S AFRICA POLICE DO SWAZI DIRTY WORK

Peter Kenworthy, stiffkitten

2 October 2011

SOURCE

Swazi political prisoners interrogated by South African police

In a strange twist to the case of student leader Maxwell Dlamini and political activist Musa Ngubeni, both awaiting trial for allegedly being in possession of explosives in connection with the democratic uprising in Swaziland in April, they were interrogated by what appeared to be hired South African police investigators.

The two had previously been detained, interrogated and allegedly tortured by Swazi police to confess to charges that the Swazi democratic movement call ludicrous.

“On Friday at about 4 pm, two white police investigators, said to have been hired by the Swazi state from South Africa, went to the Manzini Remand Centre where Maxwell and Musa are held. These investigators were not accompanied by the two’s lawyers or granted any permission by them to interrogate their clients,” says Dumezweni Dlamini from the Swazi NGO Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice.

According to Dumezweni Dlamini, the interrogators were seemingly attempting to assess their connection with the bombing of a royal palace three years ago, with the South African left who support democratisation in Swaziland and with two of Swaziland’s banned political parties.

“The investigators played video clips from the late Musa Dlamini and Jack Govender who died while they were allegedly attempting to blow up a bridge next to Lozitha Royal Palace,” Dumezweni Dlamini says. “They also forced them to say that they knew the arrested Amos Mbedzi, who was allegedly also part of the Lozitha Bombers. They also questioned them of their knowledge of [South African Trade Federation] COSATU, the South African Communist Party, PUDEMO and SWAYOCO.”

According to Dumezweni Dlamini, the interrogations took about an hour each and ended with the police telling the two prisoners that they would “put them on a leash in protecting the status quo in Swaziland against such terrorism acts.”

Swaziland, an absolute monarchy where political parties are banned and where two thirds of the population survive on under a dollar a day, has good relations with South African President Jacob Zuma, who is married to one of Swaziland’s King Mswati III’s nieces. The ANC also have investments in Swaziland, including an anthracite mine that the ANC’s investment vehicle, Chancellor House Holdings, owns 75% of.

South Africa has recently promised Mswati III a substantial loan of over $300 million to help stave off an economic and political meltdown in virtually bankrupt Swaziland. Swaziland had been refused loans from the IMF and the African Development Bank earlier this year, and there are rumours that South Africa is considering retracting the loan due to the persistent unwillingness of Mswati III to implement democratic reform.

See also

SWAZI STUDENT LEADER TORTURED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/swazi-student-leader-tortured.html

SWAZI STUDENT LEADER TORTURED

Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign

Press Release

1 October 2011

SOURCE

Swazi student leader tortured, framed

Students and other young people are at the forefront of the democratic uprisings of 2011 around the world. They have been the main instigators of demanding democracy in North Africa. This has been covered extensively in the media.

What has been less focused upon is the simultaneous uprising in Swaziland – an absolute monarchy where all political parties are banned, where life expectancy is under 40 years, where youth unemployment is sky-high, and where two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day – many on food aid from the UN.

The unions and the Swazi students’ union, SNUS, have been at the forefront of the Swazi uprising, which is why Swazi police have clamped down on them in particular. Swazi Student leader and SNUS president, Maxwell Dlamini, was pre-emptively detained and allegedly tortured by Swazi police before the Arab Spring-inspired April 12 uprising in Swaziland, where the Swazi regime violently clamped down on demonstrators and detained the entire leadership of the Swazi democratic movement.

Maxwell Dlamini was forced to sign a statement admitting possession of explosives and denied bail on several occasions. Maxwell was also initially denied the right to sit his exams at the University of Swaziland where he is a student, and the Swazi authorities have done their utmost to obstruct their lawyer, Mandla Mkhwanazi.

The charges against Maxwell Dlamini of being in possession of explosives, and thus contravening Sections 8 and 9 of Swaziland’s Explosives Act 4 of 1961, have been described as preposterous by several members of the democratic movement in Swaziland, as well as by unions and solidarity organisations around the world, and Amnesty International has urged Swaziland to ensure his safety.

Danish solidarity organisation, Africa Contact, therefore started the Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign to focus on Maxwell’s case and pressurize the Swazi regime into releasing him.

The Free Maxwell Campaign

In the campaign’s first 24 hours, nearly a hundred e-mails were sent to the Swazi regime demanding the release of Maxwell, over 500 people accessed the campaign’s website, and people from all over the world – including Swazi, Danish, English, South African, Namibian and Basque NGO’s; Danish, German, English, Ukranian and Norweigan students; and people from all over the world have wished to publicly support the campaign.

The press has also covered the campaign, which has been in the news in e.g. England (The Guardian), Denmark (Arbejderen and U-landsnyt), Norway (SAIH), and in The Times of Swaziland, who ran an article about the Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign in its Swazi News Saturday edition.

The South African Broadcast Cooperation, SABC, also ran a documentary, Swaziland’s Political Prisoners that amongst other things included interviews in prison with Maxwell Dlamini filmed with a hidden camera.

Keeping spirits high despite delayed trial

Despite languishing in prison for nearly six months, Maxwell Dlamini is keeping up his sprits and is pleased that the Free Maxwell Campaign, the British National Union of Students and others are campaigning for his release. “It was good for Maxwell to see for himself that there is something of this sort going on in Europe,” Dumezweni Dlamini of the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, of which Maxwell’s organisation SNUS is a party, who visited Maxwell recently, told me.

But the Swazi regime has not responded to the campaign, and is instead apparently seeking to bleed Maxwell and his lawyers dry, given the long delay of the court case. The long delay of the case is proving a financial problem for the two accused as well as their legal team, who are working pro bono. And there is also the obvious inconvenience of being imprisoned in a system that often tortures and manhandles its detainees and political prisoners, as happened to Maxwell Dlamini in order to force him to sign a prepared confession.

“The case is still at stand still with the lawyers still trying to get a trial date,” Dumezweni Dlamini says about Maxwell Dlamini’s case. “The case is taking quite some time for his lawyers such that it limits and also digs many resources from their commercial business. We only rely on the volunteerism of these attorneys.”

Other trials against members of Swaziland’s democratic movement certainly seem to show that the regime speculates in such stalling tactics, the most well-known case being that against illegal opposition party, PUDEMO’s, President Mario Masuku.

Masuku was imprisoned for nearly a year before his case was finally heard in 2009. There was no evidence whatsoever to substantiate the accusations of terrorism against him, even though terrorism is defined very loosely in Swaziland, and the judge released him the same day.

Let us hope, for the sake of Maxwell, as well as for the precedent of the many other young student leaders around the world who have partaken in democratic uprisings, that he will not have to stay imprisoned much longer. And let us all do our utmost to secure his release.

If you wish to help Maxwell, by supporting the campaign by writing to the Swazi regime to demand his release, you can either contact the Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign at: freemaxwelldlamini@gmail.com

Read more or act at: http://freemaxwelldlamini.wordpress.com/

Or at: https://www.facebook.com/free.maxwell

‘CHILD DIES IN BUS OPERATOR PROTEST’

Peter kenworthy’s stiffkitten blog is reporting that one death during the Manzini bus operator protest on Monday (19 September 2011) has been confirmed.

It says a child died after breathing in teargas.

Three people were also hit by live ammunition fired by police, it says.

“Confirmed information, which I got from the Secretary General of the Kombi Association Sabelo Dlamini, is that one child lost his life after inhaling a tear gas. Ten police officers were injured and a number of bus operators were injured as they were assaulted with sjamboks [large whips] and fired upon with live rounds and rubber bullets,” it quotes Dumezweni Dlamini from the Swazi NGO Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice saying.

Stiffkitten had previously reported that two people were shot dead by police during the disturbances but this has not been confirmed.

To read the full stiffkitten report, click here.

STILL NO DATE FOR MAXWELL TRIAL

Stiffkitten blog

28 July 2011

SOURCE

Swazi regime stalls student leader’s court case

Is the Swazi government, ruled by absolute monarch Mswati III, trying to bleed student leader Maxwell Dlamini and his lawyers dry financially in the court case against him? Given the long delay of the court case, where he and fellow accused Musa Ngubeni are accused of being in possession of explosives during the North African-inspired Swazi uprising in April, this seems to be the case.

No matter what the reasons for the delay in Maxwell’s and Musa’s case, it is proving a financial problem for the two accused as well as their legal team, however, who are working pro bono [for free]. And there is also the obvious inconvenience of being imprisoned in a system that often tortures and manhandles its detainees and political prisoners, as happened to Maxwell Dlamini before the present court in order to force him to sign a prepared confession.

“The case is still at stand still with the lawyers still trying to get a trial date,” Dumezweni Dlamini of the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, of which Maxwell’s organisation SNUS is a party, says about Maxwell Dlamini’s case. “The case is taking quite some time for his lawyers such that it limits and also digs many resources from their commercial business. We only rely on the volunteerism of these attorneys.”

Other trials against members of Swaziland’s democratic movement certainly seem to show that the regime speculates in such stalling tactics, the most well-known case being that against illegal opposition party, PUDEMO’s, President Mario Masuku.

Masuku was imprisoned for nearly a year before his case was finally heard in 2009. There was no evidence whatsoever to substantiate the accusations of terrorism against him, even though terrorism is defined very loosely in Swaziland, and the judge released him the same day.

See also

ZIMBABWE YOUTH SUPPORT MAXWELL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/zimbabwe-youth-support-maxwell.html

GET READY FOR MORE SWAZI PROTESTS

Stiffkitten

20 July 2011

SOURCE

School principals in Swaziland threaten school closures as protest against government

School principals in Swaziland, a small absolute monarchy in Southern Africa with one million inhabitants, threaten to close down the country’s schools indefinitely on Monday. The purpose of these closures is to protest the recent and unannounced cut-backs on Swaziland’s schools.

The principals are particularly angry at the Swazi government’s non-payment of the fees for Swaziland’s over 100,000 Aids-orphans and vulnerable children who subsequently cannot afford to attend school, and at the proposed salary cuts for school employees. Swaziland’s many thousand Aids-orphans are the result of a HIV-epidemic that has seen over 30% of its adult population infected.

Many in Swaziland believe that the government will not be willing or able to comply with the demands of the school principals. “I do not think that government will be able to pay the school fees by tomorrow [21 July] as demanded,” says Dumezweni Dlamini, Project Coordinator of the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, a Swazi organization that promotes human rights awareness in Swaziland through civic education.

The protests are probably also meant as a thinly veiled protest against the absolutist reign of King Mswati III and the enormous poverty suffered by over three quarters of Swaziland’s population, as are most other protests in the country. All peaceful protests and demonstrations for democratic reform and socio-economic justice are routinely brutally suppressed.

According to Dumezweni Dlamini we should get used to such protests, however. He sees this and other similar protests as an attempt to unite the democratic movement in Swaziland in a concerted effort to bring about democratization and socio-economic justice. “The protests are the beginning of a move towards coordinated mass campaigns,” he says.

To read the full report, click here.

See also

PAY CUT: PRINCIPALS TO SHUT SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/pay-cut-principals-to-shut-schools.html

SWAZI TEACHERS TO STRIKE IF PAY CUT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/swazi-teachers-to-strike-if-pay-cut.html

THREE-DAY STRIKE STARTS 27 JULY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/three-day-strike-starts-27-july.html