General Secretary of Cosatu Zwelinzima Vavi address the CEPPWAWU Congress in Cape Town07 - 08 - 08 |
Opening address by Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary, to the Zimbabwe and Swaziland Solidarity Conference, 10 August 2008General Secretary of the ITUC-Africa
General Secretaries of ZCTU and SFTU
Leaders of the civil society formations from Zimbabwe and Swaziland
Representatives of the political formations from Zimbabwe and Swaziland
Leaders of COSATU and South African civil society formations
Firstly I want to welcome all of you to this historic Zimbabwe and Swaziland Solidarity Conference. Thanks for responding the invitation to join us to debate what we need to do to continue exerting pressure on the regimes of both of these countries.
Our message is clear – Zimbabwe and Swaziland cannot continue to be islands of dictatorship surrounded by a sea of democracy in our region. We demand freedom and democracy for citizens of both countries. We want democracy for the citizens of our neighbouring countries today and not tomorrow.
For the freedom of workers in those countries we will fight until the last drop of blood in our bodies is dried up. We shall, with the same determination as we fought against the apartheid monster, continue to wage a struggle until all of us in the region can proclaim that we succeeded to free human kind from not only the bondages of oppression and repression but from the clutches of poverty.
As I said to the preparatory meeting for this conference, to us international solidarity is the lifeblood of trade unionism. To us there are no borders when it comes to practicing the universal slogan of the working class – an injury to one is an injury to all.
The need for this conference is underlined by deepening crises in both countries. The human rights abuses in Zimbabwe have scaled new heights. The beatings of ordinary people, the burning down of their property, the killings and torture continue as though the current negotiations means nothing to the illegal Mugabe regime.
Let us again state that we support the ongoing efforts to negotiate a political settlement to the Zimbabwe crises. We accordingly wish President Thabo Mbeki and the other facilitators of these negotiations together with all parties involved good luck and success as they try to find lasting solutions to the Zimbabwe crises. We must however hurry to say we will not give these negotiations unconditional support. To us the following issues are not negotiable.
Any settlement that does not recognise the will of the people as expressed in the 29 March elections will not be acceptable. It will represent an elite accord that can never enjoy legitimacy in the eyes of the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.
The June elections were illegitimate and therefore the outcomes must not be recognised.
The government to be formed should be an interim government whose main task should be mainly limited to preparing for a fresh round of elections that will strictly adhere to the SADC elections protocols.
Violence, intimidation and use of state of institutions in a factional and partisan fashion must come to an end.
Whilst all these negotiations proceed and whilst we wish these talks success, we know that we cannot let up the pressure on the Mugabe government.
There is no contradiction between negotiations to find a peaceful settlement and the mass struggles and pressure. There is no settlement. There are rumours to the fact that the settlement is near. We shall accordingly continue to pile pressure until a settlement is reached that is based on our demands.
In the meantime we do not recognise Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe. We insist that he should not be invited in the SADC heads of state summit that takes place in South Africa on 15-17 August 2008. We shall accordingly protest his presence here. We call on COSATU members in Gauteng, as well as all progressive civil society formations and other freedom lovers to join us to register our disgust at his presence through a march we are organising for 16 August 2008.
In this summit we shall present the draft programme we developed in the preparations meeting for discussion and adoption. We want a total isolation of Mugabe and his cronies.
Why Swaziland has escaped the international human rights radar for so long?
Regarding Swaziland I just want to repeat word-by-word what I said in the preparations meeting.
Swaziland got its independence from Britain in 1968 under King Sobhuza. However, this was merely a transfer of power from the British colonial masters to a neo-colonial monarchy, through which the British sought to re-establish its domination and exploitation.
The nature of this monarchy was defined the King's 1973 proclamation to the nation:
"Now, therefore I, Sobhuza 11, king of Swaziland, hereby declare that, in collaboration with my cabinet ministers and supported by the whole nation, I have assumed supreme power in the kingdom of Swaziland and that all legislative, executive and judicial powers is now vested in myself and shall, for the meantime be exercised in collaboration with my cabinet ministers.
“I further declare that to ensure the continued maintenance of peace, order and good government, my armed forces have been posted to all strategic places and have taken charge of all government places and all public services. All political parties and similar bodies that cultivate and bring about disturbances and ill-feelings within the nation are hereby dissolved and prohibited."
This decree laid the basis for the current political architecture, where politics are the exclusive preserve of the ruling royal elite. In 1978 they introduced a system of called tinkhundla, which sought to entrench the hegemony of royal supremacy and deepen the semi-feudal and neo-colonial character of Swazi society. It fragmented Swazis into competing localities called tinkhundla in the name of "unique and home-grown democracy", which is directly in conflict with the universal principles of democracy.
The world has conveniently remained silent about Swaziland and allowed the ruling royal regime to get away with murder. The world remains silent, after a regime has been allowed to enforce a state of emergency for more than 34 years, despite Amnesty International raising, on several occasions, the issue of extreme police brutality in Swaziland, in its fact-finding mission's damning report on the Swazi security forces.
Why does the Commonwealth and Britain apply double standards when it comes to Swaziland, in contrast to their hysterical attacks on Mugabe? Why does it not apply smart sanctions against the stubborn regime for refusing to unban political parties and political activities in general?
Why does the Commonwealth support and heap praises on a constitution that entrenches the power of the ruling aristocracy and affirm the state of emergency, yet unequivocally demand clear guidelines for democracy elsewhere?
Poor people are on the receiving end of the regime's viciousness, with more and more Swazis being forced to cross the borders into South Africa in search of jobs, yet the country is well endowed with abundant natural resources that have become a preserve of a tiny ruling minority.
Finally, the following conditions obtain as regards the royal ‘elections’:
Political parties remain banned, with the exception of the royal broederbond, which is the only legal political force that has monopoly over the entire political life of our country as an organised force.
The new constitution of the monarchy, itself a direct off-shoot of the king’s decree of 1973, bans political parties and criminalises all forms of political activity and the basic rights to associate and organise, not to mention demonstrations and marches.
Parliament is nothing but a rubber stamp and stooge of royal power. It has no power to determine anything that is not in the interests of the royal family and the monarchy, aside the fact that it is largely comprised of royalists and their apologists.
The media and judiciary are extensions and auxiliaries of the royal establishment, independence is a luxury they cannot afford.
Political activists are regularly detained for their peaceful political activities, which are in anyway, illegal even according to the new constitution proclaimed by the king recently
In this conference we shall consider the same programme we developed in the preparatory meeting for discussion. King Mswati is not welcome in South Africa. He is not a head of state. There has never been any democratic election in Swaziland where he was elected. Political parties remain banned. Free political activity is not allowed. Basic freedoms such as a freedom of speech and association are brutally denied. We are angry that SADC and all others continue to embrace this fraud.
Welcome to the conference and best wishes from millions who are wish us here success as we chart the way forward for our region.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
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E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za