TROOPS STANDBY TO BREAK STRIKES

The army in Swaziland is on standby to break the public sector strikes that have gripped the kingdom for more than a month.

Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula said soldiers would be available to help workers who wanted to go into work to defy the strike.

The government had already said it would sack any striker who did not return to work by today (24 July 2012). Now the police commissioner has warned that troops will be on hand to ‘ensure the safety’ of people wanting to go back to work.

Teachers and public service workers are on strike for a 4.5 percent salary increase. Over the past weeks Swazi police have attacked peaceful protestors with teargas, rubber bullets and batons in an attempt to stop them gathering and marching.

Strikers have also been voicing concerns over the lack of democracy in Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Magagula met with senior army personnel at the weekend and later told a press conference soldiers and members of the kingdom’s correctional service would be deployed ‘to maintain law and order and to safeguard [workers’] safety. In particular, to ensure that they are not harassed and intimidated in anyway.’

He also banned works from trying to go into workplaces to explain the reasons for their strike. He said anyone who did so ‘would be met with the full extent and might of the law’.

National Public Service and Allied Workers Union Secretary General, Vincent Dlamini, said the involvement of soldiers is unacceptable as the civil servants are not fighting with anyone, but want what is due to them.

See also

STRIKING TEACHERS TO BE SACKED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/striking-teachers-to-be-sacked.html

POLICE SHOOT INNOCENT BYSTANDER

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/police-shoot-innocent-bystander.html

POLICE ATTACK STRIKERS: SCORES INJURED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/police-attack-strikers-scores-injured.html

POLICE ATTACK STRIKERS: SCORES INJURED

Scores of people were injured, some seriously, by police in Swaziland who fired rubber bullets and tear gas and used batons to attack striking public servants.

At least 13 strikers were taken to hospital, eight with wounds caused by rubber bullets.

More than 200 police officers attacked strikers in Coronation Park, Mbabane, the Swazi capital, as they prepared to march in support of a 4.5 percent wage increase. Members of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) were on strike for the day, joining teachers who have been on an indefinite strike for more than two weeks.

Police imprisoned the strikers in the park for most of the morning yesterday (11 July 2012) and refused to allow them to leave for a march through the city. At about 2pm some strikers tried to leave the park to get lunch. It was then that police commanders ordered officers to fire rubber bullets and teargas at the strikers.

The public sector strike had been permitted by the kingdom’s industrial court, but police said a march had not been sanctioned by the city council. Freedom of assembly and the right to protest are severely limited in Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Swazi police routinely attack protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. Last week striking teachers were their latest victim.

WAVE OF STRIKES ACROSS SWAZILAND

A wave of public service strikes is sweeping across Swaziland.

School teachers who have been on indefinite strike for the past two weeks are expected to be joined today (11 July 2012) by civil servants of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) and the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU)

They are seeking a 4.5 percent pay rise to meet the increase in the cost of living over the past year.

Teachers of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) have been leading the way in the protest and were subjected to teargas and rubber bullet attacks by police as they attempted to protest peacefully.

The Swazi Government successfully achieved a court order banning the strike, but some teachers resolved to carry on. Now, the government is trying to get strikers’ leaders jailed for contempt of court.

The strikes are in response to government’s attempts to control public spending. The International Monetary Fund has urged financial reforms in the kingdom before Swaziland is allowed to go to the World Bank and African Development Bank for loans to help pay bills while it restructures its economy.

Unions say workers are being expected to take the brunt of the cuts. Government and members of parliament are continuing to receive large salaries and expenses packages, despite the call for spending cuts.

A total of 98 percent of NAPSAWU members who voted supported today’s strike. They are expected to march in the Swazi capital Mbabane later. The union has not yet decided how long the strike will last