COMMUNIST PARTY ‘TAKES STOCK’

The Communist Party of Swaziland issued a statement today (19 April 2011) on ‘taking stock on the recent protests’.

Here is part of the statement.

We understand too that there are a great variety of ways to protest and to bring the regime down – from simple stay-aways and work stoppages, to many other forms of passive resistance. We are working to organise on the ground in all branches of communities to focus resistance to the dictatorship using the many ways we allude to above. The struggle belongs to every Swazi man, woman and child oppressed and exploited by the Mswati tyranny.

We are working for mass and concerted solidarity for diversifying the struggle so that it reaches all areas of Swazi life and all its communities. Our trade unions in particular need strong solidarity and encouragement to continue to exert their demands and to maintain unity among their members in the face of efforts to weaken them.

We must work to create better international responses to our struggle, get SADC and the AU, and their countries individually, to come out with a strong line against the Mswati regime.

We do not want to hear appeals for us to act with restraint. We want clear calls for the regime to be dismantled. We already act with sense and restraint. It is the regime that resorts to violence, including torture, murder, beatings and rape. We must be quite clear about what international response we want and how we want it. Otherwise we will find that the endgame of the Mswati regime is manipulated by outside ulterior interests, including those with commercial links to the regime.

To read the full statement, click here.