In a new report, UK-based think tank, Chatham House, is urging Swazis to reform their absolute monarchy from within. “The political process is not totally undemocratic,” the report says. One of the authors of the report, Alex Vines, told IOL ...
Category Archives : Swaziland
Court case against Swazi activists is a farce
Aug 30, 2013
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The court case of two political activists in the tiny absolute monarchy of Swaziland is getting increasingly farcical. Secretary General of youth league SWAYOCO, Maxwell Dlamini, and political activist Musa Ngubeni were arrested in 2011 on charges of contravening Swaziland’s ...
Swazi ”selections” begin
Aug 29, 2013
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Swaziland’s elections have started, elections that many people in the small absolute monarchy jokingly refer to as “selections”, not elections. The reason for this is obvious, if you bother to scratch a little below the surface of Swaziland’s so-called traditional ...
Swaziland is deliberately traumatizing political activists
Aug 16, 2013
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Swaziland’s absolute monarchy has a record of harassing, torturing and arbitrarily detaining political activists, and then either leaving them to rot in prison while waiting for the completion of seemingly endless court cases, or releasing them on bail, after which ...
Swazi government trying to crush union movement, says Amnesty report
May 23, 2013
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“The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly [in Swaziland] continued to be violated, with arbitrary arrests and excessive force used to crush political protests,” Amnesty International write in their 2013 Annual Report that was published today [23. ...
Wonder Mkhonza granted bail
May 11, 2013
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According to a statement today from PUDEMO national spokesperson, Zakhele Mabuza, Wonder Mkhonza has been granted a bail of 15 000 emalangeni, approximately 1650 US$. Wonder Mkhonza was arrested on April 12 for allegedly possessing 5000 political pamphlets, and the ...
”Incompetent” and “catastrophic” Swazi regime ignores Swazi people
May 9, 2013
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”The results of Mswati’s absolute rule for the Swazi people have been catastrophic,” independent watchdog organisation Freedom House writes in the excecutive summary of their new report on Swaziland, Africa’s last refuge of feudalism. “This desperate economic and social situation ...
Swazi regime detain PUDEMO member for handling pamphlets on state of emergency anniversary
Apr 16, 2013
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Wonder Mkhonza, National Organising Secretary of the banned Swazi political party the People’s United Democratic Movement and Secretary General of the Swaziland Processing Allied Workers Union was detained on Friday April 12, allegedly for being in possession of 5000 PUDEMO ...
Swazi civil society warns diplomats of government clamp down
Apr 15, 2013
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During meetings with diplomats from the embassies of several Western countries, held in Pretoria last week, representatives from Swaziland’s civil society warned that Swaziland’s government was actively trying to obstruct their work and shut them down. Representatives from Swaziland United ...
Swazi women rally against “abuse and inequality”
Mar 11, 2013
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We are against “all forms of abuse, inequality, inadequate justice system and the clashes between traditional laws and constitutional laws,” a press release issued by the Swaziland Rural Women Association (SRWA) stated in connection with the celebration of the International ...
Swazi students elect new leadership during vibrant congress
Mar 6, 2013
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“The congress was characterised by vigorous and vibrant debate which saw the students of Swaziland declaring the year 2013 as a year of action, turning each and every institution into a site of struggle for democracy and quality education for ...
Optimistic Swazi Finance Minister’s budget speech is symptomatic treatment
Feb 23, 2013
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“It is a bold budget that will boost growth and support the vulnerable … the financial system in Swaziland is generally sound … We remain cautiously optimistic,” Swaziland’s Minister of Finance Majozi Sithole said in his budget speech on Friday. ...