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Swaziland : COSATU condemns brutality against TUCOSWA leaders and political activists by Swazi security forces

D 6 mai 2012     H 05:17     A COSATU     C 0 messages


COSATU joins the millions of people all over the world in condemning the naked brutality displayed by the security forces of Swaziland today against marches organised by TUCOSWA, the new giant in the political landscape and life of Swazi society.

We first want to send our heartfelt message of solidarity to the Deputy President of SWAYOCO (the Swaziland Youth Congress), Sifiso Mabuza, who was this morning fatally involved in an accident that has all the hallmarks of the dirty work of the Swazi secret service, as he is now in the ICU in hospital after a terrible accident. He is said to have been strangely hit by a car while at the station waiting to board en route to join the march in Mbabane. We wish him speedy recovery at this dark hour in his young life. It is equally tragic that the President of SWAYOCO is still in jail, for about 3 years now and the future of Swaziland’s young people is getting destroyed at every point. Is this not a targeted campaign against the future leaders of the country with SNUS President fresh from jail together with his colleague, Musa Ngubeni.

We have also learnt with shock the brutal arrest of TUCOSWA Deputy President, Sipho Kunene, who also happened to be the President of the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), together with the Second Deputy Secretary General of TUCOSWA, Muzi Mhlanga, who also happened to be the Secretary General of SNAT, the teachers union. They were collectively bungled into a military vehicle manned by a huge contingent of the three armed forces in Swaziland, the military, police and warders in Mbabane this morning.

We further learnt that SUDF Project Organiser and former Deputy General Secretary of the Swaziland Federation of Labour, Gugu Malindzisa was violently manhandled and ruthlessly snatched out of a public transport or bus at Mbhadlana, about 35 minutes before Manzini as she was on her way to the action and very rude insults (which cannot be publicly repeated) were hurled at her in a very rude, sexist and abusive way.

These are just some of the many cases of the now clear militarisation of Swazi society by the tinkhundla regime of Mswati. Martial law is now in full force and all semblance of civil law have been thrown out of the window decisively.

We also take this opportunity to salute COSATU members and affiliates for their full support for the SDC Picket, which was such a resounding success today where the strangeness of denying people the right to picket freely was observed as Braampak become another Swaziland, with ridiculous limits to how far we could be from the Consulate, which SDC has rightfully called the Swaziasation of Braamfontein by introducing Swaziland’s oppressive laws in a democratic country as South Africa.

The 2ND Deputy President of COSATU, Zingiswa Losi was spot-on when she said, “we shall not be subjected to the barbaric and backward laws of Mswati in our own country. We fought so hard for these rights and shall not allow anyone to take us for granted by bring savage laws to our democratic country, when we should be fighting against their spreading”.

On the other hand, what was obvious from today’s march is that Mswati and his regime are now shaken and they are in the words of the leader who spoke at today’s picket on behalf of the Organisation of African Youth (OAY), when he said, “a Zimbabwean idiom says, any king or leader who cannot stand up and talk to his people is fearing the mess he is seated on and filling his trousers”.

The significance of today’s picket was the decisive presence of the Swazis in the Diaspora organised under the auspices of the Swaziland Diaspora Platform who also gave a very profound message of solidarity and support. They clearly expressed their anger at the situation in their own country and the desire to make a meaningful contribution to change things for the better and therefore, were unequivocal in their call for democracy and social change now. They also indicated that a sizeable number of them joined the thousands of Swazis inside the country to show their practical support.

COSATU welcomes wholeheartedly the new wave of mobilisation and the growing movement for democracy in Swaziland, as more and more organisations and people make their stand clear that what is happening to the people of Swaziland will not and should not be tolerated anywhere.

We also salute the many organisations who joined today’s picket and expressed their fullest support, amongst them, the WFTU, World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) Africa region, the South Africa Solidarity Forum (SAFIS), PUDEMO, various NGOs and social movements, as well as faith based organisations.

Finally, we send fraternal greetings to all the millions of workers all over the world, such as in Britain, where TUC, the Trades Unions Congress and its affiliates working closely with ACTSA, the former anti-apartheid movement have been organising activities to commemorate this significant day. We also know that about five chapters of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign had awareness raising activities in their countries on the plight of Swazi workers.