NO PETITIONS IN TODAY’S PROTEST

The following is a news report from the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, about the protest march taking place in Mbabane today (17 November 2010).

SOURCE

No petitions in today’s march

MBABANE – The country’s organised labour unions will proceed with today’s ‘encouragement demonstration’ to be held in the capital city.

However, this time around, there will be no petitions to be delivered to any government ministry, secretary general of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Muzi Mhlanga said yesterday.

Instead, he said they would only deliver speeches at certain points around town while carrying on with the demonstration.

SNAT is one of the organisers of the demonstration, alongside the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL). Mhlanga said they expected every worker, as well as the unemployed, to be part of the demonstration because the issues that would be addressed touched on every person’s livelihood.

"We will be demonstrating tomorrow (today 17 November 2010), definitely. We will meet at the Coronation Park in the morning and then march around town but no petition will be delivered," Mhlanga said.

He went on: "We will address issues like the Public Service Bill, the E55 SEC charge as well as Circular No.1 of 2010 [that gives the Prime Minister and MPs massive pay-offs at the next national elections]. These issues affect everyone, so we expect all people to be part of the demonstration."

Mhlanga said transport to the demonstration has been made available by the different organising unions for members to be able to attend the protest.

"We expect teachers to attend in large numbers. SNAT has prepared transport and we hope other organisations have done the same. Teachers who need to know more about transport details can call SNAT offices," Mhlanga said.

Today’s ‘encouragement demonstration’ is a substitute for the three-day mass protest action that was set to commence this morning until Friday.

The mass protest was called-off as labour unions agreed to give negotiations with government a chance to continue.

Mduduzi Gina, the SFTU Secretary General, said the decision to shelve the three-day mass action was to allow for negotiations to continue between government and the labour unions pertaining to the issues that had given rise to the proposed demonstration in the first place.

Gina said during meetings of the Labour Advisory Board, government had shown progress in so far as addressing some of the issues on the table is concerned.

Mphandlana’s bid to stop cops

MANZINI-Political activist, Mphandlana Shongwe, who has in the past been blocked from attending demonstrations, has since decided to file an urgent application interdicting the police from blocking his participation in the marches.

Shongwe yesterday told this newspaper that he had received legal assistance in drafting papers he will personally file in the court very early today interdicting the police from harassing him during demonstrations.

Shongwe said he should have served the police yesterday but found that by the time he finished drafting his papers they had closed their offices at the Attorney General offices.

When asked who will represent him, Shongwe said he will represent himself.

In the recent past, Shongwe has been forcefully removed whenever there were demonstrations. He is either taken out of the locality where the action takes place or further house arrests.

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) has called a one day mass demonstration today.

SWAZI TORTURE P.M. ‘DECLARES WAR’

More people and organisations are lining up to slam Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister, who called for pro-democracy dissidents and foreigners to be tortured.

Swaziland’s labour unions want him to recant and withdraw his statement that has made headlines across the world.

Dlamini said he wanted to use ‘Sipakatane’ otherwise known as ‘bastinado’, a form of torture that involves flogging the bare soles of a person’s feet with a spiked wooden or metal implement to temporarily or permanently cripple them, on dissidents and foreigners who supported democracy in Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Union leaders say this statement amounts to a ‘declaration of war against foreigners as well as Swazis’.

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, quoted Mduduzi Gina, Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), saying the torture will be used on those fighting for people’s rights.

Dlamini had been annoyed that trade unionists from South Africa had visited Swaziland this week to show solidarity with Swazis fighting for their human rights as part of the Global Day of Action for democracy in Swaziland.

Gina said Dlamini’s statement was ‘a clear indication of war against citizens of other countries. We request the prime minister to withdraw the statement for peace to prevail in the region and to allow government to work in peace with civil society organisations in the region.’

The Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL) said Dlamini’s statement was not going to help the kingdom in any way and described it as ‘cheap talk’.

‘What law did we break by enlisting people from outside? He should say which law we broke instead of threatening us,’ SFL Secretary-General Vincent Ncongwane said.

He said the PM took advantage of his access to the media to issue a statement that he would not repeat to the outside world.

Meanwhile, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) said workers had a right to express their grievances as per the Industrial Relations Act which gives them freedom of assembly and association.

SWAZI MARCH TO GO AHEAD

Swazi democracy activists say march to proceed despite police intimidation

By The Associated Press (CP)

MANZINI, Swaziland — Democracy activists in Swaziland say they will go ahead with protests despite what they call police intimidation.

On the eve of Tuesday’s march, (7 September 2010) police deported South African trade union leaders who had come to help Swazis plan the protest. Police spokeswoman Wendy Hleta says 'we felt that they had no right to interfere' in the affairs of sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.

Minutes before the march was to begin, Mduzi Gina, head of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, said police raided federation headquarters, taking away South Africans who had been camping there and confiscating signs and pamphlets that had been prepared for the protest.

Gina says police are confirming the march is legal, ‘but they are suppressing it.’

SWAZI POLICE RAID CAMPAIGN HQ

Stiffkitten’s blog reports today (7 September 2010)

At 8.45 am Swazi police raided the offices of the Swazi Federation of Trade Unions. This happened only five minutes before the planned march of the Global Day of Action was to commence. The reason for targeting the SFTU offices was that the march activity was being organised and coordinated from here, and that the police with in doing so are trying to shut down the legal march entirely.

Sources amongst the organisers of the march have said that the march will continue as planned, however, regardless of the immense presence of police officers and vehicles on every corner of the city. Sources from within the Swaziland Democracy Campaign in South Africa have told Africa Contact that the Swazi military have also been deployed in an attempt to intimidate the marchers.

The police have also arrested the Deputy President of PUDEMO, Sukhumbuzo Phakathi, and it has not been possible for the lawyers of PUDEMO to contact him yet.

NOW THEY COME FOR THE WORKERS

The harassment of pro-democracy activists by the Swaziland state is relentless.

The latest victim of state police and an increasingly compliant judiciary is Barnes Dlamini, President of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU).

His home was raided on Monday (21 June 2010) and as with other raids the police claimed they were looking for bombs or bomb-making equipment.

SFTU Deputy Secretary General Vincent Dlamini said the harassment might be connected to a recent International Labor Organization meeting held in Geneva in which Swazi trade unionists and others put the Swaziland government’s record on human rights in a global spotlight.

Vincent Dlamini said, ‘We know what happened just a few days ago in Geneva and obviously government is not happy. This is not so much about looking for bombs and other material but rather about intimidation, inducing fear and harassing us with the hope that we will be boggled into silence.’

Barnes Dlamini told the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, the search of his home lasted three hours and he was then taken to the police station to be interrogated by ‘about 18 police officers’.