Message of the Communist Party of Swaziland to the 5th National Congress of the Young Communist League of South Africa
10TH DECEMBER 2018
The Communist Party of Swaziland greets all young communists of South Africa and the entire world. We also greet the working class of the world.
The Communist Party of Swaziland and the oppressed people of Swaziland have continued to enjoy principled solidarity from the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) in our fight against the tinkhundla regime. We are grateful for the solidarity as we continue strengthening our party-to-party relations. This is as part of the duty placed upon all internationalists, to ensure a socialist future for the world. In turn, we must state from the onset, that the Communist Party of Swaziland will continue to support the YCLSA and the SACP in their working class struggles towards socialism.
Struggles of working class in Swaziland during 2018
The year 2018 saw increased militancy among workers in Swaziland against the tinkhundla regime, the monarchical dictatorship. Teachers, nurses, textile workers, under the leadership of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) took to the streets to raise practical people’s demands with the ruling Mswati regime. They called for an end to colonial-style evictions which are spearheaded by the monarch, increase in wages and elderly grants, among other demands. Students led by the Swaziland National Union of Students also took part in these struggles, fighting against victimisation, and for free quality education.
The people of Swaziland also called for the boycott of tinkhundla elections which are nothing but a sham! Tinkhundla elections have no practical valued among the people of Swaziland. They only help create a puppet parliament which is answerable only to the absolute monarch. To these peaceful protests, the Mswati regime always responded with violence.
The working class and peasants are the worst victims of the autocratic Mswati regime. A large chunk of these is the youth, with whom the YCLSA has to work with closely in terms of solidarity and waging of common struggles in our two countries. The youth lives under extreme oppression, high levels of unemployment even for qualified graduates, the poor education system which the Swaziland National Union of Students has been fighting against, and many other struggles.
Reality of the tinkhundla system
Swaziland has been ruled by an absolute monarch since 12 April 1973 when the late king Sobhuza II abrogated the 1968 independence constitution, banned all political parties and formations, banned all political activities and bestowed all executive, legislative, and judicial powers upon the monarch. The monarch would from thereon rule Swaziland by decree.
Due to the absolute monarchy, there has been widespread poverty among the masses while the royal family has raked in immense wealth which is produced by these poor masses.
About 70 percent of the people of Swaziland survive on less than US$2 a day. The country has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with 27.4% of adults, mostly within the youth bracket, living with HIV, with poverty being one of the main contributors to this prevalence.
Meanwhile, Mswati spent about R1 billion (US$70 million) to throw a lavish 50th birthday party for himself in April 2018. This amount included a second self-gifted private jet costing about R500 million (about $30 million) and numerous other luxurious articles, including about R21 million (about US$1.6 million) Jacobs & Co Grand Baguette timepiece and a 6kg suit encrusted in diamonds which he wore at the party. All this whilst 350 000 of the 1.1 million people of Swaziland were in urgent need of food aid, as admitted by the government of Swaziland. Mswati has 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars, all of which drain the economy of Swaziland.
The tinkhundla system is presented by the royal regime as a unique truly African system of the people, and some Africans have easily fallen to these lies. The fact is that the tinkhundla system is a dictatorship of the monarch. In 2013, Mswati, in an embarrassing effort to simplify the system, redefined the tinkhundla system as “monarchical democracy; the marriage between the monarch and the ballot box.” Put differently, tinkhundla system is democracy by the monarch, for the monarch.
There is nothing African about the tinkhundla regime. To call it African would mean that it is inherent in African values and principles that the majority of the population should work the hardest in production but the fruits of their labour be enjoyed by one individual and his family. It would also mean that it is inherent in African values that the majority of the people should languish in poverty whilst one family enjoys the riches of the country. It would mean that it is a core African principle that the majority should go for months without drugs in clinics and hospitals whilst Mswati’s family and friends enjoy overseas medical care at the expense of the poor!
Swaziland is not an anti-imperialist state. The history of the tinkhundla system is partly linked to the apartheid regime and other European forces who were trying to destabilise the South African liberation movement across Africa. It is now a documented fact that the tinkhundla regime collaborated with the apartheid regime in the arbitrary arrest and deportation of members of the South African liberation movement.
The dominant mode of production in Swaziland is the capitalist mode. The leading capitalist businesses are international corporations from the USA and the EU who control the economy with the full cooperation of the absolute monarch. Swaziland is also locked within a global capitalist world.
Towards a socialist Swaziland and a socialist world
The Communist Party of Swaziland aims to overthrow the absolute monarch, root and all, and lay the ground for a people’s democratic republic. Towards this, we will work to mobilise the oppressed masses and isolate the monarch. We will also continue to work closely with the YCLSA and the SACP, together with the entire working class of the world, for an internationalist cause against imperialism. The revitalisation of the African Left Networking Forum will also form a significant part of our programme.
The Communist Party of Swaziland extends solidarity to the people of Venezuela who are engaged in a fight against USA led sanctions. We also call for the end of the illegal economic embargo against Cuba, call for the freedom of the Western Sahara. We support the people of Palestine against occupation by Zionist Israel. Finally, we support for the reunification of Korea, which should be undertaken by the Korean people without external aggression by imperialists.
We wish the Young Communist League of South Africa a peaceful and successful 5th National Congress.
Issued by The Communist Party of Swaziland
The Communist Party of Swaziland greets all young communists of South Africa and the entire world. We also greet the working class of the world.
The Communist Party of Swaziland and the oppressed people of Swaziland have continued to enjoy principled solidarity from the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) in our fight against the tinkhundla regime. We are grateful for the solidarity as we continue strengthening our party-to-party relations. This is as part of the duty placed upon all internationalists, to ensure a socialist future for the world. In turn, we must state from the onset, that the Communist Party of Swaziland will continue to support the YCLSA and the SACP in their working class struggles towards socialism.
Struggles of working class in Swaziland during 2018
The year 2018 saw increased militancy among workers in Swaziland against the tinkhundla regime, the monarchical dictatorship. Teachers, nurses, textile workers, under the leadership of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) took to the streets to raise practical people’s demands with the ruling Mswati regime. They called for an end to colonial-style evictions which are spearheaded by the monarch, increase in wages and elderly grants, among other demands. Students led by the Swaziland National Union of Students also took part in these struggles, fighting against victimisation, and for free quality education.
The people of Swaziland also called for the boycott of tinkhundla elections which are nothing but a sham! Tinkhundla elections have no practical valued among the people of Swaziland. They only help create a puppet parliament which is answerable only to the absolute monarch. To these peaceful protests, the Mswati regime always responded with violence.
The working class and peasants are the worst victims of the autocratic Mswati regime. A large chunk of these is the youth, with whom the YCLSA has to work with closely in terms of solidarity and waging of common struggles in our two countries. The youth lives under extreme oppression, high levels of unemployment even for qualified graduates, the poor education system which the Swaziland National Union of Students has been fighting against, and many other struggles.
Reality of the tinkhundla system
Swaziland has been ruled by an absolute monarch since 12 April 1973 when the late king Sobhuza II abrogated the 1968 independence constitution, banned all political parties and formations, banned all political activities and bestowed all executive, legislative, and judicial powers upon the monarch. The monarch would from thereon rule Swaziland by decree.
Due to the absolute monarchy, there has been widespread poverty among the masses while the royal family has raked in immense wealth which is produced by these poor masses.
About 70 percent of the people of Swaziland survive on less than US$2 a day. The country has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with 27.4% of adults, mostly within the youth bracket, living with HIV, with poverty being one of the main contributors to this prevalence.
Meanwhile, Mswati spent about R1 billion (US$70 million) to throw a lavish 50th birthday party for himself in April 2018. This amount included a second self-gifted private jet costing about R500 million (about $30 million) and numerous other luxurious articles, including about R21 million (about US$1.6 million) Jacobs & Co Grand Baguette timepiece and a 6kg suit encrusted in diamonds which he wore at the party. All this whilst 350 000 of the 1.1 million people of Swaziland were in urgent need of food aid, as admitted by the government of Swaziland. Mswati has 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars, all of which drain the economy of Swaziland.
The tinkhundla system is presented by the royal regime as a unique truly African system of the people, and some Africans have easily fallen to these lies. The fact is that the tinkhundla system is a dictatorship of the monarch. In 2013, Mswati, in an embarrassing effort to simplify the system, redefined the tinkhundla system as “monarchical democracy; the marriage between the monarch and the ballot box.” Put differently, tinkhundla system is democracy by the monarch, for the monarch.
There is nothing African about the tinkhundla regime. To call it African would mean that it is inherent in African values and principles that the majority of the population should work the hardest in production but the fruits of their labour be enjoyed by one individual and his family. It would also mean that it is inherent in African values that the majority of the people should languish in poverty whilst one family enjoys the riches of the country. It would mean that it is a core African principle that the majority should go for months without drugs in clinics and hospitals whilst Mswati’s family and friends enjoy overseas medical care at the expense of the poor!
Swaziland is not an anti-imperialist state. The history of the tinkhundla system is partly linked to the apartheid regime and other European forces who were trying to destabilise the South African liberation movement across Africa. It is now a documented fact that the tinkhundla regime collaborated with the apartheid regime in the arbitrary arrest and deportation of members of the South African liberation movement.
The dominant mode of production in Swaziland is the capitalist mode. The leading capitalist businesses are international corporations from the USA and the EU who control the economy with the full cooperation of the absolute monarch. Swaziland is also locked within a global capitalist world.
Towards a socialist Swaziland and a socialist world
The Communist Party of Swaziland aims to overthrow the absolute monarch, root and all, and lay the ground for a people’s democratic republic. Towards this, we will work to mobilise the oppressed masses and isolate the monarch. We will also continue to work closely with the YCLSA and the SACP, together with the entire working class of the world, for an internationalist cause against imperialism. The revitalisation of the African Left Networking Forum will also form a significant part of our programme.
The Communist Party of Swaziland extends solidarity to the people of Venezuela who are engaged in a fight against USA led sanctions. We also call for the end of the illegal economic embargo against Cuba, call for the freedom of the Western Sahara. We support the people of Palestine against occupation by Zionist Israel. Finally, we support for the reunification of Korea, which should be undertaken by the Korean people without external aggression by imperialists.
We wish the Young Communist League of South Africa a peaceful and successful 5th National Congress.
Issued by The Communist Party of Swaziland
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