Government charges union leaders

Nine leaders of three public servants associations in Mbabane were expected to go on trial on Friday for participation in a mass labour meeting last November in Nelspruit, South Africa, which the Swaziland government described as illegal, news reports said on Friday. The union leaders have been charged with misconduct in terms of Section 42 of the civil service board regulations of 1963. Those charged included union presidents, vice presidents and secretaries. The government charged that the union leaders associated themselves with resolutions of a political meeting which called for, among other things, the replacement of the Swaziland government by an interim government formed by some of the participants at the meeting.