Swaziland@Newsletter 44
Published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark)

Earlier issues can be read at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter together with documents
and other materials not included in the regular newsletter. If you wish to
subscribe to the newsletter, please send mail to:
SAK-Swazinewsletter-subscribe@...

_____________________

1. Police attack democacy marchers - again. Makhosi Magongo, Times of
Swaziland, December 3, 2006.

2. Hungry season in the land: anecdotal evidence of food poisoning. UN
Integrated Regional Information Networks, November 23, 2006.

3. With falling global prices for sugar and cotton, cannabis may become an
alternative. Tribune (SA), 26 November 2006.

4. Rejecting royal land claims: 'We're South African, not Swazi'. Sipho Khumalo,
The Mercury (SA), November 28, 2006.

5. Swazi opposition rejects report of 'secret army' in South Africa.
Reuters, November 28, 2006. For full statement by People's United Democratic
Movement International Office:
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter

6. Motion by the South African Communist Party on Swaziland adopted at
international meeting of communist and workers' parties, Lisbon (Portugal),
10-12 November 2006.

____________________


1. Police attack PUDEMO marchers -- again. Makhosi Magongo, Times of
Swaziland, December 3, 2006.

Yesterday, the Royal Swaziland Police's Operation Support Services Unit lived
up to popular expectation, when they severely bashed marching members of the
People's United Democratic Movement, and its youth wing, the Swaziland Youth
Congress yesterday. The beatings occur in a wake of reports that members of the
two formations are receiving military training aimed at toppling the current
government, in favour of a democratic one.

The over 200 marching members of the two progressive formations, including
street vendors and children, were dispersed using teargas canisters and batons
at noon - before the rally could start.

The skirmish started at 12:50pm, while senior police officers and leaders of the
march negotiated on the rightful venue for the event, which was to honour fallen
heroes of the two formations.

According to information gathered during the negotiation, the Manzini City
Council had approved that the party could use Lukhuni Park, which is situated
next to Mjingo High School, and only to march along Turnbungen Street, which
has relatively less activity. This, leaders of PUDEMO, felt was defeating the
purpose of the event,

"We want to speak to the people. Why should they allocate us a park located in
the bushes," lamented PUDEMO Treasurer General Vusi Mnisi.

Another PUDEMO official, Penuel Malinga, who was responsible for organising the
event, said had they been allocated Freedom Square, located al the centre of
the busiest Nkoseluhlaza Street, or the Millennium Park, they would have been
more comfortable because of their closeness to people.

However, they agreed that the marchers should not deviate from agreements made
with Council.

But, as leaders of the two formations attempted to communicate the decision to
the rowdy marchers, it apparently was not what the marchers had wished for, as
a missile was thrown at the direction of the police, sparking mayhem. They were
already demonstrating next to the Manzini Post Office, while police had created
a wall barring them from proceeding with the march. As if they were provoking a
beating from the police, the marchers chanted political slogans and hurled
insults at the police. It took a single stone, thrown from the side of the
marchers to the police, to trigger what appeared to have been eagerly expected
by the police officers as they charged at them vigorously.

When the missile was thrown at police, two shots of teargas were immediately
fired, sending the marchers running for cover. A majority of them ran towards
the direction of Transworld radio, while others ran towards the police station
and Liqhaga flats. As they dispersed, some were severely assaulted with batons
while others were rounded up by the police.

During the skirmish, several motor vehicles, including one from the Manzini
police Station were maliciously damaged.

Some of the PUDEMO and SWAYOCO members were arrested during the skirmish, while
others claim that they were assaulted and released by the police.

Eight others were arrested in the evening, and charged with contravening traffic
laws, specifically jay walking, after they were found demonstrating in a public
road. More than 10 people were treated at the RFM Hospital for severe body
injuries sustained during the beatings; one of them was so weak he could hardly
speak.

The office of the Swaziland Transport and Allied Workers Union, which is located
near the scene, was briefly turned into a medical ward, as marchers flocked it
to report their injuries.

-------------------------


2. Hungry season in the land: anecdotal evidence of food poisoning. UN
Integrated Regional Information Networks, November 23, 2006.

Swazi health authorities have issued a warning against eating frogs in response
to reported incidents of poisoning, as hungry Swazis, breaking taboos, have
turned to catching the creatures.

"November/December is the lean 'time of want,' before the summer crops begin
bearing food and after last year's stockpiles have been exhausted. But the
eating of frogs is new, and shows the desperation of some people," said
Christopher Dlamini of the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society, as the
organisation is known in the country.

Three young siblings from the drought-prone Shiselweni Region in the south were
hospitalised for two weeks after consuming a stew made partly of frog flesh.
The source of their food poisoning became known when their aunt, who prepared
the dish, admitted to the children's mother she had supplemented the meagre
meal with frog meat.

Dr Austen Ezeogu, Senior Medical Officer at the Mbabane Government Hospital, in
the capital, said in a statement released by the health ministry: "Frogs, other
than the species found in the sea, are poisonous and must not be eaten."

Reports of frog consumption are largely anecdotal, but officials fear they may
be linked to ongoing food shortages. Some 69 percent of the Swazi population
lives at or below the poverty line of less than US$1 a day.

"What I find remarkable is that the eating of frogs is breaking taboo," said
Amanda Dlamini, a schoolteacher who distributes food aid in the central Manzini
region.

Traditionally Swazis do not eat amphibians, and usually disdain fish or other
waterborne creatures found in rivers, lakes or imported from the ocean.

World Vision, an NGO involved in food distribution, cautioned against linking
the one instance of frog poisoning to widespread consumption of frogs by
Swazis, but health officials want to ensure the incident is not repeated.

About one-quarter of the million-strong population is receiving food assistance
of some sort. Drought and AIDS have decimated the country's agricultural
workforce, cutting into food production. Swaziland has the world's highest
national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, reaching 42.6 percent among pregnant women
attending antenatal care centres.

Chronic drought has made marginal land unproductive, forcing tens of thousands
of families who survive on subsistence farming in the southern Shiselweni and
eastern Lubombo regions to depend on international food aid. According to
preliminary information released to the Southern African Development Community
by the national Vulnerability Assessment Committee, Swaziland produced about
81,000mt of cereal in 2006, compared to the country's consumption requirement
of 195,000mt.

-----------------------------------


3. With falling global prices for sugar and cotton, cannabis may become an
alternative. Tribune (SA), 26 November 2006.

A fundamental shift in Swaziland's attitude towards hemp, or dagga, the
country's most lucrative cash crop, could be on the horizon.

The government is set to allow small-scale production of hemp to see if it has
the potential to become an economically viable crop.

"In hemp we have an alternative to cotton, which has let us down badly over the
past few years. It has been because of marijuana that we have found it
difficult to talk about hemp, but that is changing, and we are beginning to
shape public opinion to its benefits," said Lufto Dlamini, the Swazi Minister
for Enterprise and Employment.

"The government is considering a proposal to grow hemp, and a decision will be
reached by the end of this month. But I expect it will be given the go-ahead to
grow for research purposes, and if that proves successful then we will see," he
said.

Falling global prices for sugar and cotton, Swaziland's traditional crops, have
led to dagga becoming "Swazi Gold" for many of the country's population, most
of whom live on less than R7.20 a day.

According to the government's Annual Vulnerability Monitoring Report 2005,
cotton prices have fallen steadily over the past few years as a result of
international competition and last year's price for cotton was about 33 percent
lower than the previous year.

A similar fate has befallen the sugar industry. The European Union plans to
slash its price to suppliers in African, Caribbean and Pacific Least Developing
Countries by 37 percent from the start of 2007 to bring it in line with the
global price, causing the profits of Swazi producers to shrink significantly.

Dr Ben Dlamini, 70, a former education administrator in the Swazi Department of
Education, was one of the first people to talk about the potential benefits of
hemp production.

"The major emphasis on cannabis in Swaziland has always been on smoking it, but
if we were to grow hemp commercially it would solve a lot of problems. It can
be used to manufacture fuels, textiles, healthy oils and lotions," he said.

Simon Mavimbela, 21, and Justice Dlamini, 26, have lived all their lives in
Hhohho, in the north of the country, the main area for cultivating cannabis,
where many people risk growing the illegal plant rather than other cash crops
like maize or peanuts.

While both young men insisted that they did not grow cannabis themselves, they
admitted that friends and members of their families had grown the plant for
generations.

"People here will get around R80 for a 10kg bag of maize when they sell it at
the market, but they will get R3 000 for a 10kg bag of cannabis if they can
sell it to someone who is going to take it outside of Swaziland," Dlamini
explained.

"A person can grow 30 10kg bags in a year up in the hills here, and they use the
money to buy cows, furniture, send their children to school.

"We are in a good situation because our fathers grew dagga, so we could afford
to go to school, have clothes and other benefits."

According to Dlamini, the only difference between growing cannabis and any other
crop is that they have to avoid detection by the police by locating the
plantations in inaccessible areas.

"If they are lucky, people from South Africa come and give them the money to
start up. They then take the stuff through holes in the boarder fence into
South Africa."

--------------------------------------


4. Rejecting royal land claims: 'We're South African, not Swazi'. Sipho Khumalo,
The Mercury (SA), November 28, 2006.


One of the traditional communities which fall within Ingwavuma, which is being
claimed by Swaziland as part of that country, has distanced itself from the
claim, saying that it wanted to remain part of South Africa.

Last week the Swazi government declared its intention to go to the International
Court of Justice to force South Africa to hand back large parts of Mpumalanga
and some parts of KwaZulu-Natal that it says were stolen from it by white
colonial settlers.

Swazi government officials said the monarch, King Mswati III, had decided to
take his case to the world body in The Hague after several representations to
President Thabo Mbeki had fallen on deaf ears.

Prince Tikhontele Dlamini, the most senior member of the Swazi royal family in
South Africa, said that negotiations with the ANC government, over several
years, had yielded nothing.

Mbeki's office confirmed receipt of Mswati's petition in 2003, but presidential
spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said he was unaware of the issue.

The Swazis are not only relying on colonial reparation agreements - they have
also dusted off an international treaty signed by South Africa's apartheid
government in 1982.

The treaty pledges to cede thousands of square kilometres of South African
territory to Swaziland for the kingdom's support against "terrorists" working
for the ANC and other liberation movements.

However, last week Pik Botha, who was South Africa's foreign minister at the
time, was quoted as saying that he could not recall such a treaty.

He confirmed that since Swaziland's independence in 1968 there had, from time to
time, been discussions on the possible excision of parts of far northern
KwaZulu-Natal, referred to as the Ingwavuma region, to give Swaziland access to
the sea.

The region was part of the former KwaZulu homeland, and Mangosuthu Buthelezi,
who was chief minister of the homeland then, was vehemently opposed to an
excision.

The disputed territory includes Nelspruit, Malelane, Barberton, Ermelo, Piet
Retief, Badplaas and Pongola and is home to an estimated one million people.

However, Thomas Mngomezulu, of the Mngomezulu Royal Advisory Council,
representing one of the traditional areas that would be ceded to Swaziland
should their International Court bid succeed, distanced his tribe from
Swaziland's claim of Ingwavuma.

"We, the Mngomezulu Traditional Royal Council, are distancing ourselves from the
above-mentioned claim by Swaziland," he said.

"We do not want to be linked or used as frame of reference by any individual or
groups for their personal or political agenda."

"To our knowledge, Ingwavuma is a territorial part of the Republic of South
Africa. In this light, we do not know any historical evidence that this land
was once ruled by ubukhosi bakwaNgwane (the Swazi kingdom)," said Mngomezulu.

Mngomezulu said the Swazi government always used the Mngomezulu, Tembe, Nyawo
and Mathenjwa tribal communities as a point of reference in their claim of
Ingwavuma.

"But we have not been consulted about this move by the Swazis and we are not
part of these discussions and debates. According to our history, we have no
historical links with them," he said.

Mngomezulu said that was the tribe's position and they had communicated that to
the South African government.

"We have left this matter to the hands of the South African government. We are
of the view that the South African government holds the political power, will
and historical knowledge regarding the historical boundaries of Ingwavuma," he
said.


Note: In a statement issued by Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), land claims
are rejected as an expression of an "expansionist ambition by the monarchy
and a diversion from the real issue of democracy in Swaziland".

---------------------------


5. Swazi opposition rejects report of 'secret army' in South Africa.
Reuters, November 28, 2006.


Swaziland's banned main opposition party today rejected a South African
newspaper report that it was mounting a guerrilla force to overthrow the
country's monarch.

"This story must go down in history as one of the greatest fairy tale stories
that have been told about the Swaziland liberation movement," the People's
United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) said in a statement. A Johannesburg weekend
newspaper said this week that Pudemo had organised a guerrilla camp to train
fighters to topple King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch.

The South African report was reproduced by newspapers in the tiny kingdom, in a
move Pudemo said could be part of a government strategy to amass evidence
against Pudemo members accused of a string of petrol bomb attacks.

Swaziland's government said the reported guerrilla force appeared to be designed
"to bring change through the route of maiming, terrorising the population into
submission using the gun and other weapons of destruction".

Pudemo said the reports were false. "We again take this opportunity to reiterate
that our policy is to peacefully bring about political change in Swaziland," the
Pudemo statement said. "For more than 20 years, the regime has worked tirelessly
to draw our organisation into a violent confrontation but we have maintained
that we will not be drawn into such confrontation on the government's terms."

The Pudemo members accused in the petrol bombing case are now out on bail
pending trial. King Mswati, who regularly makes headlines for his lavish
lifestyle and more than a dozen wives, last year signed a new constitution for
his kingdom which critics said only served to cement royal power. Swaziland,
bordered on three sides by South Africa, suffers from regular food shortages
and has the world's highest HIV infection rate with 40% of adults believed to
be carrying the virus.

For full statement by People's United Democratic Movement International Office
on allegations of secret training facility:
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter

--------------------------------------------------


6. Motion by the South African Communist Party (SACP) on Swaziland adopted at
international meeting of communist and workers' parties, Lisbon (Portugal),
10-12 November 2006.


The gathering of International Communist and Workers Parties held on the 10-12
November 2006, in Lisbon, Portugal took urgent note of the serious political
developments in Swaziland.

Its 38 year old King Mswati III regime is desperately trying to restore
conditions of the vicious and authoritarian semi-feudal and neo-colonial system
of political rule, through his fraudulent constitutional project meant to
restore the credibility of the tinkhundla system.

Since his father, King Sobhuza's 1973 royal state of emergency decree,
prohibiting any form of political party organization and activity, the country
is witnessing a precipitous escalation of a draconian subjugation against any
political resistance by youth, women, workers and pro-democracy activists,
particularly activists of PUDEMO and its youth wing, SWAYOCO. This is the
longest state of emergency anywhere in the world.

The country is facing deep seated social, political and economic crises.
Swaziland's economy is not growing, the 70% levels of unemployment persists.
The country experiences chronic food shortages. HIV/AIDS rate of infection is
as high as 30%. Each of the King's 13 wives drowns in opulence, with
?430,000 spent in purchasing luxury vehicles in 2005 alone. Land ownership
and control is shared predominantly between foreign and absentee landlords and
those close to the royal family.

To further sustain its relations of imperialist patronage and widespread
patterns of royal elite consumption, the regime has fraternized with powerful
regional and international capitalist networks that are privately accumulating
in exchange for propping up the dominant repressive and authoritarian features
of Mswati's neo-colonial regime.

In our international duty to promote a democratic framework in Swaziland, the
Communist and Workers Parties condemns the current situation.

We pay tribute to the democratic movement in Swaziland, led by PUDEMO and call
for their intensification of resistance, re-building of all structures
internally and in the diaspora. We are further noting their attempts at the
radicalization of the political landscape to heighten the tempo of the
struggle, as well as deepen intense debates at formulating a new political
programme entitled, "The Road map to a new and democratic Swaziland" to
address the crisis, consolidate the forces of revolution and advance to
liberation. We declare our full support for their actions.

The international meeting urges all fraternal parties, organizations and
individuals to actively protest against Swaziland's permanent state of
emergency and the Royal regime's impervious response to global political
pressure for dialogue and the restoration of democracy.

We call on all progressive forces internationally, to respond to Mswati's
intransigence through active solidarity mobilization, formation of solidarity
structures in their respective countries and to send letters of protest to all
Swaziland embassies internationally. This should include the formal application
of smart sanctions against the Mswati regime. We also call on the commonwealth
to stop supporting the regime and justifying its fraudulent constitutional
schemes in an attempt to stabilize and restore the basis of the neo-colonial
accumulation path to profitability.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Swaziland Newsletter is published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark) and
distributed to more than 1200 national and international organisations, research
institutes, universities, trade unions and labour movements, political parties,
church organisations, print and electronic media, governments, diplomatic
missions, members of parliament, parliamentary committees and private
individuals in Southern Africa, Europe and the United States of America.

Comments and suggestions, including digital photographic material, to be sent to
pmm@...

Support the democratic movement in Swaziland: 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.