Solly Mapaila, leader of a group sympathetic to Swazi workers, has been declared ‘undesirable’, reports Mukoni T Ratshitanga
In a bid to silence sympathisers with his country’s pro-democracy voices, Swaziland’s Minister of Home Affairs Prince Guduza this month declared the South African director of a solidarity group a prohibited person.
Swaziland Solidarity Network’s head, Solly Mapaila, was named in a decree on October 1 which was circulated to all Swazi border posts.
But the news only reached him last weekend when he arrived with three colleagues at the Oshoek-Ngwenya border post between South Africa and Swaziland, en route to Mbabane. They were to attend a People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) conference.
“Customs officials and a man who identified himself as the chief of security stopped us, examined the car as if they had been told we were transporting drugs. They produced this letter and told me that I am banned from Swaziland – never to return again,” said Mapaila.
Guduza used the Immigration Act of 1982 and information received from a “source considered by me to be reliable” to declare Mapaila an “undesirable immigrant or person whose presence in Swaziland is contrary to the national interest.”
Mapaila, who has visited Swaziland twice this year, claims he was kept under surveillance by the country’s intelligence agents each time. In September, he complained to the South African high commissioner in Mbabane about intelligence agents monitoring his movements and taking photographs of him.
Pudemo is the country’s biggest opposition party which leads the Swaziland Democratic Alliance – 22 labour, non-governmental organisations, political parties, women’s and youth groups calling for democratic reforms.
Swaziland’s opposition is at loggerheads with King Mswati III over a 1973 government decree that banned political parties. They demand the king repeal the decree and put in place a neutrally chaired national convention to prepare the country for an interim government.
They want an elected constituent assembly to draw up a new democratic constitution. They reject a constitutional review process started by the king in July last year, saying it consists of people he hand-picked and does not represent citizens.
Recently, Swaziland has been marred by political strife, with workers taking to the streets in protest against the government, demanding a living wage. Last week, Swaziland’s National Association of Journalists marched to the office of Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, calling for the withdrawal of the Media Council Bill which they say seeks to control the media.
Mapaila’s Solidarity Network was launched in April this year to help Pudemo fight for reform. “We try to take the Swazi people’s struggle to the outside world and see how the world can assist,” says the former Umkhonto weSizwe guerrilla.
There are 19 organisations affiliated to the network and the South African Communist Party provides office space and stationery. None of the three staffers is paid, although one committee member works elsewhere.
“To say, as reported in the Swazi press, that this network is communist-controlled is false,” says Mapaila. “The SACP has nothing to do with our operations except that it is also a member of the network.”
The network has written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries asking them to impose sanctions on Swaziland. But none of the countries responded.
“The hypocritical governments – South Africa included – have always underplayed the struggle of the people of Swaziland,” Mapaila said.
South Africa is still undecided about what to do against Swaziland. “South Africa would only address the possibility of punitive measures through a collective approach within SADC,” says Foreign Affairs Ministry representative Pieter Swanepoel.
About Mapaila’s prohibition, Swanepoel could only say his ministry “feels that the high- handed approach against Solly should have been avoided because it does not assist the process”.
Swaziland’s high commissioner to South Africa could not be reached for comment this week.