Today trade unionists and civil society activists across southern Africa will come together to call for democracy for Swaziland, seeking to internationalise an issue that for years has successfully managed to evade the international spotlight.

The Kingdom of Swaziland is Africa’s only absolute monarchy. King Mswati III rules over the population of just more than 1 million people by authoritarian means; political parties are banned, political and civic activists are imprisoned and brutalised, the judiciary, media and other authoritative bodies are controlled by the monarchy.

On Monday Mario Masuku, leader of Swaziland’s banned opposition political party PUDEMO, was released by the country’s courts after spending over 10 months in prison awaiting trial on charges of terrorism and sedition.

Masuku had been detained under the country’s controversial Suppression of Terrorism Act. According to the Law Society of Swaziland this repressive piece of legislation ‘gives the authorities an unlimited licence to name and declare virtually any one or thing a terrorist entity.’
Since May 2008 the Suppression of Terrorism Act has been used liberally in a vain attempt to stamp out political opposition in the country. It has been used to declare a number of organisations, including PUDEMO, as terrorist organisations and even used to arrest an activist for wearing a ‘Free Mario Masuku’ t-shirt.

The dramatic increase in repressive legislation in Swaziland has done little to quell public opposition to the government. Last year civil society joined together under the banner of the Swaziland United Democratic Front to form a united voice in the struggle and have organised a series of high profile demonstrations and actions to call for democracy.

Sadly, despite benefiting from an increased level of interest from the media in southern Africa, the struggle in the country gets very little coverage either in Swaziland or internationally. In Swaziland the media remains heavily controlled by the government. On Monday four journalists from the state owned Swazi Observer were ‘attacked and assaulted by a battalion of correctional services warder recruits as they covered a political demonstration,’ according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).

Sidumo Dlamini, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said in his opening address to the federation’s 10th National Congress on Monday ‘It is disturbing that the world, particular the developed world, is silent about Swaziland. Are we waiting for a confrontational conflict before we can intervene?’ Sadly these words are unlikely to resonate much beyond the region’s borders.

To many in southern Africa it is incomprehensible why Britain has taken such a keen interest in the crisis in Zimbabwe whilst virtually ignoring the struggle of the Swazi people. Since a state of emergency was imposed in 1973, this former British protectorate has seen every element of its democracy chipped away as the power and wealth of the monarchy have increased dramatically.

Swaziland is a reasonably wealthy nation when compared to some of its neighbours but 70% of the population live in abject poverty on less than a dollar a day. Its health services receive a pittance in funding, whilst the population is left to endure the world’s highest rates of HIV.

ACTSA have been campaigning in solidarity with the people of Swaziland to bring democracy and rights to the country. Although the release of Mario Masuku is a step forward for the people of Swaziland it will take enormous pressure from the international community to bring about justice and democracy for this often overlooked and deeply unequal kingdom.