking the route of an eye for an eye after the latter had decided to gather an army and go after him.
He said instead of Jacob also preparing an army, but he gathered a flock of different livestock to present as gifts to Esau.

The king said the word of God states that after Jacob had received a blessing, Esau was very much angered by this. He said he felt that Jacob should be punished for stealing his blessings, forgetting that actually the blessings were not meant for him.

“That is because when God has given someone else his blessings, then it means those blessings were never meant for you. What I like about Jacob is that after receiving those blessings, he decided that he should leave that land because by merely staying at the same place it meant he could no longer stay in sin.

“That is because once one gets blessings, he should stay away from sin. That is exactly what Jacob did as he left in search for God.
He left with his entire family and Esau with his anger gathered his army to go after Jacob. That is because he felt he could not leave with his blessings,” preached His Majesty.

‘Your actions should depict your Christianity’

Christians have been warned by His Majesty not to worship God just to be seen as great worshippers by the king, but to show with their actions how they live off the bible and follow its teachings.

He said it was important that people are not seen as great worshippers just because they are before the king, but God should be in their hearts. He said it is only their actions that should show where they stand with God.

The king reminded the nation that God appeared through King Somhlolo and directed Emaswati to choose the bible as a way of life as opposed to choosing money. He said the nation comes a long way with God as before even no one knew the gospel in the kingdom, but God appeared through King Somhlolo and declared that he was the king of kings.

“When he said those words the king was not angered although during those times there were a lot of territorial fights. The message was well received and then came the bible to the Eswatini nation.
“This was meant for the nation to prosper. If you throw away the bible you would have thrown away your lives. You must live off the bible. What is of importance is how much we live off the bible,” said the king.

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