Opposition becoming more militant

Swaziland's opposition groups are sounding a more militant note in preparation for the first mass action of the year against King Mswati's rule. "We have irreconcilable differences with government on the issue of the draft constitution," Jan Sithole, secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, told IRIN. Sithole and other unionists, government leaders and officials attended a meeting called by the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission on Thursday to forestall a nationwide protest strike scheduled to begin on 25 January. Government told the union leaders it had made progress in restoring the rule of law in Swaziland. The workers' federation is concerned that jobs are being lost because of dwindling foreign investment as a result of the perception that the country's legal system is being compromised by the royal leadership. Several hundred more garment workers were retrenched this week at the Matsapha Industrial Estate outside the central city of Manzini. Sithole said the core issue of the nationwide strike was the imposition of what pro-democracy groups are calling an illegitimate constitution drafted by King Mswati's brothers. The document is currently before parliament. Mswati has said he would sign the new constitution into law, allowing him to retain his absolute governing powers unopposed by political opposition groups, which will continue to be outlawed. Sithole noted that the constitution-drafting procedure excluded dissenting and progressive voices. "Government must meet our demands that a truly democratic constitutional dispensation begin," he said. Swaziland's security forces have traditionally kept demonstrators on a short leash: the commissioner of police has to grant approval for political marches, which is routinely denied on the grounds that politics are "banned" in Swaziland. There is evidence of mounting pressure by a younger generation of activists for more confrontational demonstrations. Dominic Tembe, secretary general of the oldest of the banned political parties, the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), said in a press statement that his organisation did not advocate an uprising, but suggested that violence might result from what he called systematic state oppression. "There is a trend by government of using [their interpretation of] culture to dominate and oppress, and use violence to uphold so-called cultural norms," Tembe said. "We in the NNLC are mobilising human, material and financial resources to deal a cruel blow to the dictatorship which has the potential of destroying this country." A 1973 decree proclaimed by Mswati's father, King Sobhuza, nullified the independence constitution and placed governing powers in the hands of the monarch. "We need dynamic revolutionary activists: people with a revolutionary mind," said Roland Rudd, a field officer with the banned political group People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). Echoing the complaints of a younger generation of political activists, Rudd called for new leadership in labour and pro-democracy groups. "The leadership is weak, and needs visionary and strategic-minded individuals who are committed to an 'all or nothing' resolution in 2005," he said in a statement to the local press. Rudd is currently on trial for conspiracy to commit violence after police last year allegedly found the ingredients for making a pipe bomb in the boot of his car.