Swaziland: Party Rails At 'Brotherhood' Protecting Swazi King
20th August 2010

By Business Day (Loyiso Langeni) 

Johannesburg — THE banned People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) of Swaziland yesterday railed at Southern African leaders for turning a blind eye to repression and human rights abuses in the kingdom. 

Free political activity is not allowed in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy. 

Pudemo president Mario Masu ku said regional leaders should stop being a "club of brotherhood" protecting each other from sanctions. 

Mr Masuku said the crisis in Swaziland was not given the same status as that in countries such as Zimbabwe. 

He also called for targeted sanctions to be imposed on King Mswati. 

"The king, his extended family and inner circle should not be allowed to travel abroad," he said. 

Pudemo s ecretary-g eneral Siphasha Dlamini said the kingdom was at a "major crisis point. The cruel reality is that Swaziland ... is actually in a situation where the resources are in the hands of the elite." 

She said the Southern African Development Community needed to face the reality of shaming their peers . She said about 70% of Swaziland's population was "living in dire poverty", with 30% were surviving on "emergency food". 

Pudemo's leaders are in SA to participate in an African Participatory Democracy Conference, organised by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA. 

Secretary-general of the African National Congress Gwede Mantashe criticised the persecution of opposition leaders in Swaziland. 

"You still have a king, Mswati, who is a monarch in Swaziland and there's no democracy there." 

Mr Mantashe urged leftist movements to fight dictatorships on the continent. 

His sentiments were supported by the deputy secretary-general of the South African Communist Party Jeremy Cronin. 

Mr Cronin said SA, and countries in the region as a whole, were "not doing enough" to force democratic change in Swaziland.

Mr Masu ku told Business Day that Pudemo's leadership had written a letter to the ruling party in SA lobbying support for their political cause . Pudemo also planned to use its relationship with the communist party and Congress of South African Trade Unions to put pressure on SA to intervene in the kingdom, he said.  

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