BY JABULANE MATSEBULA
The Commonwealth went ahead with the Global 2003 Smart Partnership International Dialogue (SPID) conference in Swaziland on August 12-16. In deciding to hold the conference, the Commonwealth showed total disregard for the views expressed by local people's organisations that the conference would undermine the pro-democratic campaign to isolate the lawless and brutal dictatorship of absolute monarch King Mswati III.
Local organisations also warned that the conference would legitimise the political platform for the Swazi government. Since the November 28, 2002, statement in which the government publicly declared that it believes itself to be above the law, its political credibility has suffered tremendously at home and internationally. However, Commonwealth organisers of SPID were apparently blind to the Swaziland government's outrageous positions.
The Mswati regime has a culture of unilateralism, secrecy, violent repression and intolerance that cannot be denied. Quite predictably, this culture was displayed for all to see in the lead up to and during the SPID conference. Pro-democratic groups and trade unions made it known that they would engage in peaceful mass protest during the conference. They warned the international conference organisers that he regime would respond violently to the peaceful expression of pubic grievances.
In the lead up to the conference, Swaziland experienced massive industrial action organised by public sector workers in support of their demand for a 36% salary increment. Ironically, the security forces were awarded a hefty increment which they cashed in just a day before the beginning of the SPID conference and the mass public protests.
On the first day of the conference, there was an obvious presence of the security forces in workplaces and on every street corner of the main cities and towns. Even prison warders came out of prisons to patrol the streets and workplaces. Brute force and intimidation was an obvious intention.
On August 13, the second day of the conference, in the sugar-growing rural region, the armed forces fired rubber bullets and set upon peaceful protesters with batons. Protesters ran for their lives and took cover in the canefields and nearby houses. However, they were pursued and shot in their backs. The security forces broke into the houses and attacked defenceless and frightened people. Women and children in these houses, who were not even part of the peaceful protest, were also set upon by the security forces indiscriminately.
It was a savage attack which left scores of people with serious injuries (see reports by The Times of Swaziland and The Swazi Observer, August 14).
In Mbabane, the capital city, about 10 kilometres from the conference venue, 5000 peaceful protesters experienced similar attacks. According to local reports, the security forces ruled the city as every person on the street, including hawkers, were violently set upon. A senior official at the ministry of agriculture, Ben Zwane, was shot in the neck.
Even the clergy were not spared. Police fired a teargas canister at Reverend Hanson Gwenya, a member of the Justice and Peace Committee (The Swazi Observer, August 14). While King Mswati III was telling the conference that his government endorsed political and economic dialogue, his thugs were engaged in wanton violence against Swazi citizens peacefully expressing legitimate grievances, as well as against men, women and children who were not even involved in the protests.
Police reportedly fired live ammunition on demonstrators gathering at the Tembankhulu stadium in the eastern part of the kingdom, wounding at least one worker.
The Swazi people's protests were supported with solidarity actions across the border in South Africa. Norman Mokoena, protest organiser for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said that traffic at Oshoek, the busiest border crossing between South Africa and Swaziland, was limited to a truck an hour because of the presence of protesters. There was a heavy police and army presence.
"Despite the police and soldiers, we still marched at Oshoek and managed to slow down business", Mokoena said.
In a desperate attempt to justify its use of indiscriminate brute force, police arrested a number of people, including trade unionist Roland Rudd, an activist of the opposition People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), for allegedly possessing "explosive material" — a can of petrol, some empty bottles and candles. Rudd was picked up, beaten and led to his car where he was shown the alleged "explosive material". Rudd was subsequently locked up and further subjected to severe beatings.
According to the Swazi News (August 16), Rudd showed the court on August 15 the injuries he sustained and applied for bail on medical grounds and because he feared he may be subjected to further beatings. Despite the obvious evidence of brutality and the danger of continued detention, the magistrate refused bail.
The leader of the Swaziland Federation of Labour Vincent Ncongwane has also been framed in the alleged "explosive material" case. Although Ncongwane has not been arrested yet, he has been subjected to constant police harassment and it is highly likely that he will be locked up.
PUDEMO has condemned the violent attack on our people in the strongest terms possible. We appeal to all organisations, governments and persons committed to the principles of human rights, dialogue and peace to condemn the Mswati regime's actions and demand an end to state violence.
We appeal to you to make representations to the government of Swaziland on the following urgent issues:
- That the police must cease assaulting Roland Rudd with immediate effect;
- That Rudd has unrestricted access to medical treatment;
- That Rudd and all other persons held on these trumped-up charges be released immediately;
- That police stop harassing trade union leaders and political activists involved in the peaceful protest; and
- That the armed forces immediately desist attacks on men, women and children whose crime is merely to be in their own homes and going about their legitimate employment.
We also appeal to you to make representations to the Commonwealth to reconsider its laissez faire position on political repression in Swaziland. The organisers of the SPID conference should hang their heads in shame for colluding with such a brutal regime. The decision to allow King Mswati III and his government to host the conference is morally repugnant and must be condemned with the utmost contempt. It is hypocritical of the SPID organisation to claim that its core principles are based on mutual dialogue and tolerance whilst disregarding the concerns from local groups.
Indeed, the Commonwealth has on this occasion helped to create a situation in which peaceful protesters and innocent civilians are beaten senseless by an out-of-control militia. This situation was perfectly predictable by anyone with even the slightest knowledge about the Swaziland regime.
Furthermore, it is also clear that the Swazi armed forces cannot claim to be a police force or a conventional army. The events surrounding the SPID conference show clearly that these thugs are nothing more than a private royal militia. Their despicable behaviour, combined with the earlier refusal of the commissioner of police to obey legitimate orders of the Swazi judiciary, show clearly that the armed forces do not serve the Swazi people, but in fact are betraying them.
[Jabulane Matsebula is the PUDEMO representative to Australia, Asia and the Pacific region.]
From Green Left Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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