Only 500 protesters turned out for a two-day strike in Swaziland called by the country’s trade unions to demand political reforms — but organisers claimed police roadblocks intimidated others intending to join in.Â
The stayaway — to protest against “a non-democratic Constitution that retains the powers of sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy” — was called by the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) in its New Year’s message .
Union leaders said they had expected 20Â 000 people to demonstrate against the absolute rule of King Mswati III. But, from a workforce of 96Â 000 Swazis, the unions could only muster a few hundred peaceful protesters in Mbabane on Tuesday and Manzini on Wednesday. Yet trade union leaders insisted they were not disappointed.
“Under the circumstances the outcome is not bad,” said Afrika Magongo, president of the SFTU.
“If you look at the level of intimidation by the enemy … I think we have done well.”
Magongo said the pro-democracy movement would have to regroup and evaluate its strategy.
Most of the demonstrators the Mail & Guardian spoke to cited intimidation as a major reason for the limited support.
Jan Sithole, SFTU secretary general, said police roadblocks had stopped people from joining the protests on Tuesday. Non-Mbabane residents must carry IDs and state an acceptable reason for wanting to visit the capital, and several reports were received of police stopping people who did not meet the criteria.
The M&G did not see any roadblocks but did witness incidents of intimidation.
Union leaders had agreed beforehand to the police condition that Mario Masuku, president of the banned political party, the People’s United Democratic Organisation (Pudemo), would not address the marchers.
Masuku was not deterred by this condition. “They do not need me to get our message across. The struggle must not be personalised.”
He said under the circumstances the march could be described as a success, adding that any struggle “goes through phases”. But he would like to have seen at least 5Â 000 people participate in the protest.
Swazi government spokesperson Percy Simelane claimed the workers “had snubbed the strike” and denied any allegations of state intimidation. “The strike failed because people did not want to come,” he said.