Monday 27 September 2021:- In the past few weeks, primary and secondary students in Swaziland engaged in protest actions demanding better learning conditions, the release of political prisoners and democracy, among other demands.
At least
16 schools have engaged in protests since 15 September 2021 when Hosea High
School students abandoned classes and protested, demanding the releases of the
local political prisoners and for Mswati to step down.
The
unrest in the schools comes after the political turmoil which intensified
around May 2021, led by the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS),
calling for the end of police violence and for democracy.
A common
demand amongst the protesting students is Democracy Now and along with the
release of all political prisoners. Eve primary schools have engaged in
protests in the past two weeks.
Swaziland
is a small country in sub-Saharan Africa, ruled by Africa’s last absolute
monarch, Mswati III, with a population of around 1,3 million. Close to 70
percent of the people live below the poverty line while the monarch is among
the richest heads of states in Africa.
The authoritarian
regime has been pushed to the corner by the recent students’ protests that it
has even hinted on deploying its armed forces to all schools to intimidate the
pupils and prevent protests. This would mark an addition to the schools in
which police are already deployed.
Schools
that have been involved in protests include Elulakeni High School, Hosea
Primary and High School, Hlutse Central High School, Mvimbheko High School,
Nkhanini High and Primary Schools, Madulini High School, Mavula High School,
Qomintaba High School, Ngozi High School, Jericho High and Primary Schools,
Ngololweni High School, Ngudzeni High School and Velebantfu High School.
These
schools are from different geographic locations and had a long list of diverse
demands.
The
demands that were most common across the students include, but not limited to, free
and quality high school education, quality internet connection for online
learning, availability of nutritious food instead of the normal expired food,
construction and installation of quality libraries and computer centres at
schools, proper security system for the schools, an end to top-up fees in
primary schools since education is supposed to be free, and democratisation of
the country.
Poverty
has gripped the small nation of about 1.3 million people, with close to 70
percent of the population living below the poverty line.
Political
unrests and calls for democracy in the kingdom have intensified this year but were
met with brutal force from the regime particularly during June and July 2021. Over
70 people were massacred from the night of 29 June 2021 until early July, with hundreds
more maimed and arrested.
To
conceal the massacre, the regime shut down internet services as the military
shot and killed people in the streets, torturing many. Since the end of June
2021, the Mswati autocracy has arrested about 700 people. Many remain in prison
due to refusal and unaffordability of bail.
This led
to the despot closing schools under false notions of the coronavirus pandemic.
Schools were reopened 3 weeks ago and that is when the first round of class
boycotts started.
Communist
Party of Swaziland General Secretary, Thokozane Kenneth Kunene, says, “The students’
protests quickly spreading across the country are a sign that the tyrant has
been rejected by the masses. This is only the beginning to an end of a long
journey towards the liberation of the Swazi people from the shackles of the tinkhundla
regime and it gives a clear picture that indeed victory is certain.”
In July
2021, the Mswati autocracy arrested two members of parliament for calling for
democracy in Swaziland. They were charged with contravening the Suppression of
Terrorism Act.
Another
political prisoner who has endured tinkhundla brutality is Amos Mbedzi. A South
African who stood up in solidarity with the oppressed people of Swaziland, Amos
Mbedzi has been in jail since his arrest on 20 September 2008, convicted and
sentenced to 85 years imprisonment four years later.
Amos
Mbedzi remains in jail. The Mswati autocracy has refused to release him even
though Mbedzi has fallen ill with a stroke, relies on a wheelchair to move
around, and requires urgent medical attention and supervision.
The
Communist Party of Swaziland calls for the strengthening of unity among the
oppressed, premised on the fight for the total dismantling of the autocracy,
for total democracy.
CPS
Press Services
--
Contacts:
Thokozane
Kenneth Kunene
General
Secretary
(+27)72
594 3971
Pius
Vilakati
International
Secretary
(+27)81
353 3383
Email: cpswa.org@gmail.com
Facebook: Communist
Party Of Swaziland – CPS
