2011, a Year in the Struggle for Freedom in Swaziland

As seen through the pages of Swazi Media Commentary The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland by Richard Rooney The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland By Richard Rooney Published by Excelsior, London, UK. 2012. Also available from Swazi Media Commentary Voices Unheard: Media Freedom and Censorship in Swaziland Download free of charge here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/73647757 1 The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland About the Author Richard Rooney was associate professor at the University of Swaziland 2005 – 2008, where he was also head of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department. He has taught in universities in Africa, Europe and the Pacific. His academic research has appeared in books and journals across the world. He specialises in media and democracy, governance and human rights. His journalism has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the world. He was a full- time journalist in his native United Kingdom for 10 years, before becoming an academic. He has published the blog Swazi Media Commentary since 2007 and also has social network sites that concentrate on human rights issues in Swaziland. He holds a Ph.D in Communication from the University of Westminster, London, UK. He presently teaches at the University of Botswana, Gaborone. 2 The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland Contents Chapter Introduction 4 1 The April 12 Uprising 6 2 The Economy in Meltdown 36 3 January 92 4 February 108 5 March 118 6 April 137 7 May 149 8 June 153 9 July 156 10 August 167 11 September 170 12 October 179 13 November 186 14 December 194 3 The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland Introduction Tuesday April 12 2011 may yet go down in history as a watershed in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland. To borrow the words of Winston Churchill, it might not have been the day that the struggle for freedom in Swaziland ended in victory for the people. It might not even have been the beginning of the end. But it was, perhaps, the end of the beginning. After this day things would never be quite the same again in Swaziland. It was on April 12 that Swaziland saw its biggest demonstration in living memory. It was to be the start of three days of protests across the tiny kingdom in southern Africa. Ordinary Swazis were fed up with the regime of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. They’d had enough of being denied their basic human and civil rights and were ready to fight for their freedom. They wanted an end to the corruption of the King and the governments he appoints. They wanted the freedom to meet, to demonstrate, to form political parties and to choose their own government – all things denied to them by the King. A group of people, unaffiliated with any of the existing political parties or lobby groups, created a Facebook site and called it the April 12 Swazi Uprising. April 12 was the day in 1973 that King Sobhuza II, the father of the present King, tore up the country’s constitution and began to rule by decree. Despite the signing into law of a new constitution in 2006, people in the kingdom still live under the yoke of that decree. The April 12 group caught attention in Swaziland and across the globe. It called for an uprising to start on April 12 2011 and soon prodemocracy activists, trade unionists, journalists and progressives from all over the world were watching the kingdom. Swaziland had seen many street protests before, but this one was to be different. This was meant to be the beginning of the end. This one was also to be the first to be played out on the Internet. Members of the April 12 group claimed they were a real on-the-ground organisation with at least three full time organisers. Perhaps they were, but mostly their battle was fought in cyberspace using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and blogsites. This meant the protest could be followed by anyone, anywhere in the world. I wasn’t in Swaziland in April. I was on the other side of the planet in an obscure country that officially doesn’t exist. It was created nearly 40 years ago after a civil war in which one ethnic group tried to slaughter another. The country that was created as a result is today a ‘rogue state’. Only one country in the entire world officially recognises its existence and it struggles on under economic, political and cultural embargoes. But even here, with only a cheap laptop and a mobile Internet connection routed through another country, I was able to play my small part in the April 12 protests. I was not alone: people from all over the world were following the events – often in minute detail. I remember well in the evening of the second day a ‘distress signal’ coming out of Swaziland. Hundreds of protesters were trapped by armed police in the Swaziland National Association of 4 The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland Teachers headquarters. Police had ordered everyone to get on the floor in readiness for a shoot-out. Deaths and severe casualties were expected. The signal calling on the world to intervene by sending protests to governments worldwide was sent by Internet. Within seconds the message was flashing on computer screens across six continents. The Swaziland regime was truly in the spotlight that evening. The police, uncharacteristically for them, restrained themselves and the evening passed without the feared attack. But by day-three the protests themselves had been savagely put down. The Swaziland state proved on this occasion to be more powerful than the protesters. But the struggle for democracy in Swaziland continues. This book looks at what happened in 2011. It is compiled from the pages of Swazi Media Commentary, the blog that contains information and comment on the fight for human rights in Swaziland. The blogposts were written on a daily basis, often at some considerable speed. I have not edited them in any significant way for this volume, so they do not benefit from hindsight. As well as the events of April 12, the book covers in much detail the massive meltdown of the Swazi economy, caused by the governments handpicked over the years by King Mswati; and also caused in no small part by the greed and corruption of the King himself and his close supporters. The economic meltdown has sensitised many people in Swaziland to the need for root and branch political reform in the kingdom. This book starts with a section on the April 12 Uprising which is followed by the account of the economy. There then follows separate chapters looking at events in each month of 2011. These events include many protests, including the Global Week of Action held in September. They also highlight the numerous violations of rights suffered by the poor, by children, by women and by sexual minorities, among others, in the kingdom. The book is not a complete record of the year. For space considerations, much has been left out. Also, for copyright reasons, some things have had to be omitted. To read the whole week-by-week account of 2011 you can go to the Swazi Media Commentary blogsite itself (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com). Many thanks are due to all the people who have assisted me during the year with Swazi Media Commentary. I would like to publicly name them here, but if you are a reader of the blog you will understand why they must remain anonymous. I take full responsibility for the contents of this book, including all errors of fact and of judgement. Richard Rooney December 2011 5 The End of the Beginning? 2011, a year in the struggle for freedom in Swaziland 1. The April 12 Uprising Facebook Call to Oust Swazi King 17 February 2011 A group of ordinary Swazi people, unaffiliated with any of the known opposition groups in Swaziland, have used Facebook to call for mass protests on the streets of Mbabane and Manzini to force King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, to step down. The group calling itself April 12 Swazi Uprising1 says in its Facebook group description, ‘It is the voice of the people on the streets who are sick and tired of the misrule by the Swazi regime and the snail pace and lack of action by Swaziland's so-called progressive. We pledge, as a group, to create in the next few months the biggest mass movement that the country has ever seen. 2011 will also mark the year when we will topple the royalist regime. Joining this group is a pledge that you will work tirelessly to make this a reality.’ The group calls itself the April 12 Swazi Uprising to mark the date in 1973 that the then king, Sobhuza II, tore up the constitution and began to rule by Royal Proclamation. The state of emergency he declared in 1973 is still, in effect, in place in Swaziland today. The group wants people to take to the streets in protest on 12 April 2011. The April 12 Swazi Uprising group says it has three full time organizers based in the capital city, Mbabane.

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