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CPS NEW YEAR MESSAGE

D 2 janvier 2014     H 12:46     A CPS     C 0 messages


Make 2014 the year of the total unbanning all political parties and activity in Swaziland

The Communist Party of Swaziland wishes all our compatriots a happy and peaceful New Year, and a time of renewed resolve to get rid of the Mswati regime and to set the scene for freedom and democracy.

The absolute monarchy remains in a state of permanent desperation to secure ready cash to keep itself in place. As the last 12 months have shown, Mswati’s regime is clinging to power by very precarious means.

It attempted to hoodwink the outside world that it is in reality a “monarchic democracy” by holding bogus elections to renew Mswati’s support base, while ensuring that no political parties or party platforms were wholly excluded from the process.

It has chased after deals to get quick cash by selling off real estate and natural resources to its few remaining foreign backers, and by sustaining shady business partnerships with various movers and shakers in South Africa. And it has continued to squander domestic cash reserves that should be devoted to health, education and services.

The regime has no legitimacy at home and precious little abroad. There is no thriving economy in the country to sustain the monarchy and its quasi-feudal ruling class for much longer.

Despite this, the CPS and other pro-democracy forces were appalled to find SADC and the Commonwealth giving their blessing to Mswati’s election scandal. The SADC countries have anyway continued to sit and do nothing about the disgrace of the Mswati regime. They and others timidly push for meagre “reforms” to make the regime seem less odious.

They should be doing their utmost to bring down the regime and support a transition to democracy. This is not the time for mealy-mouthed and meaningless protestations about “stability”. SADC intervened militarily in Lesotho in 1998 to restore democracy and prevent a coup. It should consider “all options” when it comes to the Mswati regime, whose brutal ruination of our people and country is worse than the oppression from which Lesotho emerged.

The CPS is strengthening its membership base and campaigning edge to increase pressure on the Mswati regime in the coming year. The party has just ended a successful two-week summer school, held in Mpumalanga in South Africa, which has done much to hone the strategy and tactics of our struggle. Our emphasis more than anything is on politically conscious mobilisation across all areas of Swazi society.

Despite recent ruptures and other problems in the broad pro-democracy movement, the CPS is confident that the increasingly restless and active grassroots base of the movement is poised to renew and reinvigorate it.

The challenge this year is to push forward the demand for the total unbanning of all political parties and organisations. This is a crucial first step towards creating a new democratic dispensation and dismantling the monarchic autocracy.

We must also ensure that as much pressure as possible is generated to squeeze Mswati’s financial resources and options. Turn off the regime’s cash flow, and it will start to collapse.

Viva democracy and freedom in Swaziland

Bring down the Mswati regime

Viva a socialist, free and equal Swaziland