Swaziland democracy strikers hold firm

By Norm Dixon

Mass meetings of striking Swaziland workers in the vital sugar and forestry industries voted on February 16 to continue a general strike into its third week. The strikers, organised by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), are demanding that the autocratic King Mswati legalise free political activity and reintroduce constitutional rule.

The SFTU's four national officers, as well as leaders of the outlawed opposition parties, remain in detention facing charges that could result in life imprisonment. The SFTU insists the strike will continue until its demands for democracy are met and its leaders released unconditionally. The government offered to release the trade unionists if the federation agreed to end the strike.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has threatened to impose a total blockade on Swaziland if the SFTU leaders are not released and the charges against them dropped.

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