Invitation of union leaders to a meeting without agenda by Mswati’s prime minister an attempt to fool and pacify workers

In a bid to pacify workers, Mswati’s new prime minister, Ambrose Dlamini, has invited leaders of public sector unions for “just a greeting” today, Friday 9 November 2018. Other than this greeting session, the meeting has no agenda. It follows the same fashion as the hated royal-kraal meetings which are convened by Mswati without any agenda or any serious intention to resolve the problems of the people. Everything about the prime minister’s intentions is shrouded in secrecy and speculation.

This has all the hallmarks of the regime’s evil attempts to weaken workers’ struggles by, first, separating workers from the leaders, and, secondly, attempting to coerce or buy the leaders into some secretive pact(s) which workers would not be aware of and on which they would not have been consulted. The regime’s objective is to make union leaders see some reasonableness that Mswati’s government is unable to accede to workers’ demands, and thus influence the leaders to convince workers into naively believing that the government cares about their plight. If this becomes successful, the workers will be frustrated and unconditionally return to work. In the end, none of the demands raised by workers would have been met. They would be postponed indefinitely.

Workers waged militant struggles against the Mswati regime this year, 2018, raising concrete demands, including a 6.55 percent cost of living adjustment, the end of the arbitrary colonial style evictions that have been happening in Swaziland, and many others. Substantially, Mswati feels threated by the resoluteness of the workers and is now playing a divide-and-rule game.

It is therefore of extreme importance that union leaders carefully consider this open invitation by Mswati’s puppet and be united on how to approach the matter. By this “just to greet” meeting, the regime is attempting to deceitfully impose its own agenda on workers. The leaders have no choice but to show a united force, but revolutionary unity. Since it appears that they will be attending the fake meeting, they have to remember the interests of the rank and file workforce and impose a workers’ agenda in that meeting. The meeting should be forced to transform, there and then, into a real workers’ meeting, no longer merely a peaceful tea and biscuits session, which serves the regime’s interests.

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) will continue to support the struggles of workers in all their facets. Specifically, the CPS will continue its campaign of mobilising workers from the shop floor, engaging them on the Swaziland revolution. Our 2018-1019 Red October campaign is focused on maximum mobilisation in the maximum number of sites against the Mswati regime. Workers are naturally a part of this campaign of the Communist Party.

Issued by the Communist Party of Swaziland

Contact:

Kenneth Kunene

General Secretary

+27 72 594 3971

Or

Njabulo Dlamini

International Organiser

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Email: cpswa.org@gmail.com

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