Swaziland Uprising

Is Swaziland the latest African country to try topple their government?

Link to Photographs

There have been rumbles of discontent from this landlocked kingdom for quite some time, and it seems the tremors from countries up north have shaken the citizens into renewed action.

Swaziland has the highest HIV infection rate in the world with a life expectancy of 32 but a brutal monarchy has been living it up at the expense of a long suffering populace.

South Africa and the world has been silent about the little Kingdom as reported by the Sowetan:

Swaziland might be a worse simulation. The landlocked little kingdom depends on us for virtually everything. Unlike the industry of Zimbabweans, Swaziland has never had an economy to speak of sans South Africa.

So it has always been imperative for us to make sure of stability in Swaziland.

President Jacob Zuma must have been around the globe two-fold trying to resolve problems in foreign lands.

By and large, he has been making the right noises, even telling President Robert Mugabe to embrace his sworn enemies for the sake of Zimbabwe - and South Africa, of course.

But Zuma's silence on Swaziland is not only deafening, it conjures up a worse scenario than Zimbabwe visited on us.

The Sowetan

The latest crackdown by their security police has been brutal. Where is America now. Swaziland has no oil. No vast reserves of minerals to entice the Superpowers to "relieve their suffering".

Leaders under house arrest included Musi Mhlanga general secretary of Snat and the secretary of the Labour Coordinating Council which had called for the three days of protest that began on Tuesday April 12.

The date was significant as it marked the 34th anniversary of the day King Sobhuza II -- the father of the present monarch King Mswati III -- had nullified the country's onstitution, banned political parties and declared a state of emergency that persists until today.

There has been no confirmation on the number of unionists detained or arrested on Wednesday, but there are suspicions that they include the Swaziland Democratic Front's Mduduzi Gina and Barnes Dlamini, the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions president among others.

The leader of the banned People's United Democratic Movement, Mario Masuku, has been not been heard from since Tuesday.

Mail and Guardian

34 Years for a State of Emergency - sounds about right. It is time to make their State of Emergency real.

Hmm no oil, no precious metals, no need to interfere here.

reply to post by lokdog


It's quite sickening, but lets face it, the majority of the world's population doesn't really care either. I don't blame them - but I would like a bit of even-handedness.
It's one thing for the UN and Obama to say one thing, but they are not being even vaguely truthful about their reasons for intervention in Libya and the Middle East.

If they were truly concerned, then Zimbabwe would have been dealt with years ago.