MAY DAY COMMEMORATION SSN-STATEMENT 30th April, 2012 The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) is deeply concerned with the general state of workers’ rights in the Banana kingdom of Swaziland. As workers celebrate May Day tomorrow, we hope that they will take the opportunity to reflect on this very painful state of affairs.
This year’s May Day comes at a time when the Swazi government has deregistered the country’s biggest ever representative for Swazi workers, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). There is no reason for this deregistration other than political victimisation and the fear of democracy by the country’s dictatorship. Had TUCOSWA been lead by apologists of the monarchy there is absolutely no question about the fact that they would still be registered in Swaziland today. In fact the king would have donated a dozen cattle for the May Day celebrations tomorrow, obviously stolen from the workers’ own taxes. It is ironic that the king’s henchmen, including his stepfather, Lutfo Dlamini, congratulated the formation of TUCOSWA and treated it like any other union federation in the country until it declared its decision to boycott the useless Tinkhundla elections next year. We condemn this outrageous abuse of power by the state. Workers have a vested interest in the way a country is governed. It is wise of them to take a proactive stance in distancing themselves from the election of Mswati’s toy-parliament. An issue that further highlights the state of workers’ rights in the tiny kingdom, led by Southern Africa’s Mampara of the week, the SSN also wishes to bring to attention the terrible state of affairs at the country’s TB hospital in Manzini. Due to the lack of safe working conditions in the hospital, four workers have already lost their lives to the airborne disease. All this because they live in a country that does not care about the welfare of ist workers, and does not even have a legal framework for protecting workers against unsafe working conditions. When the rest of the workers in the hospital decided to save their lives by staying away from these terrible working conditions, all the government could do was send other workers, in the form of soldiers, to fill in the vacant posts. While all this was happening, a “development” partner decided to donate R500 million worth of flying metal for the private amusement of the richest man in Swaziland. Another issue that always has to be commemorated on the first of May is the manner in which a young freedom fighter was snatched from May Day in 2010 and later murdered by the Swazi regime. Sipho Jele’s defiance, by wearing a PUDEMO t-shirt to the May Day celebrations, should be an inspiration of the organised defiance that is required from all workers in the country henceforth. We have noted, with embarrassment, that workers have yielded to the regime by seeking a venue for the May day celebrations using a different name simply because TUCOSWA would not be allowed. This in effect means that tomorrow’s May Day should not be anything other than a rally condemning the brutality of the state against its workers, for clearly there is nothing to celebrate In Swaziland today. Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] Contact: Lucky Lukhele-spokesperson 072 502 4141 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
