Updates

The small mountain kingdom of Swaziland is gearing up for mass peaceful protests 12 April 2011. The protestors are demanding a democratic government, press freedom and re-evaluation of the Swazi monarchy.

The uprising is led by Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) and the youth. In response to this plan the government banned protests, recruited 500 new members to strengthen the military and deployed security forces to carry out roadblocks throughout the country leading to the protests planned for Tuesday, 12 April 2011. The government arrested four of the leaders of the uprisings at one of the roadblocks on 11 April, the day before the planned action;

• Maxwell Dlamini, the President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS).

• Simanga Ginindza, the Deputy Secretary of the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) SWAYOCO members.

• Themba Mabuza, the SUDF National Organizing Secretary and former National Organising Secretary of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO).

• Sifiso Mabuza, the Deputy President of SWAYOCO. Co-ordinator of the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO), Musa Hlophe, warns that the uprising could turn out similar to South Africa's 1976 Soweto Uprising, and that the youth could be “massacred”.

Symbolic Date

The symbolic name and date of the protest “April 12 Uprising” points to 12 April 1973 when the king, Sobhuza II (the father of the current ruler King Maswati III), declared a State of Emergency - on this day all political parties were banned, the Swaziland constitution repealed and all power (executive, legislative, and judicial) centralised in the monarchy. This is commonly seen as the greatest factor that set the path for the mass poverty and accumulative financial chaos that the country is in today.

18 March 2011

The planned 12 April protest was preceded by a protest on 18 March when 10 000 students, trade unionists workers and supporters marched through the industrial town of Manzini demanding that the prime minister and his cabinet to step down. The protest action was triggered by planned cuts in public spending, salaries, undemocratic policies and cut-backs on public services.

Triggers

Swaziland has been living off Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenues for many years. As a result of a drop in total regional import revues after the global financial crisis, and a planned amendment of the revenue-sharing formula, which meant a 60% drop in income, Swaziland’s financial situation drastically worsened.

This year, Swazi government departments slashed as much as 25% of their budgets, wages are not being paid, street lights are not being turned on, roads are not being maintained, government vehicles -- as well as public buses -- are stranded because of a shortage of spare parts and petrol, and hospitals are running out of medicine. The decrease in public transport means that the women are not able to get to market; they in turn sell less produce and struggle to pay the school fees of their children. Opponents say the fall in revenue from SACU is only part of the problem and that the countries real problems arise from financial mismanagement over the past 12 years as well as overspending by King Mswati III and his 13 wives.

Royal reign vs Poverty

It is estimated that 69% of the population of Swaziland live on less than $1 a day, over 300,000 of the one million citizens depend on food aid and up to 46% of the workforce is unemployed. Swaziland leads the world in HIV/Aids occurrence with 26 % among the age group of 15 to 49 years, while the average life expectancy is 30 years.

Impact of Social Media

The uprisings were inspired by the civic revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, and are marginally supported by the use of social networking sites such as Facebook to create awareness,even though these sites did not contribute as much to the Swazi uprising as was the case in Tunisia and Egypt. It is estimated that only 7% of the Swazi population of.3 million have Internet access, with approximately 16,000 (1.2%) Facebook users. A Facebook group named the "The April 12 Swazi Uprising" has been created to rally supporters. According to them they are “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."

Support

A number of organisations have pledged their support for the uprising, including the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) based in South Africa (an umbrella group of activists in exile) and the South African Trade Union Federation COSATU. According to COSATU’S Fidel Mlombo, South African workers have been asked to participate in "a protest march to the Oshoek Swaziland border gate in support of the struggle waged by the people of Swaziland for freedom and democracy," The union "invades Swaziland in solidarity with the workers and the poor”. Other supporting organisations include the Swaziland United Democratic Front, the Swaziland National Union of Students, the Swaziland Democracy Campaign and some trade unions.