Pro-democracy group urges SADC to act

The largest of Swaziland's banned opposition groups has embarked on a two-pronged campaign to bring democratic reform to the country. The People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) is pressuring other Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations to take a stand against repression in the tiny kingdom, and have joined other pro-democracy groups in a lawsuit challenging King Mswati's proposed constitution. "We cannot allow the constitution to enshrine royal rule and ban political parties and the people's democratic aspirations forever," Mario Themba Masuku, the president of PUDEMO, told IRIN. Masuku said attorneys had filed papers with the High Court of Swaziland challenging the legality of the king's process for creating a new constitution. PUDEMO, now headquartered in Pretoria because of the palace's 31 year-old ban on political activity in the kingdom, released a statement at the weekend calling on SADC nations to marginalise Swaziland until democratic reform was instituted and the country's rule-of-law crisis had ended. "SADC must do its part - all the talk is about Zimbabwe, but in Swaziland the people live in slavery," Bonginkhosi Dlamini, PUDEMO secretary-general, said in a statement. Dlamini was among the 20 PUDEMO members beaten up by police last week when the group tried to hold the organisation's 21st anniversary commemoration in Manzini. Angered by Swazi organisations that had held meetings in other countries, King Mswati earlier last week said such meetings brought bad publicity to his kingdom, and called on Swazis to convene inside the country. However, security forces moved in on PUDEMO members and enforced a 1973 decree by Mswati's father, King Sobhuza, outlawing political gatherings. In its statement PUDEMO thanked its international supporters, including South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. The organisation is seeking an elected constitutional convention to replace the constitutional process decreed by Mswati in 1996 and run by two of his brothers, Prince Mangaliso Dlamini and Prince David Dlamini. "Our way forward has always called for a democratic and all-inclusive process that will take place under a conducive political climate," said PUDEMO's secretary-general. PUDEMO called for an end to the decree banning political parties and meetings, a return of political exiles to Swaziland, and an end to the feudal system in which 80 percent of Swazis live as landless peasants under palace-appointed chiefs and can be expelled from their ancestral lands for falling foul of the authorities. The group has called upon SADC and the international community to expel Swaziland from regional and world bodies, such as SADC and the Commonwealth of Nations, and impose travel restrictions on Mswati, the royal family and government officials. Southern Africa's last absolute monarch has not responded to PUDEMO's statements. A government spokesman was also not available for comment.