Swaziland’s police chief Isaac Magagula has accused a
discussion panel led by Jay Naidoo of trying to cause ‘anarchy and instability’
in the kingdom.
Police, acting without warrants or a court order, broke
up the meeting at the George Hotel, Manzini, last Friday (6 September 2013) and
deported panel members from Swaziland.
The meeting was to be a Global Inquiry Panel on trade
union rights and democracy in the Swaziland, where the main workers’ federation
and political parties are banned and King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The inquiry was an initiative of the International Trade
Union Confederation, Trade Union Congress of Swaziland and South Africa’s Congress
of South African Trade Unions to hear workers’ accounts of their experiences in
order compile a report to be taken to the International Labour organisation for
the Committee on the Application of International Standards.
The panel was to be chaired by Jay Naidoo, former General
Secretary of COSATU and former Minister in the South African Government under the
President Nelson Mandela.
Police National Commissioner Magagula told media in
Swaziland, ‘We wish to state that as far as our careful analysis of the bigger
picture is concerned, the organisers are being economical with the truth in
relation to the actual purpose of the meeting. This is because all
factors surrounding it suggest that it was not merely intended to discuss bread
and butter issues for workers, but it was part and parcel of a broader agenda
to further ulterior political motives aimed at breaching the peace and causing
anarchy and instability in the country.’
The Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported, ‘He said it was
striking that the Global Inquiry Panel had attributes of the Global Week of
Action on Democracy in Swaziland.
‘He said the Global Week of Action on Swaziland was
conceived with motives that undermine the peace and security of the country.
‘The Commissioner said the meeting was likely to shift the focus of the nation from the ongoing elections process and thereby cause confusion and instability, particularly “given that members of the certain proscribed entities had made threats to sabotage the process.”’
Various trade unions all over the world staged activities
in support of trade unionists in Swaziland and the global week of action led by
the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and its campaign wing, the
Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC).
The police action was criticized globally as an attack on
the constitutional rights of Swazi people to freedom of assembly.
See also
POLICE RAID TO STOP UNION MEETING
MASS POLICE ARRESTS TO HALT MEETING
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