More than 1 000 people marched on Tuesday through Swaziland’s main city Manzini in one of the largest protests yet against Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III.
Scores of riot police stood by as the protesters marched to the city centre, in the biggest demonstration since April 12, when about 1 000 teachers and students were dispersed with batons, teargas and water canons.
Anti-riot vehicles lined the protest route, and two security checkpoints were set up along the highway between the Manzini and the capital Mbabane, where about 500 people staged a similar protest on Monday.
“Release our political prisoners, democracy now,” read one placard waved by the crowd wearing red, the colour of workers and closely associated with Swaziland’s banned opposition People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo).
Consatu sends supporters
The Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Tuesday it had sent a delegation to the country to take part in the protests.
International relations secretary Bongani Masuku said on Tuesday that 45 people from Cosatu, its affiliates, and civil society organisations had joined the protests.
They were doing so under the leadership of Cosatu deputy president Zingiswa Losi.
“It is about taking solidarity to another level and … boosting the confidence of the fighting masses.”
He said the trade union federation had done the same in Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
Protest marches were also being planned for Friday in South African cities, including Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
Political parties have been banned since 1973 in Swaziland and Mswati holds ultimate executive, legislative and judicial power.
The protesters were calling for “unbanning of political parties, release of all political prisoners [and the] return of well over 500 exiles”, Pudemo said in a statement.
“The spirit displayed throughout the march left everyone with one message: the progressive forces in Swaziland are getting more united and resolute on their demand for multi-party democracy,” it said.
Impoverished Swaziland is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, in a financial crisis that has spawned a series of protests this year to demand that Mswati accept multi-party democracy and resolve a budget crunch that has left the kingdom battling to keep schools and clinics running.
Until this year, public shows of dissent were rare in Swaziland, where the palace tolerates little criticism.
The protesters want the government to tax the royal investment firm Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, essentially controlled by Mswati and used to finance his lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars and palaces for his 13 wives.
The demonstrations are being organised by a coalition of pro-democracy movements, known as the Swaziland Democracy Campaign.
The protests come as South Africa is poised to sign a controversial $343-million bailout to help ease the financial crisis in the kingdom. – AFP, Sapa