STUDENTS DEFY SWAZI POLICE

The following message was sent to member of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) Facebook site on Monday (24 January 2011). It concerns harassment by the Swazi Police of activists in the student movement.

Brave Swazi Students defy Royal Swaziland Police

Comrades and friends of the Swaziland Revolution are informed that the students of Swaziland now live in fear of their lives as the Royal regime of Swaziland keeps harassing the students of Swaziland, especially those affiliated under the Swaziland National Union of Students [SNUS].

It all began on the day the youth of Swaziland, led by the Swaziland Youth Congress [SWAYOCO], were on their way to attend the World Festival for Youth and Students,held in South Africa. The bus in which they were travelling in had to be stopped a number of times by the Royal Police of Swaziland and subjected to arbitrary search whilst other vehicles were allowed to pass without any hassle. This happened on the 12th of December, 2010. When they reached the Ngwenya [Oshoek] border post the Royal Swaziland Police recorded their names on a separate sheet of paper, an act which is never done normally.



Problems continued when they came back from the festival. After some rigorous search on the students by the Royal Police two students were placed aside by the police. These are Comrade Thembela Ngcamphala and the Deputy Secretary General [DSG] of SNUS, Comrade Samkelo Ginindza. According to Ngcamphala ‘upon our arrival at Ngwenya (Oshoek) border post on the morning of Wednesday 22 December, 2010, the Swazi delegation was subjected to rigorous search by the Royal Swaziland Police for any material they felt was not allowed into Swaziland. I was in possession of the daily publications of the World Festival for Youth and Students. I also had the Festival and the World Declaration documents in my possession. I was taken aside together with Comrade Samkelo and we were led to a Royal police officer known as ‘Dube’ where they confiscated our documents on democracy and took our passport numbers and phone numbers’. They were both informed that police needed time to go over the documents and that they would be called later. On Tuesday 28 December 2010 the two Comrades received a call from Dube, the police officer, ordering them that they appear at the Police Regional Head Quarters in Mbabane on Thursday 30 December 2010.



Owing to the revolutionary spirit that these two comrades have, they, after consultation with leaders of SWAYOCO, decided to defy the Royal Police. This dealt an embarrassing blow to the Royal police since they had ordered these two Comrades to leave holidays and report to them. This prompted the same Dube to call the two Comrades on January 3, 2011, and threaten them with death for defying the police. ‘Dube posed some threats stating that they were going to deal with me, even if I can switch off my phone for good and that they had got all the gadgets to do that. He then ordered me to call them, but I continued to defy them. I am not answerable to the police’, stressed Comrade Thembela. The Royal police continue intimidating the two students up to this far.



It is not the first time that police have harassed progressive students of Swaziland. Pius Vilakati, a former President of the Student Movement in Swaziland, is currently in exile. He escaped Swaziland following similar threats by the Royal Swaziland Police, after he was said to have made ‘terrorist statements’ during the memorial service of Sipho Jele who himself had been murdered by the Royal police.

Comrade Thembela is one of the student leaders that were abducted together with Comrade Pius on the 10th of February, 2010. Comrade Thembela was later dumped about 60 kilometres East of Swaziland after undergoing some torture in the forests there that same day.



To this day the two Comrades receive threats from the Royal police and yet they remain defiant. SNUS calls for the continued support of the two Comrades from all democracy-loving people in Swaziland and around the world.

THAT WAS THE SWAZI YEAR THAT WAS

Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) has published this ‘review of 2010’ in the latest edition (Winter 2010) of its quarterly magazine ACTSA News: ‘Focus on Swaziland’.

Throughout 2010 the efforts of progressive forces in Swaziland to campaign for democracy and rights have been met with an increasing brutality.

In January student protests against education funding cuts were met with a heavy handed response. Colleges and the University were shut down, students were detained, and the police were accused of opening fire on protesters and torturing a prisoner who had been detained for taking photos.

On 1 May ‘non-workers’ who attempted to attend a workers day rally were arrested. All were well known activists who had been invited to speak at the event. One rally attendee, Sipho Jele, was detained for wearing a t-shirt promoting the banned political party PUDEMO. He was later found dead in a police cell. Police have claimed that Jele committed suicide, however, an independent forensic pathologist’s report found no signs of suicide.

In June, the International Labour Organisation criticised Swaziland’s human rights record. The Government responded by raiding the homes of union activists.

In September, police raided a meeting of pro democracy supporters in a Manzini hotel, arresting nearly 50 individuals. Foreign nationals in the group were questioned and forcibly deported, and a number of Swazi campaigners were detained and interrogated. Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini later threatened foreign pro democracy activists who visit the country with torture.

In spite of increased harassment and intimidation, the resolve of pro democracy campaigners in Swaziland has not weakened. In November activists marched through the streets of the capital Mbabane to highlight their calls for democracy and rights and oppose forced evictions and demolitions in a number of suburban communities.

SWAZI GOVERNMENT FAILS HIV TEST

This is a statement issued on World AIDS Day (1 December 2010) by the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS).

SOURCE

SNUS STATEMENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY



We join the whole world in commemorating the world AIDS day. This is a day where we humbly ourselves and commemorate the patriots of this wonderful world who had consciously or unconsciously fallen victims of this viciousness diseases. We commemorate this day completely aware that AIDS claims more lives than the total sum of victims of wars we had fought in the past.

We, as the progressive students of Swaziland are aware that our beloved country, Swaziland has the highest HIV-AIDS prevalence rate in the whole world. It is totally embarrassing and unbelievable that in a small country likes Swaziland, where there is a population of about a million people, 26% of them are HIV positive. However, as the students of Swaziland, we are not surprised as this a direct consequence of the arrogant and undemocratic government that we have in the country. We are aware that the government has plunged the country into the socio-economic and political quagmire we are in now.

Our government has immensely failed to come up with a clear participatory campaign to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS. The government led by the illegally appointed prime minister has over the years failed to come up with strategies and policies to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS. Our government has allowed an inhuman and degrading environment which has become a fertile ground for the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Two thirds of the Swazi population lives below poverty line, a number of young people in the country are unemployed and do not have formal education. The continual exploitation of our brothers and sisters by foreigners in Matsapha industrial site has contributed immensely in the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Our sister and brothers work long hours and are paid very little. This has led to the youth to resort into unhealthy means in finding a living. We acknowledge the work done by the government of distributing ARVs, but what can ARVs do to a hungry person in Msunduza with no food, job and proper medication. What can ARVs do to a person who goes to a hospital and finds no medication for the diseases that you become prone to when infected with HIV and aids?

Our government hospitals have been turned into half way station where sick people wait for their cruel and inhuman death. Government has over the years failed to provide up-to-standard healthy facilities which will come in handy in fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS. Our government hospitals lack well motivated and rewarded personnel to take care of the sick people. They work in terrible conditions where there are no proper equipment and medication for doing their work properly.

After all, what can we expect from a bunch of clowns masquerading as legislators? What can you expect from a minister who is suppose to be a role model, who publicly say when she says ‘no’, she actually means ‘yes’? What can you expect from this government where you have a senior prince and a chairman of Liqoqo (king’s advisory body) who impregnates young girls and openly deny the existence of HIV and AIDS. What can you expect from a government where a legislator publicly says all those with HIV and aids must be marked, labelled and branded?

On this historic day, we unapologetically call for accessible, affordable and relevant education system that will be informed by the socio economic demands of the country. This is because, not only is education a right and entitlement, but it is also crucial for tackling global poverty, improving health, halting the spread of HIV and AIDS and enabling people to play a full and active role in their communities.

We also call upon all the young people of Swaziland to take charge of their own lives and future. We call upon them to abstain from sex and to always have protected sex if they cannot abstain. We also encourage all Swazi people to be faithfully to their partners and stick to one partner.

In conclusion, we are aware that our countryside is littered with graves of young people. It is littered with graves of our beloved sisters and brothers, patriots of this country and future doctors and engineers of our beloved motherland who had fallen victims of this deadly disease. Therefore, there is no time to rest; we need to combat HIV and AIDS. We need to restore human dignity and call for a democratic government that will allow popular participation of the people of Swaziland and seek to empower and develop its citizens. HIV- AIDS and Tinkhundla must be swept away.

POLICE TORTURE STUDENT LEADER

A prominent student leader in Swaziland was tortured by Swazi police and told if he was ever seen again at a political demonstration he would be shot in cold blood.

Pius Vilakati, of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), talked for the first time publicly about his ordeal. Police put a ‘Shoprite’ plastic shopping bag over his head and held it tight until he was close to suffocating.

Vilakati, who was president of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) Student Representative Council, spoke at a commemoration for the 20^th anniversary of Black Wednesday, a time when armed troops and police invaded the UNISWA campus and attacked defenceless students who were peacefully protesting.

Vilakati and other student leaders were abducted by police in February 2010 after holding a mass demonstration and taken to Manzini police headquarters where cops ‘hurled unspeakable insults at us for planning a demonstration against the government’.

Vilakati said the police were ordered by their superiors to ‘be as vicious as possible’.

Vilakati said, ‘A shiver went down my spine when I heard such words. I was later transported to Bhunya police station where things got worse. The police took a simple plastic (yes, plastic) bag. I still remember vividly that it was a SHOPRITE branded plastic. They covered my face with it many times, only giving me a few (but not more than two) seconds to breathe between intervals.

‘It was one of the most horrible days of my life. I don’t know whether this is the famous “tubing” style. As they were suffocating me they were telling me to desist from trying to make the country ungovernable. They would continuously tell me that Swaziland is the king’s country and not a people’s country as I used to say.’

Later Vilakati was transported back to Manzini where he met the ‘top brass’.

He said, ‘Amongst such dangerous men was a man who introduced himself to me as the assistant regional commander. After a very long talk about me and the students trying to “topple the government” he told me straight in the eye that if I could ever be spotted in any demonstration or political gathering they would not hesitate to shoot and kill me.’

Vilakati was not cowed by the threat and in May 2010 he spoke at the funeral of Sipho Jele, an activist in the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), who had died in police custody after being arrested for wearing a PUDEMO T-shirt.

Vilakati said, ‘I had to hide myself in the van which was carrying the coffin after the memorial service. Later in the night I simply had to escape from Swaziland. I had received messages that the police did not just want to arrest me but simply to kill me.

‘The PUDEMO leadership told me that they could not risk the death of another comrade in the hands of the police. I simply obliged on such a revolutionary call and escaped Swaziland.

‘I am currently well looked after by Swaziland's revolutionary party, PUDEMO, and I now have even more fire and the zeal to fight for democracy in Swaziland, in our lifetime.'

He told his audience, ‘I know that the UNISWA administration uses my name as an example to discourage you from defending your rights. I know that they claim I lost my education because of my inclinations. Well, they must be ashamed of themselves because I am continuing with my studies here [South Africa] and in a short while I will be in possession of my LLB [law] Degree. In fact it will be even better than the one I would have acquired at UNISWA. So, if the administration tells you that I have lost on my education please let them be aware of such information.’

The full text of Vilakati's speech, which includes an explanation of why he is a PUDEMO member and his call for students and progressives to show solidarity in the fight for democracy in Swaziland, was posted to members of the SNUS Facebook site yesterday (10 November 2010).

To read the full speech, click here.

20 YEARS ON: REPRESSION REMAINS

Not much has changed for students in Swaziland since the day 20 years ago this Sunday (14 November 2010) that armed troops and police invaded the University of Swaziland to brutally suppress a peaceful student demonstration.

In the present day, the main progressive student organisation in Swaziland, the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), states that there is political repression in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and student leaders are being targeted.

‘We still have an undemocratic government and a military state, [and] the oppression, exploitation and repression of the students and the population at large has reached new greater heights.’

In a statement SNUS said, ‘A number of students leaders have been forced out of the country's institution of higher learning, eg Wandile Dludlu (former president of the Swaziland national union of students and chairperson of Uniswa, Kwaluseni Campus,2005-2006), Bhekie Khumalo (former president of Swaziland College of Technology 2008-2009 and the Swaziland National Union of Students (2009-2010), while others has been forced out of the country, the latest victim being the former president of Uniswa (2009- 2010) and human right activist Pius Vilakati who was forced to leave his studies at the university with one paper left for him to finish his studies.

‘He was being sought by the military police for making a speech on behalf of the students in a funeral of a worker and human right activist [Sipho Jele] who died in police custody for wearing a T-shirt of one of banned political groups.’

SNUS said, ‘All this victimisation, harassment and physical assault of our leaders will not dampen our spirits in a quest for a better country but it will fuel our struggle for democracy and sound education system.’

On 14 November 1990, the Swazi government dispatched armed police and military units to the Uniswa campus to disperse peaceful boycotting students. It was a crackdown of unprecedented violence in the history of the university. In the ensuing melee several students were crippled for life, hundreds injured and one woman successfully sued the government for the loss of an eye.

The students were boycotting classes over a number of issues, including the poor quality of food provided in residence to extremely low allowances and lack of faculty lectures. Among their demands was that a student and lecturer who were members of the banned political organisation, PUDEMO, and who had been charged and acquitted of high treason, should be reinstated at the university.