Swaziland pro-democracy struggle continues

April 12 marks the day that Swaziland declared a state of emergency in 1973, which is still ongoing 38 years later, making it one of the world’s longest running state of emergencies. It has been used to suspend the human rights and political freedom of the Swazi people and includes a ban on political parties. April 12, 2011 was chosen by pro-democracy campaigners for mass protests. Yet the protests planned for three days from the April 12 faced brutal crackdown by Swaziland security forces on anti-government protestors.

SWAZILAND: Many leading trade unionists were arrested as well as other activists and journalists detained and ome reports of beatings and the use of rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Police and the army flooded the capital Manzini and the other major centre Mbabane, breaking up groups larger than three to prevent the mass action from gaining momentum. Road blocks were in place to prevent people from entering into the cities. A common tactic used by security forces was to round up protestors and drop them off in remote areas without any transport back to the cities. After the three days of action, the number of pro-democracy activists detained were estimated to be in the hundreds.

Protests on March 18, 2011 were far more successful in gathering momentum, when over 7,000 Swazi's, mostly workers, called for a change in government. They were protesting government's proposed 4.5 per cent salary cut for public servants as well as a freeze on annual increases, attempts to reduce the public wage bill as part of IMF conditions to qualify for budget support. Workers were outraged that they were expected to pay for the economic woes of the country especially in the face of extravagant flaunts by the monarchy.

Swaziland, ruled by one of the world's last absolute monarchs, King Mswati III, is in crisis. Revenue from the South African Customs Union (SACU) on which the fiscus is heavily reliant on, contributing 76 per cent of the government's income in 2009, dropped significantly by about two thirds in 2010 and is expected to continue declining over the next decade.

Despite the economic challenges facing the country the Royal family continues to live lavishly, 5 per cent of the 2010/2011 budget amounting to R503 million (over Euro 50 million) has been to cover expenditure associated with the monarchy including building state houses. King Mswati III is the beneficiary of funds created in trust for the Swazi nation and has absolute discretion over the use of the income. These funds are financed by government shares in investments in Swaziland such as the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation, of which the royal family is already the majority shareholder and the South African cellular company network operation MTN Swaziland.

While the monarch continues to abuse its access to national resources, the vast majority of the 1.1 million Swazis live in desperate poverty. Swaziland also has the world's highest rates of HIV/AIDS and TB and life expectancy is the lowest in the world at just over 30. The deepening crisis in Swaziland is being felt sharply by those in need of health and other social services in addition to the burden being borne by the people of rising costs of basic goods and services.

The need for external funding to bail out the government means that economic reforms are inevitable. Workers have clearly shown that they are not prepared to bear the brunt of these reforms. The coming months will probably be filled with rising tensions in this small African nation. Pro-democracy campaigners have pledged to hold monthly protests and workers urged to wear red t shirts every Friday to keep the campaign spirit alive. And so the struggle for freedom in Swaziland continues.