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Statement of the Communist Party of Swaziland on Mswati’s appeal for R 10 billion from South Africa

D 30 juin 2011     H 05:14     A CPS     C 0 messages


Don’t bail out the tyrant !

The Swazi regime must be swept aside !

Forward to a democratic revolution !

The CPS has learnt from an article in the latest issue of Southern Africa Report, just published, that Swaziland’s absolute monarch Mswati III is to formally put a request to the South African government on 13 June for a R10 billion loan to stave off the collapse of the Swazi regime.

The article details of how Mswati plans to spend the loan. Half of it would be for paying Swaziland’s public wage bill, which the regime can no longer afford. Mswati will promise to repay the loan over a 10-year period. Mswati’s request contains no guarantees of oversight concerning how the loan will be used in reality, and it includes projected spending on capital infrastructure projects, which we suspect refers to Mswati’s useless vanity project of building an unneeded second international airport.

As the Southern Africa Report article makes clear, Mswati has run out of options. South Africa is his only hope. The IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank will have nothing to do with bailing out the Mswati regime. This is not the first time Mswati has approached South Africa for a bailout, but this is his most desperate plea for cash.

The CPS earnestly hopes that President Zuma will deny Mswati’s request. There should be no lifebelt thrown to the tyrant of Swaziland, who, along with his bloated royal household and ministers, lives in luxury while the majority of our people face deep poverty and rapacious levels of HIV-AIDS, TB and other diseases that have crushed average life expectancy to just 32 years.

At the same time, we hope that the government of South Africa will make it clear that any prospect of a loan to Swaziland could only come on condition that all political parties are unbanned and that the monarchic regime and autocracy be replaced by an interim government that paves the way for a full democratic dispensation.

The CPS has recently sketched out how an interim government might be formed, and we reiterate this plan at the end of this statement.

We see no harm in South Africa using the desperation of the Mswati regime as leverage to undermine it, and we appeal to President Zuma to pay close attention to the demands of the Swazi pro-democracy movement. But such leverage must seek the end of the regime and not its continuation by other means.

Swaziland stands on the threshold of an upheaval that could bring about a national democratic revolution. The CPS recognises that as the crisis unfolds and intensifies we will need the progressive mediation and support of South Africa to help achieve a democratic breakthrough. In this sense the regional context of the Swazi crisis is gaining importance in terms of exerting pressure on the Mswati regime to implode.

If the Swazi government fails to pay its public workers this month, we could see the days of the Mswati regime well and truly numbered. This provides an opportunity for mass actions and stoppages by government workers to paralyse the regime.

Such actions will need to be buttressed by strikes by other workers and by general public support and mobilisation. The police and army – who have no intrinsic loyalty to the Mswati regime – must be brought on the side of the people.

Any negotiations that the regime attempts in response must be geared solely towards the eradication of the regime and the powers of the monarch.

The CPS believes that the liberation of Swaziland is near at hand and it appeals to all elements of the pro-democracy movement to act in concert to bring down the regime and set the stage for a democratic dispensation.

The Interim Government

The CPS calls on all progressive forces in Swaziland and in exile to support the following demands :

1. The immediate dissolution of the government, suspension of the legislature and the appointment of an interim government.

a. The interim government will be composed of representatives of all political parties, trade unions and civil society forces, and the church to be nominated at aConference for a Democratic Swaziland. We will request the government of South Africa to mediate in this process.

b. Institutions and structures that are part of the tinkhundla system will not be part of the Interim Government though traditional leaders will be able to submit their suggestions to the Conference for a Democratic Swaziland.

d. The Interim Government must take emergency measures in securing all state assets inside and outside the country and to create an Emergency National Economic Plan to address the immediate needs of the people.

e. The dissolution of the government will mean the immediate end to the king’s powers over the executive, judicial and security matters of the country.

f. The Interim Government will establish the modalities for a new democratic dispensation and the drafting of a fully democratic Constitution for the Republic of Swaziland.

2. This process will be preceded by the unbanning of all political parties and organizations, release of all political prisoners and the annulment of all court cases against political leaders and activists.

3. All exiles must be allowed to unconditionally return to the country and all political persecution must come to an end.

4. The police, army and all security forces must cease to operate as instruments of the monarchy and tinkhundla and be incorporated as of the democratic Interim Government.

5. Countries and international institutions must pledge to stop their support of the tinkhundla regime, wait for the establishment of the Interim Government and contribute in all required ways for the process of the reorganization of the country towards the new democratic life and support to the new dispensation.

Now is the time. Freedom now ! Forward with the struggle Forward !

Issued by CPS

Contact

Kenneth Kunene

General Secretary

Mobile : +2772 594 3971

Email : ken.manze@gmail.com

Felix Mabaso

International Organizer

Mobile : +2774 922 8277

Email : felixmabaso@yahoo.com