ANC calls for the release of political prisoners in Swaziland

In a statement from Chairperson of the African National Congress NEC Sub-Committee on International Relations Obed Bapela on May 7, the ANC called for the release of all political prisoners in Swaziland.

“The democratization of Swaziland must preoccupy the work of the African National Congress and all progressive forces as we call for the release of political prisoners, return of exiles and free political activities in that country.”

The ANC has previously called for the unbanning of political parties of Swaziland without any apparent success. In October 2012, ANC Chairperson  Baleka Mbete said that “we need to make sure Swaziland is liberated including the unbanning of political parties,” and in June 2012 President Zuma’s foreign policy advisor Lindiwe Zulu said that South Africa must press Swaziland to unban political parties.

Støtter ANC demokrati i Swaziland?

Sydafrikas regeringsparti, African National Congress (ANC) udtalte på deres politikkonference i sidste uge, at Sydafrika (der er Swazilands klart vigtigste handelspartner) støtter demokratisering i Swaziland.

Blandt andet udtalte præsident Zumas udenrigsrådgiver, Lindiwe Zulu, at ”vi støtter demokratiseringen af Swaziland”, og at budskabet fra konferencen var, at ANC skulle ”presse på” for at få partier lovliggjort i landet.

Med en ting er retorik, noget andet hvordan man rent faktisk handler. For samtidigt er ANC-regeringen i gang med at give Swazilands enevældige monark, kong Mswati III, et kæmpe lån på 230 millioner Euro, uden at stille egentlige krav om demokratisering til gengæld.

Homophobia in Africa is ”escalating”

“The abuse is escalating. Recent cases of criminalization of same-sex relationships have worsened a situation already characterized by harassment, humiliation, extortion, arbitrary arrests, judicial violence, imprisonment, torture, hate crimes and honour killings on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity all over Africa,” says a new report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

“Over the past ten years, the focus on equal rights, law reforms, community cohesion, diversity, families and migrations for lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI) Africans has gone from bad to worse.”

Biko’s legacy lives on in Swaziland’s civil society

Looking at South Africa today, it is clear that the approach of the ANC has not ensured socio-economic justice for the majority of South Africa’s blacks. Indeed, the rich-poor divide has broadened, and South Africa has become the most unequal country in the world.

The same can be said of many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. But as South Africa’s tiny neighbour, Swaziland, is finding out, the solution might lie in the past, so to speak, more than in a future that has failed the test of time.

Letter to SA minister: Ensure Maxwell’s release and dismantling of Tinkundla

The Free Maxwell Campaign has written an open letter to Jeffrey Radebe, South African Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, to “inquire into is the illegal interrogation, and according to COSATUs website, the additional torture, of Swazi student leader Maxwell Dlamini” on September 30.

The letter also asked the South African government to help dismantle the undemocratic Tinkundla system in Swaziland.

Anti-apartheid activist turns 50

Morten Nielsen ought to be the embodiment of an old school activist, overtaken by young, well-groomed activists with white Apple-laptops and university degrees. He turned 50 on Tuesday, having been an activist and employee of the Danish solidarity organisation, Africa Contact, formerly the Danish Anti-Apartheid Movement, since the mid-eighties.

Morten, who used to work as a bricklayer and often wears colourful African-made shirts, certainly does not fit the part of the contemporary young European developmentalist or Africa-activist. But he nevertheless believes that his and Africa Contact’s methods and philosophy are both contemporary and even ahead of its time.

Will Zuma’s South Africa demand democratisation in Swaziland?

“I believe that king Mswati III is under immense pressure even from his closest buddy, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma,” says Sikelela Dlamini from the Swaziland United Democratic Front, an umbrella organisation of the democratic movement in Swaziland.

The recent spate of pro-democracy demonstrations against the regime in Swaziland, which so far culminated in the mass demonstrations in March and April of this year, shows the increasing willingness of Swazis to face intimidation and police brutality to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the regime.

Conference of the Democratic Left: ‘We are our own liberators’

‘We are our own liberators’ is the slogan that is to be adopted by the new South African left. This is obviously meant to differentiate the new left-wing movement, Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL), from the increasingly un-participatory and top-down led ANC and its tripartite alliance partners, COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Before the formation of the CDL in 2008, there was no left-wing alternative to the tripartite alliance. The CDL seeks to rectify this. In a recent press statement, the CDL called for all “left forces” committed to “an anti-capitalist politics” to participate in the first national congress of the CDL to be held in January 2011.

Post-World Cup xenophobia in South Africa

After the euphoria and apparent pan-African pride of the 2010 World Cup, xenophobia has resurfaced in South Africa. After the World Cup final, there have been a steady trickling of reports of violence against foreigners. Some examples of this are the five Zimbabweans and Mozambicans who were injured in Kya Sands yesterday, one having been cut with an axe, after battles between foreigners and locals in the Johannesburg township; a Malawian man being killed and having had his genitals cut of last week; shops belonging to foreigners in townships in Cape Town having been burnt down and looted during the past two weeks ; two Somalis being killed and two others wounded when their shop was attacked in Worcester last week; and hundreds of foreigners who have businesses in the Mbekweni township near Paarl being escorted to safety by police officers when locals began looting their shops during the World Cup Final. Threats of violence, such as notes passed round to foreigners saying that they would be killed if they stayed in South Africa after the World Cup or accusing them of stealing the jobs and houses of South Africans, had begun months before the World Cup and continue to occur. These attacks, and the fear of more to come, have caused Zimbabweans and other foreigners to return home in their droves or to seek asylum in churches or in police stations.

Brian Ashley: The South African movement against neo-liberalism is on the move

It it ironic that thousands yesterday protested against the spending on World Cup stadiums instead of on South Africa’s poor on June 16, the anniversary of the Soweto-uprising in 1976. But since South Africa’s first truly democratic elections in 1994, the ANC government have gradually but unremittingly gone back on their own ideals and promises of socialism, nationalisation and general redistribution – even though Mandela himself had promised in 1990 that, “the nationalisation of the mines, banks and monopoly industries is the policy of the ANC, and a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable”.