Swazi security forces today stopped a group of international trade unionists and human rights activists from holding a conference on the “unacceptable” state of workers’ rights in Swaziland.
A Global Inquiry Panel into workers’ rights abuses was scheduled to take place this morning at the George Hotel in the country’s second city of Manzini.
But the event came to a dramatic end when Swazi police surrounded the building.
Senior police officers then entered the venue and demanded that participants stop the event immediately and leave Swaziland.
Jay Naidoo, the former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), was chair of the scheduled event and panelists included Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama, South African Methodist Bishop Paul Verryn and Swaziland’s Centre for Labour Education and Research director Nomthetho Simelane.
An initiative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and COSATU, the Global Inquiry Panel aimed to look at the ways in which the fundamental rights of workers are under attack in Swaziland.
But police said it was “inappropriate” for such an event to take place on the same day as Swaziland’s 45th independence anniversary.
However, no warrant or written permission was produced.
Arrests
Today’s shutdown follows the arrest and subsequent release of members of the Global Inquiry team – including Naidoo – on Thursday for their participation in a Global Week of Action for Swaziland.
In an email to colleagues at the ITUC, Naidoo said of the arrests: “My hope that we can use this as an opportunity to push for a meaningful dialogue with government and business to resolve some of the impasse that Swaziland faces.”
The Secretary General of the TUCOSWA, Vincent Ncongwane, was also arrested yesterday as he prepared to lead his members in protest.
He remains under house arrest and is likely to face charges.
Speaking to ITUC colleagues, Ncongwane described today’s dramatic events as indicative of the “constant harassment” trade unionists in Swaziland face.
“The government is trying to intimidate people, especially when they learned of our planned Global Inquiry Panel. This is what we have always been saying; the state tries to intimidate people from engaging in trade union activities. They knew both local working people and foreign trade unionists would come to the global inquiry and for that they increase harassment.”
In a message of solidarity, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow praised the TUCOSWA for their “courage” and “determination”:
“The police may have tried to silence the voices of Swazi workers. They have only challenged our resolve to hear you louder and clearer.”
Global Week of Action
Trade unions around the world have been staging solidarity events to call for greater democratic rights in Swaziland just weeks ahead of the country’s general elections.
In the UK, the head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Frances O’Grady met with the Swazi High Commissioner to condemn the arrests and call for the unbanning of TUCOSWA.
And in South Africa, COSATU – South Africa’s biggest trade union federation – has arranged a blockade of the Swazi borders from the South African side.
King Mswati III, Africa’s last remaining absolute monarch, has come under fierce international criticism for the country’s human rights violations.
Political parties are banned, there is no free press or independent judiciary, corruption is rife and yet over 60 per cent of the population lives in abject poverty.
Trade unionists often find themselves at the brunt of Swaziland’s various restrictions on assembly, association, mobility and indeed, dissent.
Swazi workers would have been given the opportunity to speak about their experiences at the Panel, with the aim of compiling a report for the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee on the Application of International Standards.
Instead, Naidoo and the Inquiry team held one-to-one workers’ hearings before they left for South Africa.
At 16.00 local time, they are scheduled to hold a press briefing at the COSATU headquarters in Johannesburg.
