Swazi Observer

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KING RENAMES COUNTRY KINGDOM OF ESWATINI

By Bodwa Mbingo | 2018-04-21

In what will go down the country’s history books, marking the country’s commemoration of 50 years of independence from being a British protectorate, His Majesty King Mswati III has renamed the country the Kingdom of Eswatini.

That means the country will cease being referred to as Swaziland, a name that has globally often been mistaken for Switzerland, a country in Europe.

Such is not unique to Swaziland as other countries in Southern Africa changed their names after independence, with Bechuanaland becoming Botswana, Southern Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe and Nyasaland becoming Malawi.

Other former British protectorates on achieving independence also changed their names and Northern Rhodesia became the new Republic of Zambia and Basutoland changed its name to Lesotho.

Nation

In front of a packed Mavuso Sports Centre where the nation and visitors from all over the globe had gathered for the 50/50 double celebrations on Thursday, the King recalled how the country was referred to as Eswatini before the colonial era and felt reaching the milestone of 50 years of independence was the right time to revert back to the initial name of Eswatini.

On the day the country also celebrated His Majesty’s 50th birthday where Republic of China on Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen also joined in the festivities as both countries coincidentally celebrated 50 years of bilateral relations.

Although the name change was not expected by the throngs of Emaswati that attended the main event at Mavuso and others that watched the proceedings from strategically placed viewing points in the three regions as well as on national television throughout the SADC region, but the King has often referred to the country as Eswatini even at UN, AU and SADC level. Making his remarks on the day the King reminded the nation that Swaziland was inherited from the British adding that if the country is to give a true meaning to its independence attained in 1968 then, the time had come to give the country a name of its people.

“It must be said that this process is long overdue, particularly if you consider how other countries in the region localised their names after independence. Tsine singeMaswati therefore, I have the pleasure to present to you, on this historic day, a new name for the kingdom. Our country will now be called; “Kingdom of Eswatini,” he said much to applause from the event’s attendants.

The King further acknowledged Their Majesties’ predecessors being past Kings and Tindlovukazi for leading a resilient nation towards independence and did so peacefully.

He noted that the wise leadership of King Sobhuza II helped lay a firm foundation upon which they have built the successful nation we see today.

“We owe it to the future generations to jealously guard our independence and the peace we enjoy, which allows undisrupted progress in our quest to attain the aspirations of our national VISION 2022,” said the King. Continuously referring to the nation as Emaswati, the King said the nation deserves to stand proud for turning the tide during all the difficulties they have gone through.

He said the nation’s goal is to stand together and confront any problem head on and that this approach has taken the nation this far.

“Let us continue to work as a nation in order to contribute to the sustainable development of our nation. We have to put structures to fight HIV and AIDS. The disease had begun to erode all the gains in human capital investment by reducing life expectancy and placing a heavy burden on our social structures. We also congratulate you for achieving great success in the eradication of malaria, which led to the country assuming chairmanship of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). Let us maintain this record for the next 50 years,” said the King.

Process of a country changing its name:

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze said the process will entail having a legal instrument directing the name change which they will then use to inform international bodies.

“We stand guided by the Attorney General on the matter. With that instrument of a name change, we will then forward same correspondence to the United Nations, African Union and SADC, which are the main international bodies. They will then inform their subsequent structures of the name change. So we expect the process of the name change to start soon with the legal instrument (gazette), so that we can inform the rest of the world thereafter,” the minister said.

Information on the subject is that the process is not nearly as complicated as when a country gains independence, prompting decisions over a flag and national borders.

But there are still many issues that need to be taken into consideration.

Where is a country's name used?

Take, for example, the country's constitution, where the name Swaziland appears over 200 times. The country's official airline is called Swaziland Airlink, while all of the country's notes and coins bear the name of the Central Bank of Swaziland.

That is before you even consider its official institutions - the government's website is yet to updated with the new name, and the country's army and police forces are still named after Eswatini's former title. The country will also have to register its new name with international bodies such as the United Nations, the African, SADC, COMESA, SACU and the Commonwealth, of which it is a member. On a more practical level, internet domain and number plates - both of which use letters from the name Swaziland - may also need to be changed, as will uniforms used by Swazi sporting figures international competitions, who until now have worn the letters SWZ or the name Swaziland.

However, adopting a new internet domain is not always so easy, as South Sudan discovered shortly before independence when it decided to register the address .ss, not realising the link with Nazi Germany's paramilitary organisation Schutzstaffel, or SS.

Road signs at the country's borders and postage stamps may also be affected.

What won't change?

Perhaps luckily, the name Swaziland does not appear at all in the country's national anthem.

Passports in the country may not need to be changed immediately either - in addition to displaying Swaziland's name in English and French, the current travel documents display the new name Eswatini (albeit in a much smaller font).

The responses to the decision to change Swaziland to Eswatini have been divided. While some are happy to move away from the name Swaziland - a mix of Siswati and English - others feel the change detracts from more pressing issues in the country, such as the high poverty rate and the world's highest levels of HIV.

International media abuzz following name change

The international media is abuzz with reports that Swaziland has changed its name to Eswatini.

BBC carried the headline; ‘Swaziland king renames country 'the Kingdom of Eswatini’, stating that the new name Eswatini, means ‘land of the Swazis’.

The publication stated that change was unexpected, but recalled that the King has been referring to Swaziland for years as Eswatini as this was the name the King used when he addressed the UN General Assembly in 2017 and at the state opening of the country's parliament in 2014.

New York Times carried the headline; ‘Swaziland’s King Wants His Country to Be Called Eswatini,’ further reporting that the country will henceforth be known as Eswatini, the kingdom’s name in the local language.

The publication further states that whether the name change will stick is another question and that in 2016, Czech officials put forward Czechia as the preferred short version of the name of their country.

The United Nations, the United States government and — crucially, in the digital age — Google Maps and Apple have complied, but the name Czech Republic remains in widespread use in English.

ABC News was headlined; ‘The King of Swaziland renames the country 'the Kingdom of eSwatini' mocking that at first glance Eswatini reads like the name of a Silicon Valley start-up company, but rather than an overnight success story.

Eswatini is the name King Mswati III will change Swaziland's to overnight. The publication also feels that the announcement will create quite a job for the country's bureaucrats who will have to amend more than 200 references to Swaziland in the country's constitution, as well as change the country's currency — which bears the name of the Central Bank of Swaziland along with images of the King. It feels that internet domain names and number plates will have to be changed, as well as athlete uniforms such as those worn by the country's athletes at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

‘Swaziland king renames country Kingdom of Eswatini’ screamed a headline by The Guardian, further disclosing that the move had been mooted for years, with lawmakers considering the issue in 2015 after the King had used the new name in previous official speeches. The publication states that the name change could mean the country’s constitution is rewritten, as well as changes for the Royal Swaziland Police Service, the Umbutfu Swaziland Defence Force and the University of Swaziland, to mention a few.

Al Jazeera also reported; ‘Swaziland king changes country's name to Kingdom of Eswatini’.

The Local Switzerland reported; ‘Swaziland to change its name – and Switzerland’s partly to blame’ stating that the name change was announced, partly because people keep mixing it up with Switzerland.

“But according to the Tages Anzeiger, the country isn’t just shedding a relic of its colonial past, or becoming the first to have a digital name, but is also trying to avoid confusion with Switzerland. Both are small, landlocked, mountainous countries but whereas one is in Southern Africa and is classed as a lower-middle income country, the other is in Western Europe and one of the wealthiest nations in the world. But it seems the similarity of the countries’ names does lead to diplomatic confusion,” further reads the report also disclosing that indeed even the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has in the past got its Swazilands mixed up with its Switzerlands.

In a report last year into alleged Russian hacking, it listed IP addresses as being from Swaziland when they were actually Swiss.

New Delhi Times was headlined; ‘Switzerland or Swaziland? Be Confused No More’, further highlighting that some Swiss have responded with relief as the countries often are confused on online forms.

Other publications that reported extensively on the name change include the UK Express, Yahoo News UK, Quartz Africa, The Star Kenya and the Daily Mail, amongst many others.

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