Washington, DC — Johannesburg The Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) is consolidating plans for an economic blockade next week, to try to force King Mswati III and the government to agree to democratic and labour reforms.
The blockade is scheduled to start on Wednesday, 29 November for three days at Swaziland's borders with South Africa and Mozambique. The secretary general of the SFTU, Jan Sithole, held meetings in Johannesburg on Tuesday with the Congress of South African Trades Unions (COSATU), which has backed the move.
After a joint news conference, Sithole told allAfrica.com he was confident the blockade would succeed and was the right message to send to Swaziland's leaders, including the king.
Sithole said: "We believe that if those that are in power are superlatively enjoying luxury without any pinch of pain, they will not even accede to any call for social dialogue and demands for change. But if, and when, we are all made to suffer and be deprived a little bit, if not more, then we believe that issues could be addressed".
The blockade next week, organised under the umbrella of the SFTU and the Swaziland Democratic Alliance, comes after recent marches and anti-government protests in Swaziland, calling on the authorities to repeal what many are calling 'draconian laws' and restore democracy.
The unionist said the latest action was the second instalment of an economic embargo imposed in 1997, when the SFTU stood firm on the Swazi side of the border, COSATU at the South African frontier, with members of the Mozambican Federation of Trades Unions in solidarity at their border post. Sithole added that his union had again been pledged maximum support from its regional counterparts.
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He called on all owners of businesses and transport to cooperate in the protest next week and said they would be informed of the logistics. Sithole added that the border blockade would be coupled with a general stayaway and withdrawal of labour which would include workers, teachers and the closure of schools: "We are expecting maximum concentration of people at the strategic borders that carry to and fro the economy and the country." Sithole said he hoped the pressure from an economic blockade would make King Mswati think twice about reforms and self determination, warning that the king should be "wisely advised" and listen to the people of Swaziland.
"We believe history is on our side. We have a duty as a nation to fight for our liberation and our freedom. Those that resist change are pushed by change." Cautioning that a king should not meddle in politics, Sithole concluded that Swazis wanted their king to reign and not to rule. "We want a constitutional monarch, a symbolic father of culture and unity, a peacebroker for every citizen in the country, not a king who has executive, legislative and judicial powers." Asked how far they were prepared to go in the battle for democratic change, Jan Sithole's response was succinct: "As far as it takes - there's no turnaround mid-path, because there is no price tag for freedom."
