1 - Towards Unpacking the Origin and Development of Eswatini (Swazi) Irredentism
Africa Development,
Vol. 48 No. 3 (2023): Africa Development
Abstract
This article sets out to examine the origin and development of Eswatini irredentism in southern Africa as a neglected theme in African scholarship. Eswatini irredentist disputes, albeit unresolved, have been a subject of mere peripheral allusion in southern African scholarship. The global importance of irredentism as a phenomenon in international relations since the end of the Cold War makes this study imperative. How the smallest and landlocked state on the Southern African mainland can audaciously and persistently make territorial claims against its giant South African neighbour is intriguing, paradoxical and worth investigating. The study methodology involved the use of archival documentation, newspaper articles, government gazettes, in- depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). This study revealed that Eswatini irredentism is ethnic nationalism par excellence and its roots were nurtured by the imperial order and South Africa before Eswatini’s independence. After independence in 1968, Eswatini irredentism blossomed on historical and ethnic foundations, and was tolerated and fanned by South Africa as a strategy of surreptitiously establishing an Eswatini Bantustan for the resettlement of ethnic Eswatini people and other blacks. The post-apartheid South African governments did a volte-face and rejected persistent Eswatini irredentist claims in toto nourished by the Sobhuza Testament.
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- African Union Border Programme (AUBP), 2013, Creation and Operation of Boundary Commissions in Africa, Addis Ababa: Commission of the AU.
- Ambrosio, T., 2001, Irredentism: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics, Westport, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Press.
- Asiwaju, A.I., ed., 1984, Partitioned Africans: Ethnic Relations across Africa’s International Boundaries, 1884–1984, Lagos and London, UK: University of Lagos Press and C. Hurst & Co.
- Assal, M.A., 2006, ‘Sudan: Identity and Conflict Over Natural Resources’, Development, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 101–105.
- Austen, R.A., 2001a, Mapping Africa: Problems of Regional Definition and Colonial/ National Boundaries, Fathom Archive. Available online at http://fathom.lib. uchicago.edu/1/. Accessed 1 September 2019.
- Austen, R.A., 2001b, ‘Colonial Boundaries and African Nationalism: The Case of the Kagera Salient’, in Maddox, G. H., Giblin, J. L. and Lawi, Y. Q., eds., Nations and Nationalism in Tanzanian History: Essays Presented in Honour of I. N. Kimambo, Dar es Salaam (Unpublished).
- Booth, A.R., 2019, Swaziland: Tradition and Change In A Southern African Kingdom, London, UK: Routledge.
- Brownlie, I., 1979, African Boundaries, London, UK: C. Hurst & Co
- Busquets, P.B., 2020, ‘Self-Determination of Peoples’, in Morality and Legality of Secession: A Theory of National Self-Determination (Federalism and Internal Conflicts), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Carment, D. and James, P., 1995, ‘Internal Constraints and Interstate Ethnic Conflict: Toward a Crisis-based Assessment of Irredentism’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 82–109.
- Cederman, L-E., Rüegger, S. and Schvitz, G., 2019, ‘Redemption through Rebellion: Border Change, Lost Unity and Nationalist Conflict’, American Journal of Political Science (forthcoming).
- Chazan, N., 1991, ‘Approaches to the Study of Irredentism (Introduction)’, in Chazan N., ed., Irredentism and International Politics, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
- Chukwura, A.O., 1975, ‘The Organization of African Unity and African territorial and Boundary Problems 1963–1973’, Nigerian Journal of International Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 56–81.
- Clark, N.L. and Worger, W.H., 2016, South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, New York: Routledge.
- Ebewo, P., 2011, ‘Swazi Incwala: The Performative and Radical Poetics in a Ritual Practice’, South African Theatre Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 89–100.
- Esterhuysen, P., 1982, ‘Greater Swaziland’, Africa Insight, Vol. 12, pp. 181–188.
- Evans, L., 2012, ‘South Africa’s Bantustans and the Dynamics of ‘Decolonisation’: Reflections on Writing Histories of the Homelands’, South African Historical Journal, Vol. 64, No.1, pp. 117–137.
- Griffiths, I., and Funnell, D.C., 1991, ‘The Abortive Swazi Land Deal’, African Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 361, pp. 51–64.
- Guelke. A.B., 2010, Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hall, J., 2005, ‘Politics-South Africa: Swaziland Seeks Border Adjustment’, Inter Press Service, 13 January.
- Hutchinson, J., 2019, ‘Nationalism and War: A Review of the Literature’, Studies on National Movements, Vol. 4., National movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe (NISE).
- International Court of Justice (ICJ), 1986, Frontier Dispute (Burk. Faso v. Mali), 1986 I.C.J. 3 (Order of Jan. 10). Available online at http://www.worldcourts. com/icj/eng/decisions/1986.01.10_frontier_dispute.htm.
- Jones, W. S., 1996, The Logic of International Relations, New York: Harper-Collins.
- Kamazima, S.R., 2017, ‘Today’s Border Disagreements, Tomorrow’s Border Disputes: A Case of Rubafu Peninsula on the 1o00′S Tanzania-Uganda Border’, International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Management, Vol. 2, No. 10, pp. 41–48.
- Kolstø, P., 2019, ‘Is Imperialist Nationalism An Oxymoron?’, Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 18–44.
- Kromm, D.E., 1967, Irredentism in Africa: The Somali-Kenya Boundary Dispute’, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (1903-), Vol. 70, No. 3, pp. 359–365.
- Kulczycki, J.J., 2016, Belonging to the Nation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kuper, H., 1972, ‘A Royal Ritual in a Changing Political Context’, Cahiers d’Études Africaines, Vol. 12, No. 48, pp. 593–615.
- Kuper, H., 2018, An African Aristocracy: Rank Among The Swazi, London, UK: Routledge.
- Lalonde, S., 2002, Determining Boundaries in a Conflicted World: The Role of Uti Possidetis, Montreal and Kingston: McGill and Queen University Press.
- Matsebula, J.S.M., 1983, A Tribute to the Late His Majesty King Sobhuza II, Mbabane: Webster’s.
- Mbembe, A., 2000, ‘At the Edge of the World: Boundaries, Territoriality, and Sovereignty in Africa’, Public Culture, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 259–284.
- Mercer, C., Page, B. and Evans, M., 2009, ‘Unsettling Connections: Transnational Networks, Development and African Home Associations’, Global Networks, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 141–161.
- Ndlovu, S.M., 2018, ‘Sowing the Seeds of Political Mobilisation in Bantustans: Resistance to the Cession of the Kangwane Bantustan to the Kingdom of Swaziland’, Journal for Contemporary History, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 43–69.
- Ogbu, B.S., and Olakunle, O.P., 2019, ‘Nigeria And Her Immediate Neighbours in the Post-Colonial Era: A Critical Analysis’, Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 316–328.
- Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N., and Hoagwood, K., 2015, ‘Purposeful Sampling For Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed Method Implementation Research’, Administration and Policy In Mental Health And Mental Health Services Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 533–544.
- Rak, J., 2017, ‘How to Examine Attitudes to a Homeland? Towards the Typology of Irredentism’, Aportes. Revista de Historia Contemporánea, Vol. 32, No. 95.
- Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961. Available online at http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/South_African_Constitution_of_1961.
- Simelane, L., 2014, ‘Swazis Claim Land in South Africa’, Cape Times, 15 September. Smith, G., Law, V., Wilson, A., Allworth, E., and Bohr, A., 1998, Nation-Building in The Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Southern African Institute of Race Relations Research Report (SAIRR), 1982, The Handing Over of KaNgwane and Ingwavuma to Swaziland, RR. 44/82.
- Southern African Research Service/Development Studies Group (SARS/DSG), 1982, The Land Dispute: Incorporating Swaziland?, SARS/DSG Publication No. 7, Johannesburg.
- Stevens, R.P., 1963, ‘Swaziland Political Development’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 327–350.
- Twagiramungu, N., Duursma, A., Berhe, M.G. and De Waal, A., 2019, ‘Re-describing Transnational Conflict in Africa’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 377–391.
- Walford, G., 2005, Research Ethical Guidelines and Anonymity’, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 83–93.
- Yoo , M.Y., 2014, ‘Colonialism and Border Disputes in Africa’, The Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 75–89.
References
African Union Border Programme (AUBP), 2013, Creation and Operation of Boundary Commissions in Africa, Addis Ababa: Commission of the AU.
Ambrosio, T., 2001, Irredentism: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics, Westport, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Press.
Asiwaju, A.I., ed., 1984, Partitioned Africans: Ethnic Relations across Africa’s International Boundaries, 1884–1984, Lagos and London, UK: University of Lagos Press and C. Hurst & Co.
Assal, M.A., 2006, ‘Sudan: Identity and Conflict Over Natural Resources’, Development, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 101–105.
Austen, R.A., 2001a, Mapping Africa: Problems of Regional Definition and Colonial/ National Boundaries, Fathom Archive. Available online at http://fathom.lib. uchicago.edu/1/. Accessed 1 September 2019.
Austen, R.A., 2001b, ‘Colonial Boundaries and African Nationalism: The Case of the Kagera Salient’, in Maddox, G. H., Giblin, J. L. and Lawi, Y. Q., eds., Nations and Nationalism in Tanzanian History: Essays Presented in Honour of I. N. Kimambo, Dar es Salaam (Unpublished).
Booth, A.R., 2019, Swaziland: Tradition and Change In A Southern African Kingdom, London, UK: Routledge.
Brownlie, I., 1979, African Boundaries, London, UK: C. Hurst & Co
Busquets, P.B., 2020, ‘Self-Determination of Peoples’, in Morality and Legality of Secession: A Theory of National Self-Determination (Federalism and Internal Conflicts), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Carment, D. and James, P., 1995, ‘Internal Constraints and Interstate Ethnic Conflict: Toward a Crisis-based Assessment of Irredentism’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 82–109.
Cederman, L-E., Rüegger, S. and Schvitz, G., 2019, ‘Redemption through Rebellion: Border Change, Lost Unity and Nationalist Conflict’, American Journal of Political Science (forthcoming).
Chazan, N., 1991, ‘Approaches to the Study of Irredentism (Introduction)’, in Chazan N., ed., Irredentism and International Politics, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Chukwura, A.O., 1975, ‘The Organization of African Unity and African territorial and Boundary Problems 1963–1973’, Nigerian Journal of International Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 56–81.
Clark, N.L. and Worger, W.H., 2016, South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, New York: Routledge.
Ebewo, P., 2011, ‘Swazi Incwala: The Performative and Radical Poetics in a Ritual Practice’, South African Theatre Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 89–100.
Esterhuysen, P., 1982, ‘Greater Swaziland’, Africa Insight, Vol. 12, pp. 181–188.
Evans, L., 2012, ‘South Africa’s Bantustans and the Dynamics of ‘Decolonisation’: Reflections on Writing Histories of the Homelands’, South African Historical Journal, Vol. 64, No.1, pp. 117–137.
Griffiths, I., and Funnell, D.C., 1991, ‘The Abortive Swazi Land Deal’, African Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 361, pp. 51–64.
Guelke. A.B., 2010, Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hall, J., 2005, ‘Politics-South Africa: Swaziland Seeks Border Adjustment’, Inter Press Service, 13 January.
Hutchinson, J., 2019, ‘Nationalism and War: A Review of the Literature’, Studies on National Movements, Vol. 4., National movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe (NISE).
International Court of Justice (ICJ), 1986, Frontier Dispute (Burk. Faso v. Mali), 1986 I.C.J. 3 (Order of Jan. 10). Available online at http://www.worldcourts. com/icj/eng/decisions/1986.01.10_frontier_dispute.htm.
Jones, W. S., 1996, The Logic of International Relations, New York: Harper-Collins.
Kamazima, S.R., 2017, ‘Today’s Border Disagreements, Tomorrow’s Border Disputes: A Case of Rubafu Peninsula on the 1o00′S Tanzania-Uganda Border’, International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Management, Vol. 2, No. 10, pp. 41–48.
Kolstø, P., 2019, ‘Is Imperialist Nationalism An Oxymoron?’, Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 18–44.
Kromm, D.E., 1967, Irredentism in Africa: The Somali-Kenya Boundary Dispute’, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (1903-), Vol. 70, No. 3, pp. 359–365.
Kulczycki, J.J., 2016, Belonging to the Nation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kuper, H., 1972, ‘A Royal Ritual in a Changing Political Context’, Cahiers d’Études Africaines, Vol. 12, No. 48, pp. 593–615.
Kuper, H., 2018, An African Aristocracy: Rank Among The Swazi, London, UK: Routledge.
Lalonde, S., 2002, Determining Boundaries in a Conflicted World: The Role of Uti Possidetis, Montreal and Kingston: McGill and Queen University Press.
Matsebula, J.S.M., 1983, A Tribute to the Late His Majesty King Sobhuza II, Mbabane: Webster’s.
Mbembe, A., 2000, ‘At the Edge of the World: Boundaries, Territoriality, and Sovereignty in Africa’, Public Culture, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 259–284.
Mercer, C., Page, B. and Evans, M., 2009, ‘Unsettling Connections: Transnational Networks, Development and African Home Associations’, Global Networks, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 141–161.
Ndlovu, S.M., 2018, ‘Sowing the Seeds of Political Mobilisation in Bantustans: Resistance to the Cession of the Kangwane Bantustan to the Kingdom of Swaziland’, Journal for Contemporary History, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 43–69.
Ogbu, B.S., and Olakunle, O.P., 2019, ‘Nigeria And Her Immediate Neighbours in the Post-Colonial Era: A Critical Analysis’, Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 316–328.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N., and Hoagwood, K., 2015, ‘Purposeful Sampling For Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed Method Implementation Research’, Administration and Policy In Mental Health And Mental Health Services Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 533–544.
Rak, J., 2017, ‘How to Examine Attitudes to a Homeland? Towards the Typology of Irredentism’, Aportes. Revista de Historia Contemporánea, Vol. 32, No. 95.
Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961. Available online at http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/South_African_Constitution_of_1961.
Simelane, L., 2014, ‘Swazis Claim Land in South Africa’, Cape Times, 15 September. Smith, G., Law, V., Wilson, A., Allworth, E., and Bohr, A., 1998, Nation-Building in The Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Southern African Institute of Race Relations Research Report (SAIRR), 1982, The Handing Over of KaNgwane and Ingwavuma to Swaziland, RR. 44/82.
Southern African Research Service/Development Studies Group (SARS/DSG), 1982, The Land Dispute: Incorporating Swaziland?, SARS/DSG Publication No. 7, Johannesburg.
Stevens, R.P., 1963, ‘Swaziland Political Development’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 327–350.
Twagiramungu, N., Duursma, A., Berhe, M.G. and De Waal, A., 2019, ‘Re-describing Transnational Conflict in Africa’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 377–391.
Walford, G., 2005, Research Ethical Guidelines and Anonymity’, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 83–93.
Yoo , M.Y., 2014, ‘Colonialism and Border Disputes in Africa’, The Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 75–89.