12/03/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ah5BRCLRU/
SILINDZILE'S KILLING SHOULD MAKE US VERY ANGRY
Yesterday we received reports that a young woman, Silindzile Dlamini has been shot and killed by members of Mswati’s royal protection unit while the queen mother, Ntfombi Tfwala was driving by. Her crime was looking out of her car window as the royal convoy passed by. A soldier decided that this was a threat to Ntfombi Tfwala and opened fire, killing Lindelwa instantly.
Mswati’s tinkhundla government has not said anything about her killing. There has been no public apology, no condolences to her family and no indication that the person that shot her will face justice. It’s as if she was just a stray dog and her life meant nothing.
But Silindzile Dlamini was not a dog. She was someone's daughter, sister, relative, friend and lover. And her family is in mourning.
In other countries, this would be enough to spark national outrage and people would gather in the streets demanding answers and accountability for her senseless killing. But in Swaziland, no, all we are doing is vent ourselves on Facebook and social media.
In Tunisia they did it.
On 17 December 2010, a 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi reached a breaking point when Tunisian police attacked him and took the fruits that he was selling. Bouazizi was a poor man who relied on selling fruits and vegetables to take care of his family. When his fruits were taken, Bouazizi got so angry that he went to the governor's office to demand that they be returned to him. But the governor refused to even see him.
Out of frustration, desperation and anger, Bouazizi bought petrol and poured it over himself and set himself on fire in the street outside the governor's office.
His act shook Tunisia and when people heard what had made him burn himself, they got angry. They poured into the streets across the country to protest not only his death but also the harassment, injustice and abuse that they had suffered for years under the rule of President Ben Ali.
Social media became their organising tool, helping them to mobilise and to challenge state propaganda. They vowed not to stop tbe protests until the president and his regime are removed from power.
This was the beginning of what became known as the Arab Spring and within weeks, mass protests across Tunisia forced President Ben Ali from power and his regime fell. It also spread to other countries, most notably Egypt where President Hosni Mubarak was also removed from power.
Bouazizi's death became a symbol of how one act of injustice can awaken an entire nation and remove a dictator from power. It also showed what a united and determined people can do and achieve.
Today, Swaziland faces it's own defining moment with the killing of Silindzile. It can be the spark that can change country’s trajectory forever, but only if we get angry enough to demand not only justice for Silindzile but a complete overhaul of how the country is governed.
But the questions is, will Silindzile's killing make us angry enough to get on the streets and protest until Mswati falls? It should. If we don't tomorrow they will kill you and us.
They've gotten away with killing us before. The killing of Thulani Maseko by shocked us all. The deaths of Sipho Jele, Noxolo Mdluli, Mathousand Ngubeni and many others left their families grieving but through it all, we never really held the government accountable. And that should not continue.
The killing of an innocent person should not be normal and we should not accept it. If those soldiers and police officers that carry weapons in the name of protecting Mswati know that they can kill us without consequences, they will kill many of us.
The family of Lindelwa Dlamini deserves justice. They need us to refuse to treat her death as just another incident of state brutality. One of the most powerful ways of showing solidarity with them is to get on the streets and protest her death. That is the only way that we can show Mswati and his government that they cannot just kill us and expect things to be normal.
Bouazizi’s death awakened Tunisia because ordinary people refused to accept his death as normal. We too face a similar choice.
Lindelwa Dlamini’s life mattered. Her death must matter too. It must galvanize us into action and awaken in us the fires of revolution. Let her death be the fire that burns down Mswati’s kingdom and usher us into a democratic society where all lives will matter, not only that of Mswati and his family.
It is possible. Kusetandleni tetfu kuwa kwaMswati ne tinkhundla.
