National Identity Crisis?

Phew! Last week was certainly exhausting for news and current affairs hounds and concerned citizens… #SparrowGate and its effects…And it seems it’s not over yet…

The latest being the dismissal of renowned broadcaster and Idols judge Gareth Cliff from the popular television music show for apparently defending the racist remarks by Penny Sparrow. I don’t want to go back there anyway, it’s just too draining.

I must say though that last week’s events and subsequent debates about racism in South Africa got me thinking further about identity issues in Africa, especially since in my previous article I had referenced the hypocrisy of some South Africans, who while raging mad about racism, were silent and even supported those of their own who brutally discriminated against fellow black people from other parts of the African continent in 2008 and 2015 attacks.

In addition, it was interesting to see, as always with events happening in South Africa, that Swazi nationals living in Swaziland reacted with great zest to the unfolding racism drama. And so it made me question again, how each one of us imagines what piece of the puzzle we are when it comes to Africa and the world.

Defining Swazi Identity

So I asked myself, what is the identity of a Swazi? Who is a Swazi? What defines us as a nation? What do we take pride in? What is Swazi identity within African identity? 

The longer I’ve stayed out of Swaziland, the more these questions have amplified in my mind. Firstly, because being in a different place exposes you to many things including yourself. 

In fact, it is primarily yourself that life will force to un-layer as you attempt to make sense of how you relate to your new environment. They say nothing will make you appreciate your identity more than having it being stolen, feeling lost and finding it again.

So over ten years of being away from Swaziland has taken me 36 years back to the south east of the kingdom, to a place called Big Bend. As I’ve attempted to answer the question of my identity within the Swazi identity over the years, I recalled growing up in Big Bend and being disconnected from ‘Swaziland’. 

And I think this is a sentiment shared by people of this community and other smaller communities. By being disconnected from Swaziland I mean there was very little we could identify with at a national level.

Our shared national identity was restricted to the language we shared with everyone else around the country – at least the primary school Social Studies books had confirmed this fact. The general national discourse, the day-to-day issues and even news and current affairs were things we hardly connected to however.

I mean, most people in Big Bend listened to radio Zulu and watched South African TV channels. This was hardly by choice – the Swaziland broadcasting satellite signals were fuzzy in this part of the world.

We even had our own schooling calendar different from the rest of the country for instance. These are things that made one decide that ‘Swaziland and its things; government and parliament etc.’ are far from Big Bend or even kaLanga.

KaLanga where I spent part of my childhood was a different world all together – no electricity, no running water, illiterate people, people that didn’t even know where Big Bend was and yet it’s only 30mins drive away etc.

What Unity? What Culture?

Fast forward to my young adult years; I know I probably didn’t look it to most people, but I did feel lost when I became a full-time resident of Mbabane while working at Swazi TV.

The culture (defined as the ways of life, way of thinking, behaving, or working) in Mbabane and other urban towns I’d experienced during my University of Swaziland days, was different from what I’d always known.

Mbabane was Swaziland. Still is to the estimated 70% of the population documented to be rural dwellers.

So what does this mean for our national discourse, values and overall identity?

Are we a nation that can pride itself in being united and peaceful as many Swazi nationals describe Swaziland? Can we claim unity even when we do not have uniformity in the simplest of spaces as illustrated above?

What unifies us? The language? Is it enough to be unified by language? What about the non-Swazi speaking Swazis then?

Black, white and Asian people living in Swaziland can identify as Swazi by virtue of being citizens of the kingdom by birth or other ways including naturalization. 

Swazi citizenship by naturalization may be acquired by at least two categories of persons:  a person who has lived in the country for at least five years and has contributed to the development of the country, and a person who is a foreign investor who wants to open a business in Swaziland that would employ Swazi citizens.

But being a national of any country is not only about legalities such as citizenship or language. It’s also about the history, the shared values and collective goals and vision for the country that every citizen works towards fulfilling. 

What do Swazis value? The culture of Ubuntu, like most Africans? And what do we have to show for it? Do Swazis value being born of a legacy of people of Africa who did not tolerate oppression (colonialism)?

How is this reflected in us as a collective in present day Swaziland? What is the prevailing national dialogue outside of Smart Partnership Dialogue?

So far, I know about everything ‘un-Swazi’ like homosexuality, pastors (as once suggested by a certain Chief Sipho Ngwenya), entering parliament wearing pants when you’re female and speaking truth to power; being un-Swazi is publicly and privately pointed out to us regularly.

But, I just can't find one thing that as a collective, as a nation, we can say, this is a typically Swazi characteristic or value that is useful. I think most of us, outside of the citizenship, the King, dagga and language that we share, may struggle to pin point even a single thing that distinctly identifies us as Swazi. 

Do we have a national identity crisis or a national identity question? Am I mad?

Related read:Being un-Swazi