Swaziland
Newsletter No. 734 – 8 July 2022
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.
Mswati’s soldiers invade University of Eswatini, disrupt
protest.
By Nokwanda Mamba, Swaziland News, 7 July 2022
MATSAPHA: A battalion of
armed State security officers including soldiers invaded the University of
Eswatini (UNESWA) on Thursday after the students had planned to protest against
the institution's administration.
The students had planned to protest
over the death of Siphesihle Mamba, a Bachelor of Science(BSc)student who
committed suicide due to stress related issues.
Reached for comments, Colani
Maseko,the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students(SNUS) confirmed
the matter.
“It is true, the students
tried to protest in the morning, but they stopped after a battalion of soldiers
flooded the University,” he said.
Tengetile Khumalo, the Army
Spokesperson, had not responded to our questions at the time of compiling this
report.
King Mswati’s Government
continues to unleash armed forces to silence students who protest in demand for
their right to education.
How
people in one of Africa’s last monarchies celebrate Pride even though it’s
illegal
By
Jordan King, Metro, (UK) 3 July 2022
Hundreds bravely came together to
celebrate Pride despite living in a country which has outlawed their
sexualities.
It has been illegal
to be gay in the Kingdom of Eswatini,
formerly called Swaziland, since the Brits colonised the African nation in the
1800s.
Campaigner Mangaliso Mndzebele told
Metro.co.uk the country, one of three monarchies left on the continent, has
historically seen LGBTQ+ people as ‘satanic’.
Former prime minister Maphevu Dlamini said
in 2018: ‘Being gay is an abnormality and a sickness.’
Most LGBTQ+ people in Eswatini are still
living in the closet, local activists have said.
The British common law criminalises sodomy
between two men and, although it does not specify anything about women, this is
seen as a blanket ban on same-sex relationships.
The law has not been enforced by police or
courts for decades, but LGBTQ+ communities say they still ‘face human rights
violations’ in their daily lives.
This is because the community fears they
will lose their jobs, be separated from their loved ones and experience
prejudice.
Despite all this, more than 300 people
gathered to celebrate being who they are last Saturday.
‘It brings hope. Everytime we have a Pride
event, it brings hope,’ one of the Pride organisers, Sisanda Mavimbela, said.
Sisanda explained how in previous years,
when Pride was not restricted by the Covid-19 pandemic, crowds would get bigger
at night because people only felt safe to celebrate when their identities were
concealed by the dark.
But this year many more people were ‘out
and proud’ during the day, Sisanda said.
Maxwell Gumbi went to Pride for the first
time last weekend and enjoyed it so much he now thinks it ‘should happen twice
a year’.
He said the day made him ‘proud to stand
up for his rights’.
Eswatini had its first ever Pride in 2018,
when international pressure helped make sure the community was given permission
and protection to march through the streets.
But that has not happened since, leaving
charities and activists to plan and fund any Pride events since.
Sisanda’s organisation Eswatini Sexual
& Gender Minorities joined with seven other NGOs this year to create a
‘safe space’ for LGBTQ+ people.
They hired a country club in the city of
Manzini, paid for private security, organised entertainment and invited their
allies in business and government to show their support.
The Ministry of Health was reportedly the
only government department there.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Eswatini’s
parliament for comment.
Struggle
For Multiparty - SWALIMO president Gawzela visiting 7 countries
By
Nontobeko Dvuba, Swati Newsweek, 4 July 2022
MBABANE - Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO)
president Mduduzi Gaw'zela Simelane travels the world to meet Swazis in
diaspora to support the struggle for freedom.
Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) chairperson Siphetfo Dlamini released a statement on this matter.
“The Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) is
humbled by the reception that the President Mduduzi Gaw’zela Simelane has
received in the United Kingdom. The advocacy program is not about SWALIMO but
all Swazis aligned and non-aligned as a means to Garner support for the
liberation struggle from key global stakeholders led by the Swazis in diaspora.”
Dlamini said.
“SWALIMO takes this opportunity to unpack the SGAD
program as packaged in the SWALIMO 2022/2023 Operation plan; the Swaziland
Global Advocacy Drive (SGAD) aims to:
a) To mobilize all Swazis in diaspora in a
non-partisan approach to understand and support the liberation struggle in
Swaziland.
b) To engage with key informants and decision makers
in civil society organizations as well as government officials on how they can
support the Swaziland Liberation struggle.
c) To create global awareness on the injustices on the
Swazi people by the Mswati III government.” Dlamini said.
“The president of SWALIMO collaborating with the
SWALIMO international office and Swazis in diaspora has lined up an itinerary
that will see the president travel to: United Kingdom, The United State of
America, Canada, Taiwan, China, Russia and Singapore.” Dlamini said.
He concluded, “We wish the president well as he
engages Swazis across the globe and advocates for all Swazis closing every
available space for the current regime.”
eSwatini
government declares ‘Swaziland News’ editor Zweli Martin Dlamini a ‘terrorist’
By
Karabo Ngoepe and Manyane Manyane, Independent online (South Africa), 3 July 2022
Johannesburg – The eSwatini government has
declared South African-based journalist Zweli Martin Dlamini a terrorist amid
the ongoing violence in the country.
This week the government of eSwatini
published a notice declaring Dlamini a terrorist and slamming his publication
“Swaziland News” for carrying articles celebrating the killings of police
officers.
This comes as the country has been gripped
by a spate of acts of violence aimed at properties and law enforcement officers
on the anniversary of the 2021 June protests.
The country came to a standstill on
Wednesday for what was dubbed “the commemoration” of those killed in last
year’s violent protests amid fears of another “uprising” termed the “eSwatini
Winter Revolution”.
A day after that, Prime Minister Cleopas
Sipho Dlamini published a notice declaring Zweli Martin Dlamini a “terrorist”.
“In exercise of the powers conferred on me
by Section 28 [2] of the Suppression of Terrorism Act 2008, I, prime minister
of the Kingdom of eSwatini, declare Zweli Martin Dlamini and ‘Swaziland News’
(Pty Ltd) to be specified entities with immediate effect in that these entities
knowingly facilitate the commission of terrorist acts,” he said.
The notice was accompanied by a letter
from the country’s attorney-general Sifiso Khumalo, who described Zweli Martin
Dlamini as a security threat to the Kingdom.
“The consistent actions of Dlamini fall
within the definition of a terrorist act in the Suppression of Terrorism Act
2008.
“Your Excellency, in my capacity as
attorney-general, I am, therefore, of the opinion that Zweli Martin Dlamini and
‘Swaziland News’ be specified entities,” says the letter.
In April, the publication reported on
Zweli Martin Dlamini being among those leading the charge for the winter
revolution.
“He was also the point of interaction with
some of the alleged funders.
“His publication has been carrying
comments from the Swaziland International Solidarity Forces’ (SISF) leaders.
“They have been claiming to be behind some
of the recent attacks in the country.
Those attacks included: The torching of
Inyatsi Construction sites and the attacks on the homes of police officials.
On Saturday, Dlamini said declaring the
Swaziland News and its editor as terrorists was an attempt by the 'illegitimate
eSwatini government' to silence the voices of emaSwati crying in the political
wilderness for freedom.
"It is one of the many attempts by
the government and the King to silence the independent media. As mentioned,
Swaziland News will continue publishing critical articles and holding those in
power accountable," he said.
One year after a brutal crackdown,
the struggle for democracy remains alive in Swaziland
By Tanupriya
Singh Peoples Dispatch, 4 July 2022
“[On Wednesday] we saw the people of
Swaziland making sure that they commemorate, by celebrating the lives of our
fallen soldiers, those who died for our struggle,” stated Simphiwe Dlamini, the
National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS). The
CPS, which has been a leading force in the struggle for a democratic republic
in the country, organized a series of actions including vigils. Public
transport was shut down, with local news outlets reporting that businesses had
also been shuttered in certain areas.
The People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO) and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (a platform of political parties,
trade unions, civil society and other groups) had also issued a call for a
public holiday on June 29 and urged businesses to remain closed, even as the
government maintained that it was to be a regular working day.
Meanwhile, there was heavy deployment of
police and military forces in the streets, especially in the capital city of
Mbabane and in Manzini, the country’s economic hub which was one of major sites
of unrest in 2021. Stop and search barricades were also set up on the highway
connecting the two cities to prevent any planned protest actions.
While there were no reports of violence on
Wednesday, the months leading up to the June 29 commemoration were marked
by rising
attacks against pro-democracy forces,
particularly the CPS.
On June 28, hundreds of police officers
descended on the Mbikwakhe area in Mastapha, where a majority of the party’s
members who are students at the University of Swaziland and Gwamile VOCTIM
reside. The operation was
disguised as a community raid, however, only two houses, which happened to be
rented by CPS members, were targeted. Importantly, the space had been used to
coordinate the party’s work in the area.
Over the course of four hours, police
ransacked the houses and seized seven laptops, cell phones, and even the
students’ food parcels, clothes and personal belongings. Dlamini also stated
that the roads leading to the area had been lined by police. However, party
members and activists were able to successfully evade arrest.
The state forces were acting out of fear
of the June 29 commemoration, Dlamini explained. “What we saw yesterday [June
29] is a regime in crisis. How so? – by wanting to continue to rule over a
people who have declared that enough is enough. Mswati fled the country on June
29, fearing the revolution.” He was not alone, Dlamini added that the Prime
Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister had reportedly also followed suit, “You
can see the desperation, their fear of the people.”
Late on Wednesday night, Dlamini stated
that people had set up barricades and burned tires in different parts of the
country. “If they [the people] take out picket lines, the regime will respond
by butchering them, so the people put up barricades”, he stated. “They are
denied their right to picket [and protest] by the ruthless regime, so the
people put up barricades because they are still wanting to defend
themselves.”
Mswati must fall!: the 2021 uprising
for democracy
In May 2021, protests broke out in
Swaziland against the alleged police killing of a young law student, Thabani
Nkomonye. After days of official inaction, the Swaziland National Union of
Students (SNUS) organized the #JusticeforThabani campaign, mobilizing thousands
of young people to demand an inquiry into the case. The police responded with
tear gas and bullets.
In the face of this repression, the
movement to demand justice for the slain student morphed into a massive
wave of unrest across the country, demanding an end to the monarchy. Speaking
to Peoples Dispatch at
the time, Simphiwe stated that Thabani
had become “the face” of the ongoing movement against the monarchy because his
murder and the subsequent treatment of his family and the protestors was
“typical of how the Mswati regime disregards the value of human life” in the
country.
Longstanding anger over Mswati’s
extravagant lifestyle, made possible by an iron-fisted control over the economy
and the political system, in a country where 70% of the population was
languishing in poverty, spilled over. Between May and June, people in over 40
constituencies marched to their Members of Parliament (MPs) and successfully
delivered petitions raising their demands, including a push for
democratization.
“The level of consciousness of the people
at the time had gone up dramatically, but it was generally the demands that the
people had been raising since the inception of the monarchy in 1973- that the
country needs to return to a multi-party democracy, but also that the economy
of the people needs to be used for the development of the people as a whole,”
says Pius Vilakati, International Secretary of the CPS.
Swaziland was put under an absolute
monarchy in April 1973, when King Mswati’s father Sobhuza II repealed the 1968
constitution, banned all political parties, and seized executive, legislative,
and judicial powers.
During the protests, there were some
sections which were demanding an election for the post of the Prime Minister.
However, the CPS’s view was to demand a total unbanning of political parties in
order for the country to move towards democracy. “Along those lines we were
able to push the uprising to another level, where people did not want some
cosmetic changes anymore, an election of the prime minister was not going to
change the system. The CPS demanded a total overthrow of
the tinkhundla system and the monarchy,” stated Vilakati.
The 2021 protests were unprecedented in
their sheer scope, spreading even to the country’s rural areas. Vilakati argued
that this was a crucial mark of the uprising – given that not only did a
majority of Swaziland’s population live in those areas, but also that the
control of the chiefs, who ruled on behalf of the king, was very strong
there.
“The people no longer wanted the system of
the chiefs’ rule, they wanted self-rule. The royal family relied on the rural
areas for its propaganda that people were happy with the way things are. The
fact is that people had been suppressed, gagged and muzzled, they had been
victimized for standing up for themselves. But this time, people removed all
the barriers, the regime was now only left with its military to defend itself
now. This was also unprecedented,” he added.
The protests showed no signs of waning,
even after King Mswati III imposed a ban on demonstrations on June 24. The next
day, the military was deployed into the streets with a sanction to
shoot-to-kill. The killings began
on June 28 under a widespread internet blackout, amid reports that Mswati had
fled the country. By the time things calmed down over the next few days, over
70 people had been killed and nearly 600 had been arrested, according to
the CPS.
Despite the ever present threat of
violence in the aftermath, the struggle for democratization remained alive in
Swaziland. Sporadic protests gave way to the beginning of another wave of
agitations and boycotts in September, led by students across schools and
colleges to demand better quality education. Severe police repression pushed the
unrest even further, with civil servants, public transport workers, teachers,
and nurses also carrying out
protests.
While they were raising distinct demands
for better wages and working conditions, these struggles were united in their
call for an end to the absolute monarchy. This was precisely because of the
extent of control exercised by the King on the economy and its exploitation for
the royal family’s private gains. There was a push for people to recognize that
“democracy is not helpful in and of itself if you do not also own the economy,”
Vilakati stated.
Extracted from article that first
appeared in Peoples Dispatch to read more, click
here
Eswatini
- Security Tight on Protest Anniversary
Analysis,
Deutsche Welle (Germany), 29
June 2022
Police and troops were deployed
across Eswatini's major
cities for Wednesday’s (29 June 2022) anniversary of bloody pro-democracy
protests.
Security forces patrolled the capital,
Mbabane, and the city of Manzini, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. Helicopters
were also reported flying constantly overhead.
Eswatini -- formerly known as Swaziland --
is one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world. According to the
constitution, King Mswati III is not bound to any law. And he takes great
advantage of it.
Anger against the king had been building
for years in the country.
What did the protesters demand?
Activists accused the king of running a
repressive government and evading calls for reforms.
The king had also been accused of using
public coffers to fund a lavish lifestyle off the backs of 1.5 million
citizens, most of them subsistence farmers.
Demonstrations first erupted in May
following the death of a 25-year-old law student, reportedly at the hands of
police.
The UN human rights office pointed to
reports of “disproportionate and unnecessary use of force, harassment and
intimidation” by security forces sent in to quell escalating protests.
Protests against
Eswatini's monarchy system broke out on
June 29, 2021, led by young people, particularly high school and university
students, in response to the country’s lack of development and opportunities.
Security forces hit back violently, firing
gunshots and tear gas to disperse the protesters, witnesses said.
Violent clampdown
Eight people died in clashes with the
security forces, initiating protests over the following months that have since
become sporadic.
According to the authorities, a total of
37 people died in the prolonged protests, while Human Rights Watch puts the
toll at 46. However, a statement issued by the Eswatini Solidarity Fund, puts
the death toll closer to 80, with around 300 injured and almost a thousand
arrested.
Activists said no one was arrested for the
deaths and no compensation was given to the injured or families of the victims.
Although the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) sent a delegation to investigate and find a solution,
pro-democracy groups accuse the regional body of holding selective meetings
with representatives of the monarchy system and organizations close to it.
“SADC is the most useless organization in
the history of humanity. They have failed the people of Swaziland. African
leaders, it is time that they intervene,” said Lucky Lukhele, Coordinator of
the Swaziland Solidarity Network.
Activists claim that, since the June 2021
clampdown, which spilled over into July, the government has continued issuing
threats of harm to quell any planned protests.
Thabo Masuku, a member of the Foundation
for Socio-Economic Justice in Eswatini, said the government had refused to
allow marches to commemorate the clampdown.
“Since the start of the month of June, the
military and the police have been on the ground in plain clothes to clamp down
on activists,” Masuku said.
“We have seen a number of arrests to try
and scare people against continuing with the planned activities for the
commemoration,” he added.
‘Winter revolution’
Other pro-democracy groups also complained
about efforts to thwart Wednesday’s commemoration.
“Currently there is no public transport
that can take people to various places. Business is closed down -- even the
Central Business District (CBD) of Manzini, there is nobody there,” Nkanyezi
Vilakati, secretary-general of the Swaziland Youth Congress, told DW.
“And there are a number of blocked roads
that lead to various towns,” Vilakati said, “more specially Mbabane and
Manzini.”
Citizens of Swaziland have engaged in what
they call a “winter revolution” across the country.
Recently two police officers were killed
by a mob, prompting the government to call protesters insurgents and threaten
to deal with them. In the previous week, a group calling itself, Swaziland
International Solidarity Forces attacked Inyatsi Construction, an international
firm linked to King Mswati III.
Pro-democracy groups are demanding justice
for the victims.
They also want King
Mswati III to hand over power
to the people to pave the way for democratic elections.
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