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Merged Swaziland Labour Federation to Advance Cause of Democracy

21 March, 2012

A merger of labour federations in Swaziland has set the stage for a struggle toward democracy and independent political parties in the country. On 10-13 March, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) convened its first Congress and priority number one is to establish a multi-party political system, or to boycott sham elections next year.

TUCOSWA, formulated last year, was officially launched at its Congress in Matsapha and its first order of business was to demand registration and participation of political parties in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, run by despotic King Mswati III.

The new labour federation amalgamates the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL), as well as the most powerful single trade union, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). The 50,000-member federation vowed that there will either be open and fair Parliamentary elections next year, or Mswati would face a boycott of next year’s elections.

  

Political parties have been banned in Swaziland since 1973 and Mswati and his cronies have mismanaged the economy so severely that public sector salaries have gone unpaid. At this month’s founding Congress, TUCOSWA announced it would embark on a nationwide education campaign, and as part of that, major protests likely to occur in April and May.

Such manifestations will no doubt be met forcefully by Swazi police loyal to Mswati. In fact, at a meeting in Lubombo in January by leaders of TUCOSWA to discuss the monarch’s introduction of a value added tax, police broke it up after the unionists refused a demand to call off the meeting.

“Workers are more prepared now to go to grassroots levels and into the communities to shed light on what the government should be doing,” said TUCOSWA President Barnes Dlamini.

TUCOSWA General-Secretary Vincent Ncongwane used his speech at the end of this initial Congress to rally civil society – including faith-based groups and cultural entities – to frustrate next year’s scheduled electoral farce.

In Swaziland, Mswati operates with what is called a tinkhundla regime, an undemocratic system whereby all power is vested in him with administrative matters put in the hands of tribal chiefs dependent on his patronage. The Swazi Parliament has few powers, with Mswati making appointments to many of the seats in the House of Assembly and Senate.