Swaziland is now in a permanent state of emergency, following the enactment of the Suppression of Terrorism Act.
The Act has the same effect on Swaziland as King Sobhuza II’s notorious proclamation of 1973 in which he tore up the Swazi Constitution and ruled by decree.
Vusi Sibisi, writing in the Times Sunday (23 November 2008), says, ‘The stupendous paradox between the two eras—post-1973 and since the enactment of the Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008—being that while the coup against the Westminster-styled independence constitution in 1973 was entirely an operation of the ruling class to the exclusion of the ordinary people, the same cannot be said of the anti-terrorism law yet in all honesty the objectives of these instruments remain the same—to silence the nation and retain the political playing ground as an exclusive preserve of the ruling class.
‘The King’s Proclamation to the Nation to which the people had no input, which effectively outlawed democracy and the people’s individual rights and freedoms, was dictated from the throne. And to ensure compliance with the string of decrees that made up the King’s Proclamation to the Nation was the draconian indefinite 60-Day Detention Order the fear of which inculcated the culture of silence that is permeating Swazi society even today.
‘It is the culture of silence inculcated by the King’s Proclamation and its accompanying draconian laws that the ruling class has perversely marketed to the outside world as peace and tranquillity, a trademark of the Swazi nation. Frankly there never was peace in this country, but pervasive fear of the terror of the ruling regime that engendered silence on the citizenry.
‘And from 1973 onwards it was easier to cow the nation into supplication and, therefore, silence because not so many people were as educated and enlightened as they are today. Thus an educated and enlightened elite prone to challenging anything and everything that the ruling elite stands for has replaced the generation that could accept the imposition of dictatorship in 1973 without putting up any form of challenge or resistance.’
He goes on, ‘The paradox is that when in 1973 the ruling class used naked aggression to forcefully appropriate to itself all political power not to speak of all faculties of the nation’s human resource, in 2008 it used the poverty-alleviating institution of Parliament to rubber stamp its unconstitutional and just as draconian Suppression of Terrorism Act that is the successor to the notorious 60-Day Detention Order.
‘And if anyone was in doubt about the Tinkhundla Parliament as an effective legislative institution, now that doubt has been evaporated by the facts that just about confirm its role as a rubber stamp of whatever is desired by the ruling class. For if it was not, the 8th Parliament would have refused to be party to the draconian anti-terrorism legislation that is inherently also in breach of the constitution that is supposedly the supreme law of the land.’
He goes on, ‘And that silence can never translate into peace and tranquility even with the Suppression of Terrorism Act that has essentially thrust this country into a permanent state of emergency in tow. ‘
To read the full article, click here.
Remembering 9 December 2007
ReplyDeleteThe day was a Sunday, but it was clearly not a normal Sunday. The whole week the weather had been very hot but for some reason on this particular Sunday the drizzling rain had decided to pay a little visit to the students of the University of Swaziland, Kwaluseni campus, who are popularly and reputably known as the ‘Choir’. The story about 9 December is not just a story based solely on the 9th of December but it heavily relies on the whole of the 2007/2008 academic year.
To bring everybody on board it is important to trace the events that led to the all important day of 9 December, 2008. It must be stated from the outset that the story of semesterization is a very long one even though it happened in one academic year. I will therefore only highlight some of the important events thereto. When the students of Kwaluseni campus came to register for the 2007/08 academic year they found that the university senate, filled with lots of sanctimoniousness, had imposed a concept called ‘semesterization’ on all students, even to those on whom the semesterization concept was injurious and extraneous. For this reason the always mighty students of UNISWA started singing liberation songs. They then started those countless court journeys but were unsuccessful in a case presided over by Maphalala, J, who told them that they should go back and exhaust internal remedies. The students, however, were and still are unhappy with that decision. Whilst the students respected the court order they were shocked by the narcissistic and egocentric senate’s egregious decision to continue with the implementation of semesterization when the court had stated clearly that they (students and senate) had to go back to the negotiation table. This therefore invigorated the students’ singing spirits such that they decided that they were not going to attend classes until the matter had been solved. The students also decided that they were not going to write anything that had a semesterization label on it. I remember very well that even the signing of continuous assessment marks became the most malevolence thing to be done by any student. This is because by signing these you simply meant that you were finally giving in to semesterization, the so-called international standard. One student, who happens to be a big friend of mine, even went further and humbly begged the S.R.C. of the time to send him to Ntondozi (a place in the Manzini district) so that this issue could be solved by the elders themselves. When it started drizzling I then started believing that the elders were already at work. Even some students from the Shiselweni region had stated that they could help the S.R.C. with ‘whatever’ they could find. It was amazing to see such unity and dedication from the students.
A few days before the 9th of December the students, through their attorney Mr. Mdladla, applied to court for an interdict staying the illegal examinations which had been scheduled to commence on the 10th. However, Justice Mbutfo Mamba dismissed the students’ case on the 9th of December. The learned Judge did not give out reasons for the judgment on the same day. The students were not satisfied with this judgment too. They then resolved that they were going to have a ‘night vigil’ in one of the small classes (they had been banned from using the Multi-Purpose Hall which is bigger than this class they were in). It was in this class that they decided that they should ‘write’ the December exams on that same night instead of the December 10 on which they had been scheduled. Everybody started running outside and in about an hour or two we saw live on Channel S (which was nicknamed ‘Channel Choir’ by the students) that the University of Swaziland was on fire. In the morning of December 10, 2007, it was found that it was impossible for the exams to be written as the students were too united. The exams were postponed indefinitely. As the students were going home the whole country was told that the police were going to catch the arsonists and arrest them. It is so disappointing, however, that up until today those unknown arsonists who burnt our university have not been caught yet.
One of the most important lessons of the night of December 9, a night which some of the students have called ‘a bright Sunday night’, is that unity will always prevail over anything. This is why all the students who sacrificed everything they had in order to see semesterization dead will always have a special place in my heart. Of course, after the burning down of the university many people suddenly woke up from wherever they had been sleeping and called the students many bad names anybody can think of. One newspaper editor even called them barbarians, hooligans and bandits. He even labeled them ‘Tsase’s comrades’. This was so foolish for a respected man who had been quiet all the time but only to wake up after the consequences. I could tell from the reading of his article that he was not thinking. If he was thinking then he was not thinking properly. Blaming the child for crying will not stop her from crying if you do not stop the maladroit adult who keeps spanking her.
Fast forward to 2008/09 academic year the university senate has to consult the students on the implementation of semesterization. This is as per a Supreme Court order which stated that the senate should consult the students first before they implement this programme. The Supreme Court had also stated that Justice Mbutfo Mamba should have stopped semesterization on the 9th of December 2007. Unfortunately, what is happening right now is far from consultation. Instead the senate has been going around telling students that, come rain or sunshine, semesterization will be implemented in the 2009/2010 academic year. The only thing that the students are supposed to do in these ‘talks’ is that they should state how they want semesterization. As this is happening I then wonder where the reactionary proponents of dialogue are right now. Are they hibernating like they did last year? What should the students do now when the other party to the negotiations is not faithful but is only imposing things on the students? Should the students, in the 2009/10 academic year waste more monies by going to court to fight semesterization again? These questions demand answers from those many arm-chair reactionary critics who make comments from the comfort of their chairs without even investigating the matter further.
Lastly, we have learned many lessons from the bright night of 9 December. It is important that the senate, the government and the public at large be reminded that the students still do not want semesterization or any rule or programme to be imposed upon them. Therefore if the senate continues with these acts the students will again sing the songs which were sung during the 2008/2009 academic year. The cameras and the very bright floodlights which have just been placed in those so-called ‘strategic places’ do not scare us one bit. Even if the university administration can install the sun and the moon in order to scare the students it will not help because evil is evil no matter what you do. The moment the senate implements this semesterization of theirs will be the moment they hear the united mighty voices of the Choir in full force. Those students who were comfortable with semesterization deserve special thanks for being so altruistic and philanthropic on that night. In this instance I am referring mainly to Bsc students who helped us pull through. I wish them well in their exams this December. All those final year students for the 2007/2008 academic year also deserve praise for promising us that they would be prepared to stay for another year if that is what it would take to solve that semesterization problem. To all the students of UNISWA I would like to wish them a happy commemoration of December 9. We shall have a proper commemoration ceremony soon.
Pius P. Vilakati
The Secretary
UNISWA Kwaluseni