SWAZILAND@NEWSLETTER EXTRA
PUBLISHED BY SOUTHERN AFRICA CONTACT (DENMARK)

Support the democratic movement in Swaziland. Payment can be made through
the MANDELA FUND: BG Bank, Norre Voldgade 68, 1358 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
SWIFT-BIC: DABADKKK. Registration Number: 0274. Account Number: 3327000.
-----------------------------------

The Swaziland situation calls for urgent action from all true democrats
By Blade Nzimande,General Secretary, South African Communist Party
politicalaffairs.net, 24 April 2006

It is interesting to note that contrary to the furore that has been
generated by Zimbabwean political developments, there is general silence,
and even justification of the repression in Swaziland. In our country the
few exceptions have been the SACP, COSATU, the ANC Youth League, the Young
Communist Leagues, some progressive NGOs and a few mass formations inside
our country.

There are even patronising suggestions that Swaziland’s political system
is based on the culture and traditions of the Swazi people, a
justification similar to that used by the apartheid regime in dividing the
African population into different tribal groups through the bantustan
system, and the colonial-apartheid imposition of the rule of chiefs as
instruments of oppression. It is a justification which essentially
suggests that African traditional systems are inherently repressive and
based on accumulation by the chiefly or royal elites at the expense of its
ordinary peoples.

The repression in Swaziland cannot be justified under any circumstances.
It is a system based on the rule by a wealthy royal elite and its
networks, vicious suppression of human rights, wealth for a few in the
midst of extreme poverty, rising rates of HIV/AIDS infections and deaths,
and lack of human rights, including the suppression of political parties.
Swaziland probably has the longest state of emergency in modern history,
declared 33 years ago, yet the region, the African continent and the world
is silent about this severe repression.

It is for the above reasons that the SACP wishes to salute all the members
of the Swaziland Solidarity Network, including the SACP and COSATU, in
leading protests at all the border gates between South Africa and
Swaziland on 12 April 2006. These actions were an important demonstration
of solidarity with the oppressed people of Swaziland by progressive South
African formations. These actions were most importantly a call to all
democrats and progressive forces in the world to be counted in the
struggle for democracy in Swaziland.

The SACP however wishes to strongly condemn the actions of the police at
the Matsamo border gate which resulted in a number of demonstrators being
injured, hospitalised or arrested. Such actions have no place in a
democratic South Africa.

The SACP also wishes to point out that the situation in Swaziland requires
urgent attention by, in the first instance, our own government, the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and
indeed the entire world community. There is absolutely no justification
that whilst preaching values of good governance, multi-party democracy and
poverty eradication we allow a royal dictatorship to continue to thrive in
our own midst. Swaziland, under the current dispensation remains a serious
blight on efforts towards building democracy on our continent, and a
reflection of unacceptable selectivity in holding all African states to
the AU’s protocols on democracy. This calls for urgent and decisive
action, not least from our own government. Concretely, pressure must be
brought to bear on the government of Swaziland to start genuine
constitutional negotiations for a democratic state.

Perhaps what we identify as hypocrisy around the silence on the repressive
nature of the Swaziland regime can be explained as an expression of the
logic of capitalism as a system. It is a living proof that capitalism is
not, as we are often told, an inherently democratic system or that it
functions optimally under democratic regimes. We know that capitalism has
grown and consolidated itself through wars (like the illegal invasion of
Iraq by the US and Britain), dictatorships, fascism and through all other
repressive methods.

The history of capitalism over its more than 500 years of existence has
been a history of all these things. It is only when the capitalist class
feels comfortable about its dominance and hegemony that it has allowed
some ‘democratic’ forms. It is only when repressive methods begin to
undermine the survival of capitalism, that the system is forced to make
changes and concessions towards some forms of democratic rule. We know
this from our own history of apartheid, that it was only when the
continuation of the apartheid regime was beginning to pose a threat to the
survival of South African capitalism (as a result of instability and
crisis brought about by the deepening national liberation struggle), that
the apartheid regime entered into negotiations.

Of course the collapse of the Soviet Union was a further impetus which led
to a change in strategy by imperialism, urging and pressurising what it
saw as its (economic) satellite states to change, whilst ensuring that
their capitalist economies remained intact. Despite the end of the Cold
War, there was no need for such pressure in a country like Swaziland as
internal opposition was weak (due to severe internal repression) and as
such no immediate threat of a mass uprising against the regime.

Why has the world been silent about Swaziland? The main reason for this is
that Swaziland, under its monarchist rule is a haven for capital
accumulation, including South African capital itself. The Swazi state is
essentially an alliance of the royal family, its traditional leadership
networks, a small local bourgeoisie and a middle class that continues to
benefit from monarchical rule. This ruling bloc is firmly supported by
imperialist monopoly capital.

Bongani Masuku, the President of the Swaziland Youth Congress living in
exile in South Africa, in his political report at its June 2004 national
congress aptly defines the current situation in Swaziland thus:

“Swaziland is a semi-feudal and neo-colonial society, organized by and in
the interests of capital accumulation for a few. It is a backward outpost
of the global regime of social organization, in which profit rules all
spheres of life. It was integrated into the global economic system as a
marginalized part of the world imperialist system. It however, is very
much part of the imperialist predatory system, which benefits a few and
has radically transformed every sphere of society into an object of profit
maximization for multinational companies”.

In short, the silence about repression in Swaziland can be directly traced
to the fact that the country is a haven for private accumulation by both
domestic, South African and international capital. The above reality has
been sustained through, amongst other things, an ideological appeal to
Swazi culture (including women’s oppression), ban on political parties,
torture and violence against democratic and worker movements, political
persecution and imprisonment of democracy activists, and total control by
the monarchy over all institutions of state and major economic
institutions.

The socio-economic outcomes of this state of affairs is an economy in
decline, with an estimated 69% of the population living in dire poverty,
an estimated 20% incidence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, declining rural
standards of living, mainly due to lack of capacity of rural households to
produce food. It is this crisis that has also led to attempts by the
monarchy to attempt some kind of (Commonwealth-sponsored) constitutional
reform process, which however still keeps Swaziland an undemocratic state.

Unlike in Zimbabwe, where the interests of private capital are threatened
by some of the policies of the Mugabe government, especially land reform,
Swaziland still remains a haven for capital accumulation and the
mornarchic rule is the best defender of these capitalist interests, both
domestic and foreign.

However, the primary responsibility for the struggle to build a democratic
order in Swaziland lies with the Swazi people themselves. International
solidarity, whilst important, on its own cannot bring about the
fundamental changes needed in that country. It is therefore important that
this expression of solidarity by the South African people must support
intensified internal struggles by Swazi progressive forces themselves.

The lessons from our own struggle against apartheid are that international
solidarity tends to mirror the ebbs and flows of internal struggle. When
there is minimal internal struggle, international solidarity tends to be
at its weakest, whilst if there is intensified internal mass struggle,
such solidarity tends to peak. Indeed this does not mean that it is not
important for progressive forces in the region, the continent and the
world to look into ways and means of assisting in the internal
mobilisation of the people, without substituting itself for the leadership
of that struggle by the Swazi people themselves.

The key political challenge lies with the People’s United Democratic
Movement of Swaziland (PUDEMO), acting together with progressive forces
within the trade union movement and other democratic formations, to
provide the necessary leadership in the mobilisation of the Swazi people
for a democratic Swaziland. The SACP, as it has done over the years,
pledges its full support to all the progressive forces in Swaziland, and
through our solidarity, we shall never fail them in their quest for
freedom and democracy.

We also call upon all our fraternal parties and other progressive
organisations throughout the world to join in solidarity activities with
the struggle for democracy in Swaziland. This should be done by, amongst
other things, holding demonstrations at, and sending petitions to, Swazi
embassies calling for the lifting of the state of emergency, allowing free
political activity and call for a genuine process of democratisation
involving all the people of Swaziland.

-------------------
SWAZILAND NEWSLETTER is published by Southern Africa Contact (SAC,
Denmark), and appears twice monthly.

If you wish either to subscribe or discontinue subscription send a mail
to: SAK-Swazinewsletter-subscribe@...

Earlier issues can be read at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter

Support the democratic movement in Swaziland. Donations can be made
through the MANDELA FUND: BG Bank, Norre Voldgade 68, 1358 Copenhagen K,
Denmark. SWIFT-BIC: DABADKKK. Registration Number: 0274. Account Number:
3327000. The MANDELA FUND is a registered national collection in Denmark.
==========================================