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Wednesday 19 November 2008

PUDEMO PRESS STATEMENT

People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO)

PRESS STATEMENT

ON THE ARREST AND DETENTION THE PRESIDENT, CDE MARIO MASUKU AFTER THE BANNING OF THE PEOPLE'S VANGUARD

19 November 2008

We the people have learnt with great shock that the country's specific premier has decided to implement the 'Khama Mandate' in his star month, November so bluntly to the effect of banning the People's Movement and its Youth League.

Desperate means of a system that has started eating itself up.

We the people were formed in 1983, during an era when all political parties in the country were banned, save for the Imbokodvo National Movement (INM) under the draconian law or instrument for that matter, called the 1973 Proclamation. The people's movement was formed for a specific purpose, that of fighting for and defending a constitutional multi-party democracy in this very same land of the Swazis.

Our members have been oppressed, harassed, detained, tortured to the effect of jumping out of their fatherland and to death, shot at, injured and even killed all by the forces of oppression as instructed by the regime wielding its unlimited powers, much to the disregard of the rule of law .

Swaziland is part of the global village and that being the case, she cannot come up with laws that are going to oppress citizens of this country which we all belong to, whether we agree with the status quo or others have a dissenting view on the question of governance. We the people, have a manifesto which is internationally acceptable since it clearly shows that power belongs to the people and not individuals, and it is therefore not befitting for the Prime Minister of Swaziland, under the instruction of King Mswati III to cunningly come up with a legislation that is aimed at throwing our country, the beloved Swaziland, into disarray and fear.

Swaziland is a member and signatory to almost all the international conventions, which does not leave out African Union and SADC, in which His Majesty is Head of Troika organ on Politics, Peace and Security. Surprising enough, the person who is supposed to be advocating for peace has literally and out-rightly declared war on the citizens of the country. Such an act is unacceptable and shall never be even in the next millennium to come.

Swaziland's system of governance has always been exploitative from time immemorial, before and after 1973 and 2008 with its Suppression of Terrorism Act.

AU Charter:

Swaziland was amongst the first 17 African States to sign the convention and has been doing so in many other conventions, and the other African States are fooled to think that Swaziland is a pacesetter but little did they know that Swaziland is the number one violator of these conventions that she becomes the first to sign as a symbol of commitment.

This Charter declares one fundamental concept, that all other African States shall not recognize any government that has assumed state power illegitimately and this was signed in 2007. The AU Charterist made one grave mistake, not revamping and removing all those governments that usurped powers from the people, such governments as King Mswati III’s government which so did by repealing the 1968 Constitution and replace it with then 1973 Proclamation first and latter with the 2005 Constitution that was not people driven and was a second edition of the Decree.

PUDEMO and all its organs are and shall be terrorist organisations, but the people's movement is a multi-class organisation that has a bias for the poor and the working class. It fights for democracy in its totality as displayed by the tenets and or basic principles. No one single class of society shall dictate its own so called unique democracy. We the people refuse to accept there is such a thing called unique democracy, but we declare to the world that in Swaziland there is more crises over and above that of Zimbabwe because in this Africa’s only remaining kingdom, there is no democracy at all, and no political space.

AU therefore must remove King Mswati’s government from power, or rather refuse to recognise it because it is illegitimately in power, no matter how new the Charter is, more so because the regime is refusing democratic transformations that should totally overhaul the system and replace it with one that shall have the interest of the majority of the country, and these are 70% populace that do not even understand politics and have no interest on where state power lies, yet they are the primary victims of this heartless government that brandishes man and women of substance as terrorists.

SADC Protocol on democratic Free and Fair Elections:

This protocol is just an extension of the AU Charter many more international conventions and we the people, are disgraced that SADC leaders sit around the table and be convened by the likes of the king of Swaziland who does not understand the simple called meaningful dialogue. Banning organisations that are freedom fighters and brandishing them specified entities and terrorists for that matter and then come up with harsh laws that are aimed at silencing our members and leaders shall not solve our problems as a country but shall lead to the most undesirable consequences which have been seen in many African Countries.

PUDEMO calls upon SADC to seek the truth and the truth set Africa free and Africa shall be free indeed.

This Act is just another version of the 60 days detention and has been specifically put into force solely to silence PUDEMO's ideology so that the minority class continues to waste state resources, privatise state owned entrepreneurs, breed corruption, disregard of the rule of law, victimise workers, make unlawful arrests, randomly search homesteads and in the process plant subversive literature, condone impunity, the list is endless.

THE ARREST OF THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT

We the people condemn the arrest of cde Mario Masuku with strongest terms possible based on the following:

To the simplest Swazi out there:

What is the national question?

Who is the real terrorist?

Why is it that for the past 40 years the socio-economic problems get worse each parliamentary term?

Why is it that every Prime Minister is deemed having failed during his tenure, even the current one who has been recycled for a specific mandate?

Why do we have recycled leadership?

Why did we have almost all the members of the CDC as Senators in last parliament which then adopted the Swazi Constitution was not people driven.

PUDEMO LIVES AND PUDEMO LEADS THE PEOPLE SHALL SHARE AND THE PEOPLE SHALL GOVERN.

THE STRENGTH OF A FISH IS IN WATER

Issued by the office of the SECRETARY GENERAL

CDE SIPHASHA DLAMINI:

Contact: +268 608 9783

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