SWAZI POLICE AGENTS FOR EMPLOYERS

Here’s further evidence that the Royal Swaziland Police supports the rich and powerful in the kingdom and sees it as its duty to oppress ordinary working people.

In Swaziland this week about 60 police officers descended on a textile factory where workers downed tools because they had not been paid their full wages and bonuses.

The stoppage at HO Enterprises involved 2,000 workers.

As soon as it became clear that the workers would not resume work the management called in the police. The officers, who arrived in police bakkies and sedans, patrolled the premises and checked inside the factory shells.

Even though the workers were not causing trouble, the fact that the company owners wanted the police to attend to deal with the workers, and that the police obliged, is evidence that the police force in Swaziland is politically motivated against working people and for bosses.

The incident happened on Tuesday (22 December 2009) only days after police fired shots over the heads of striking textile workers at the Zheng Yong Garment Factory.

On a previous occasion one guard was shot in the head with a rubber bullet by police and five people in total were injured when police opened fire on striking security guards in Swaziland’s capital Mbabane.

At HO Enterprises the workers’ trade union the Swaziland Production and Refinery Allied Workers Union (SPRAWU) successfully negotiated with the management which had withheld promised pay rises and bonuses from the December salary packet. The workers will now be paid the missing money.