SACP Statement on the arbitrary conviction and sentencing of former Members of Parliament (MPs) by Mswati’s judiciary for fighting for democracy

17 July 2024

The South African Communist Party (SACP) condemns the conviction and sentencing of former Members of Parliament (MPs) by absolute monarch Mswati III’s judiciary. Since the 2021 major uprisings in Swaziland that led to the arbitrary arrests, trial and conviction of the two former MPs, Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube have been in jail for calling for democracy in the country. The Mswati autocracy has moved forth to sentence them to 85 and 58 years’ imprisonment, respectively.

Former MPs Mabuza and Dube were first arrested in July 2021 following their opposition to the Mswati regime’s brutal massacre of democracy activists during the period between May and July 2021, with about 100 of them shot and killed, hundreds more wounded and over 700 arbitrarily arrested for their calls for democracy. This was also in the context where the royal family lives in extreme luxuries surrounded by a sea of poverty and hunger.

Swaziland remains an absolute monarchy since political parties were banned on 12 April 1973 and the king assumed absolute dictatorial powers over the executive, legislature and judiciary, and thus accountable to no one.

Absolute monarch Mswati III rules the country by an iron fist and, consequent to the regime’s rule, about 70 per cent of the people have over the years been forced to live below the poverty line.

The SACP reiterates its unconditional support for the ongoing struggle for democracy in Swaziland, in which the working class and poor are the most affected and at the forefront of the intensifying struggles in the country.

We further call upon SADC to take a decisive role on the question of the brutalisation of the Swazi people and ensure that the oppressed people in that country attain justice, following decades of oppression. The SADC leadership must be bound by its own founding charter and principles insofar as reviewing the conduct of the Swazi leadership is concerned.

Finally, we call upon the working class in our country and the world to undertake practical actions to give solidarity to the fighting people of Swaziland. The SACP commits to the intensification of further mobilisations till the liberation of the people of Swaziland, as a fundamental condition for justice and democracy in the whole Southern African region and beyond.

Towards this end, the SACP calls for the unconditional release of the MPs and all political prisoners and the unconditional return of all exiles for the effective path towards a new and just Swaziland.

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research, 17 July 2024