The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland
(TUCOSWA) has declared a national protest action to begin on Tuesday 18
September 2018. From Tuesday TUCOSWA will lead mass demonstrations throughout Swaziland,
focused mainly on four major cities and towns across the four regions: Mbabane,
Manzini, Nhlangano and Siteki. From Tuesday it will effectively be a national
shutdown as all workers will be on the streets all over Swaziland, protesting
against the Mswati autocracy.
The workers’ federation will
be raising a number of people’s demands with the Mswati regime which will be
communicated soon. The most recent TUCOSWA protest action was held on 29 June
2018. In that action, the federation called for a cost of living adjustment, setting
of the national minimum wage at E3,500.00 (US$ 234.27), increase in elderly grants
to E1,500.00 (US$100.40), legalisation of solidarity strikes, increase in
health and education funding, and an end to arbitrary evictions especially on
the working class and poor, among many other demands. The absolute monarch
responded to these demands by unleashing the royal police on workers who had been
marching peacefully on the streets of Mbabane.
Demonstrations led by TUCOSWA on 29 June 2018 in Mbabane City |
The Communist Party of
Swaziland fully supports TUCOSWA and all the workers of our country in these
struggles. Since the regime is desperate to get all workers to participate in
the fake elections which will elect a puppet parliament for Mswati, scheduled
for 21 September 201, we can only expect increased repression during the
demonstrations.
On 24 August 2018 Mswati,
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, displayed his heightened desperation
to protect his fake elections by all means necessary. He ordered his police to
fire live bullets against teachers who had been peacefully protesting on the
streets of Manzini. It was, among other acts, the bravery of a teacher who
jumped onto one gun-wielding policeman that prevented what could have been a
massacre. That gun-wielding police has since been rewarded with a promotion for
his cruel efforts, while the teacher who stopped the police’s criminality was
arrested and slapped with trumped up charges.
On 29 June 2018 TOCSWA led a peaceful march on the streets of Mbabane in Swaziland. They were met with brutality form the royal police. |
The Communist Party of
Swaziland calls upon all learners in primary schools, high schools and tertiary
institutions to join these protests. Unemployed people also have the duty to
form part of the action and fight for their future. The sham tinkhundla
elections must be boycotted and disrupted. This will be a major contribution
towards the democratisation of the country.
Issued
by the Communist Party of Swaziland
Contact:
Kenneth Kunene
General Secretary
+27 72 594 3971
Or
Njabulo Dlamini
International Organiser
Mobile: +2687 603 9844
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