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.
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.
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 20th 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.
Vilakatisaid, ‘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).
The following is a statement issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN]to mark the 20th anniversary of Black Wednesday, when armed troops and police invaded the University of Swaziland campus to attack students who were demonstrating peacefully.
Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] would like to send a strong message of solidarity to Swazi tertiary school students on the 20th commemoration of Black Wednesday.
Black Wednesday was a very tragic date for many innocent students who were brutally assaulted by the country's military forces under orders from the king. This was after they had staged a strike in protest of poor catering facilities among other things.
While the student protests might have yielded minor gains, the plight of Swazi students in general has gotten worse. The country's tertiary institutions remain under resourced & neglected by a regime that sends its own children to expensive exorbitantly expensive institutions outside the country. Moreover, the government aims to stop giving away student loans for tertiary education, a move that will hamper the levels of education in a country already faced with severe economic crises.
As a result it is appropriate that this day be a time for reflecting on the future of students even as they commemorate the past.
Issued By the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa Chapter
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.
The newly-elected President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) has been talking about political oppression in the kingdom.
Maxwell Dlamini is in Denmark to talk about the present situation in Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
Dlamini has also been interviewed for the stiffkitten blogsite.
He calls for a peaceful change to democracy and says that Swazi students have always been in the forefront of the political struggle for democracy in Swaziland.
‘All we want is a democratic government. We do not want to get rid of the king – we just want to elect our own government and be able to criticise whatever it does. We need the king as a cultural symbol, although I think he will leave the country if Swaziland becomes a democracy. He has got too much pride,’ Dlamini says.
