Swazi opposition leader arrested
2010-09-07 17:14
Johannesburg - The head of Swaziland's banned opposition, Mario Masuku, and a group of South African activists were arrested on Tuesday as hundreds of trade union members marched to demand democracy in Africa's last absolute monarchy.
Mduduzi Gina, secretary general of the Swazi Federation of Trade Unions, said police pounced on Masuku just as the march was about to get under way in the commercial capital Manzini following efforts by the authorities to prevent it going ahead.
Masuku is president of the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), a political party that, like all political parties, is banned in the mountainous southern African kingdom where King Mswati III holds sway.
"They (police) came in the middle of the protestors and they arrested the president of Pudemo," Gina told the German Press Agency. "It caused a serious chaos," he said, describing how police fired warning shots above the crowd to repulse protestors who tried to shield Masuku from arrest.
Earlier, a mixed group of police and soldiers raided the Manzini offices of the trade union federation and arrested around 13 South African trade union officials who had come to support the protest, Gina said.
The whereabouts of the officials from the South African Municipal Workers Union was unknown five hours later, he said.
The union boss said the police later told him "they did not want foreigners in Swaziland".
Repression getting serious
On Monday the police had already deported a group of South African activists for attending a planning meeting in Manzini about Tuesday's so-called Global Day of Action for Swaziland.
The police raided the meeting and detained a group of 40 activists and journalists. The local activists were later released and the non- locals deported.
Unions and civil society groups are calling on Mswati to revoke a 1973 decree that bans political parties. Swaziland has a parliament and government but both are under the thumb of the king.
In the past few years, the government of the impoverished country of around one million people has intensified its crackdown on dissent.
Pudemo president Masuku was detained on terrorism charges for 340 days before being acquitted and released in September 2009.
"The repression here is getting serious," Gina said. "In the past they would never have raided the offices of a trade union."
Internationally, Swaziland is especially known as the country with the highest estimated rate of HIV/Aids prevalence of over one in four, or 26%. The king is also famous for having 13 wives.
- SAPA