For those who missed it, here is a report on BBC World Service radio about the protest in Swaziland to demand the government pay more attention to people with HIV and that ARV drugs are made more readily available.
The report is from the BBC Africa Today podcast of 27 July 2011.
For more on this story, click here.
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Swaziland Democracy Campaign
Statement
27 July 2011
The Swazi Regime in Crisis, Fails to Block Union Action......But Gets Lifeline from SA!
On Tuesday (26 July 2011) in the High Court in Swaziland, the Swazi Regime failed to block the combined forces of the trade union movement from demonstrating their right to protest against a range of reactionary government measures that are being forced upon them.
The Swazi regime is desperately trying to push through a swathe of measures that will impact negatively on the living standards of workers, and especially the most vulnerable amongst them. Apart from meddling with the National Provident Fund, fiddling with the taxation system and restricting legitimate industrial action, the regime is also desperate to maintain the nefarious mechanisms it uses to secretly siphon off money intended for development to finance its opulent lifestyle, most notably through Tibiyo Takangwane and Tisuka.
These are essentially personalised trust funds controlled by the Royal Elite, into which payments are made from public and private funds without a blush of shame, while the majority of the population remain impoverished. The Unions are rightly demanding that they be taken under public control and be subjected to public accountability and scrutiny. The Unions are also campaigning for reform of the Tender Board to prevent further corruption and state inspired kick-backs.
The court case represents a remarkable victory for the Trade Unions. They were able to put a powerful and legally irrefutable argument to the Court illustrating the failure of the regime to engage as they are supposed to do according to their own rules and regulations, and to also point out the impact such enforced measures would have on the well-being of workers. Despite the bias of the courts in Swaziland in general, the arguments put by the Unions could not be countered by the state who were left paralysed and looking ridiculous.
Undoubtedly, the mass mobilisations beginning to take shape outside of the court room in several centres across the country were also important for putting pressure on the regime and its courts. The combined union movement, with the support of students and many other sections of civil society, have today launched the first in a series of strikes, stoppages and other forms of protest against this cluster of ill conceived and anti-worker measures, and for once, the courts had to give way and agree.
Of course, all those who will take to the streets today and over the next period are under no illusions. They know that the regime will be provocative, that it will start to arrest and intimidate protesters. That it will use all the forces at its disposal to undermine the legitimate workers struggle, including use of the notorious Suppression of Terrorism Act.
This is a regime that is running scared. The economy is now widely acknowledged as being on the brink of complete collapse. The appalling mismanagement of the treasury is now globally notorious, to the point where even the conservative IMF and World Bank have criticised the regime for being unable to separate out Royal Profiteering from managing a government account. All the more reason why it is completely dumfounding to learn that this regime has been recklessly bailed out by the South African government.
It has come to the attention of the SDC that the SA Government have agreed to provide R1.3bn to the regime, and when civil society organisations in Swaziland itself and outside of the country, have requested that the SA government do the right thing, and refuse to bail out this rotten despotic blemish on the face of the continent.
Details of the ‘loan’ are still to emerge, and we still await a public announcement, indicating that the SA Government is aware that there will be public outrage, and rightly so. There is absolutely no doubt in the minds of civil society activists in Swaziland that the bail out will strengthen the hand of the regime, both in terms of maintaining its reactionary and bloodstained security services, and in providing a lifebelt for the lifestyle of the regime.
The South African government has lost a golden opportunity to show how a progressive government can support the growth of democracy on our continent, how it can behave differently to the neo-colonialists who seek to control and further subjugate the poor for their own narrow interests, and how a progressive foreign policy would not arm the oppressors, but seek to liberate the people. Why has the SA government not taken advice from those on the ground fighting against injustice? Do the SA Government have such a short memory?
What did the ANC leadership in exile say to those governments like Mrs Thatchers, who wanted to negotiate with the apartheid regime without involving the ANC and the Mass Democratic Movement? Has the SA Government no sense of what it means when liberation voices say ‘Nothing for us, without us’.
We anticipate that the SA Government will justify its decisions to bail out this despotic regime with reference to maintaining the peace, avoiding bloodshed, and to prevent further migration. We anticipate a stream of grand sounding diplomatic assurances, that the regime has been told (secretly no doubt) that they must reform, and allow for ‘normal’ political processes to unfold. But we remain unconvinced. For a start, you do not need a degree in economics to realise that this regime is absolutely incapable of either managing an economy, or of wanting to introduce democratic controls. You do not tackle barbarism by financing it!
The South African government must explain to the people of Swaziland what they have agreed with the regime. They must explain to the South African people who is liable for repayment when the regime defaults, as it surely will. Comrades in the ANC, COSATU and Civil Society must demand an explanation, and especially when the Study Group agreed at the last NGC on Swaziland has still to report.
Thankfully, the democratic forces on the ground in Swaziland continue to grow and deepen their influence, despite the antics of the crisis ridden Royal Regime, and the misconstrued support they have received from Governments who really should know better. The comrades of the Trade Union Movement, of PUDEMO and all other democratic forces deserve the support of all those who want to see democratic change in Swaziland, that represents the honourable, and only practical way forward.
28 July 2011
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
29 July 2011
Mswati snubs democracy talks
Mbabane - Swazi King Mswati III turned down an invitation to attend talks today (29 July 2011)\on democratic reforms organised by civic society, including banned political movements and labour unions, officials said.
"We had invited the king as the head of state to officially open the event but we received communication that he won't attend," said Khangezile Dlamini, secretary of the Council of Churches.
"But that does not mean we won't continue," Dlamini told AFP.
The "national convention" was opening today with the main talks due on Saturday, aiming to map out a direction on how Africa's last absolute monarchy can begin negotiations towards democracy.
Dlamini said Swaziland needed a transition to democracy and therefore civic society groups had taken the initiative to give government a blueprint of how the country could achieve multi-party democracy.
"We see this as an opportunity for civic groups to meet and draw out a road map on how the country could begin the process of political negotiations," she said.
Political parties in Swaziland have been banned since 1973 and recently activists have been jailed and harassed by police.
Crumbling economy
Mswati faces growing dissent over his authoritarian rule and is blamed for the crumbling economy, as a deepening financial crisis has left his government unable to pay its bills.
Pro-democracy groups, Aids activists and labour unions have staged unprecedented protests across the impoverished kingdom since April, complaining about the economic meltdown which is threatening the livelihood of the 1.2 million population.
The country is seeking a bailout from neighbouring South Africa, after failing to secure loans from international lenders, which have insisted on reforms before granting loans.
Swaziland Federation of Labour secretary Vincent Ncongwane said unions will attend the convention to show their commitment to dialogue.
"Yes, we are attending. We don't want the regime to use our refusal to attend the convention as an excuse to seek the much needed bail-out, arguing that we don't want to talk," Ncongwane said.
See also
DEMOCRATIC SWAZILAND CONVENTION
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/democratic-swaziland-convention.html
The Economist
Swaziland
A king at bay
Africa’s last absolute monarchy may be falling apart
THE government has run out of cash, and no one seems willing to lend it any without radical reforms which Mswati III, Swaziland’s king, seems loth even to consider. But the pressure is mounting. Civil servants, faced with wage cuts of 10%, are threatening to strike. Schools, deprived of state subsidies, may have to close. In a country with the world’s highest incidence of HIV/AIDS, clinics are running out of antiretroviral drugs for want of funds. Government suppliers, owed millions of dollars in arrears, have begun to demand cash on delivery, which the government cannot produce. The 43-year-old king has even cancelled this year’s celebrations to mark his 25 years on the throne.
This is the worst crisis that little Swaziland, locked into the north-east corner of South Africa, has suffered since independence from Britain in 1968. Most of its revenue comes from a regional customs union dominated by South Africa. But last year, thanks to an economic slowdown, this income, really a disguised subsidy, fell by almost two-thirds. As government spending usually accounts for nearly half of Swaziland’s GDP, this has clobbered the economy. Thousands of businesses went bust as the government slashed spending.
Unemployment rose sharply, with some 40% of working-age people already without jobs. Of Swaziland’s 1.2m people, nearly three-quarters live on less than $2 a day.
Earlier this year the World Bank offered to help bail the country out—on condition of certain reforms. The government agreed to halve its budget deficit with tax rises and austerity measures, including public-sector job losses. As it has met almost none of these conditions, international loans have been withheld. Because it is not a democracy, Swaziland fails to qualify for budget aid from donors such as the European Union. So the king has had to go cap in hand to his rich neighbour, South Africa.
As a Zulu traditionalist and polygamist like the king, President Jacob Zuma might have been willing quietly to oblige. Moreover, he is formally engaged to one of Mswati’s nieces. But the pro-democracy uprising in the Arab world has increased the pressure on Mr Zuma, at home and abroad, to treat despots in his own part of the globe more sternly.
His own political future may even depend on it. In the run-up to next year’s conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), held every five years, when all the party’s leaders come up for re-election, he is anxious to keep on side such powerful critics as the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the ANC Youth League, both of which strongly support Swaziland’s pro-democracy movement.
Swazi opposition leaders, who see the economic crisis as a blessing in disguise, have begged Mr Zuma not to hand their embattled monarch any cash unless he promises sweeping democratic as well as fiscal reforms. At a meeting with the king in mid-July, he is understood to have laid down some minimal conditions, including a modicum of political reforms, in return for the $220m-300m Swaziland is believed to have requested. With his back to the wall, the king is pondering his options.
