Swazi uprising long overdue

The Swaziland Solidarity Network wishes to express its support to the April 12 national Swazi uprising, which in recent weeks has become the focus of attention from some news agencies. The Times of Swaziland has belatedly joined the bandwagon and reported on this mass protest billed for the 12th of April.

It is quite unfortunate, however, that despite the obvious fact that this uprising is motivated by the North African mass protests that are currently happening, certain Swazi political commentators interviewed by the newspaper have chosen to misrepresent the uprising by attempting to portray it as an armed uprising.

The Facebook page : The April 12 Swazi Uprising !!! states clearly that, “Inspired by the North African uprisings and the fact that the Swazi economy is now on its knees, the Swazi people will on the 12th of April fill the streets of the two cities in demonstration and they will not leave until the king of Swaziland steps down and hands power to a transition government that will then prepare for the country’s first free and fair elections under a multi-party government since 1973.”

Perhaps being on the advanced side of the age scale, the social commentator was honestly unaware of the growing calls for this mass protest by Swazi facebook users.

Beyond our unconditional verbal support for this uprising, as Swaziland’s solidarity Network [SSN] group we will be actively engaging our member organizations to make concrete contributions towards making these protests a success. We hope that all Swazis who truly believe in the principles advocated for by this movement will heed its call.

Lucky Lukhele, SSN Spokesperson