Kenworthy News Media, 18
February 2019
The biggest youth movement
in Swaziland, the Swaziland Youth Congress, called for democracy at its 12th
National Congress last weekend. The congress was held in South Africa because
of repression in Swaziland against organisations who call for democracy, writes
Kenworthy News Media.
The main theme of the first
National Congress of the Swaziland
Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) since 2013 was democracy and
“reawakening youth zeal for liberation.”
“We are committed to a
peaceful transition from the current dictatorship under the monarchy to a
democratic Eswatini [Swaziland]. As young people, we want liberation now, because
the injustice to Swazis has long overstayed its time,” says newly elected
President Sonkhe Dube.
Dube, a teacher by
profession, had told congress that it was an “enormous task to build [SWAYOCO
into] an effective organization capable of transforming its beautiful slogans
into action.” The congress came at a time when SWAYOCO has been “battered by
the regime” in recent years, the organization said in a statement.
In the statement, SWAYOCO
also said that it would work with the labour movement and marginalized groups
in Swaziland such as the LGBTI-community, and that the organisation was seeking
international help to achieve democracy in Swaziland.
Liberation and social justice
SWAYOCO, a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth, was formed in 1991, as the youth league of Swaziland’s largest democratic movement, the People’s United Democratic Movement. Both organisations were proscribed under Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act, an act that Amnesty International called “inherently repressive” when it was implemented in 2008.
SWAYOCO, a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth, was formed in 1991, as the youth league of Swaziland’s largest democratic movement, the People’s United Democratic Movement. Both organisations were proscribed under Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act, an act that Amnesty International called “inherently repressive” when it was implemented in 2008.
Amongst other things,
SWAYOCO has previously launched
campaigns against Swaziland’s “undemocratic elections” and for
political awareness in Swazi schools, demanded
smart sanctions against the country’s royal family, and that the International
Criminal Court arrest Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati
III.
“The renewal of SWAYOCO
will inspire the youth to demand their rights and define their role in the
creation of a new kingdom of Eswatini [Swaziland]. We will sell the idea of
liberation and social justice to the people,” says President Sonkhe Dube.
Outgoing President Bheki
Dlamini agrees. “I am delighted to hand over the baton to other comrades. I
have dedicated all my youth to fighting Mswati’s oppression. I shall continue
to support the new leadership and the broader struggle for democracy,” Dlamini
said.
A dangerous job
Sonkhe Dube has, along with many other SWAYOCO-members, personally experienced Mswati’s oppression. In 2009 and 2011, he was detained and tortured by police at peaceful SWAYOCO rallies. And in 2013, he fled to exile in neighbouring South Africa after again having been arrested by police, tortured and threatened that they would “come back and deal with me.”
Sonkhe Dube has, along with many other SWAYOCO-members, personally experienced Mswati’s oppression. In 2009 and 2011, he was detained and tortured by police at peaceful SWAYOCO rallies. And in 2013, he fled to exile in neighbouring South Africa after again having been arrested by police, tortured and threatened that they would “come back and deal with me.”
Because being a member of
SWAYOCO, let alone President, is a dangerous job.
SWAYOCO’s first President
Benedict Didiza Tsabedze died in a mysterious car accident next to the royal
palace in 1996 after having been taken to the hospital by the police. SWAYOCO
member Sipho
Jele was found hanged in his cell under mysterious
circumstances, after having been arrested for wearing a PUDEMO t-shirt.
Several other former
SWAYOCO leaders, including Wandile Dludlu,
Maxwell Dlamini
and Bheki
Dlamini, have all been tortured by police,
detained, and later released without charge. Bheki Dlamini after having spent
nearly three years in prison.
SWAYOCO member Zonke
Dlamini served a long prison-sentence for charges
he insists he only admitted to under torture. And other SWAYOCO members have
been beaten up, tear-gassed
and shot with rubber bullets by police, as well as detained,
shot and killed.
Amnesty
International described in 2017
how “repressive legislation” and “politically motivated trials and laws that
violate the principle of legality … continue to be used to suppress dissent” in
Swaziland.
See also
Youth
want democracy in Swaziland
Swazi
law used against human rights
How
Swazi state harasses activists
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-swazi-state-harasses-activists.html
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