We've moved to a new site!

Join us at publicservices.international - for all the latest news, resources and struggles from around the world.

We are no longer updating world-psi.org and it will be progressively phased out: all content will be migrated to the new site and old links will redirect eventually.

  1. Home
  2. Media
  3. Publications & Research
  4. Resolution 39: Swaziland

Resolution 39: Swaziland

30 November, 2012
Source: 
PSI

 The 29th World Congress of Public Services International (PSI), meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 27-30 November 2012

NOTES the following:

a) The courageous and vital action of the Swaziland democracy movement, led by the new united Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and the PSI affiliate within its ranks who have continued to campaign for democracy despite the repressive nature of the ruling royal elite.

b) The emergence of the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) as an initiative of the trade union movement to bring together all civil society organisations including faith-based organisations, youth and students, women’s groups and urban and rural community organisations.

c) The refusal of the Swazi regime to engage with the democratic forces other than through repression, and its unwillingness to release its grip on power and the wealth it plunders for its own purposes.

d) The need to acknowledge that the question of the monarchy and the nature of a democratic Swazi state is a matter that must be resolved by the people of Swaziland themselves.

e) The continuing crisis facing the majority of the people of Swaziland, 70% plus who live on less than one US dollar a day, and who live in abject poverty with virtually no access to services, while the Head of the Royal Family is listed as one of the wealthiest people in the world.

f) The inactivity of governments in general, and in the African Union and SADC in particular demanding that democratic norms be observed in Swaziland, and that repression is not used to resolve political challenges in Swaziland.

g) The growing support for the Swaziland Democracy Campaign outside of Swaziland through PSI, and ITUC Africa and the breaching of the ‘wall of silence’ that surrounded Swaziland in the media and popular consciousness.

This Congress therefore RESOLVES to:

URGE all affiliates, social movements and all democratic forces to support the campaign for democracy in Swaziland, and especially through the Swaziland Democracy Campaign which is the campaigning wing of the trade union inspired Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and especially its actions that take place annually on April 12th that commemorates the suspension of democratic rights in 1973 to the current date, and the Global Week of Action on Swaziland that takes place in September.

  1. GIVE SUPPORT to our sister Union NAPSAWU and TUCOSWA, its federation, to help build capacity to assert a democratic agenda and prepare for effective activity in a democratic Swaziland.
  2. Where possible to BUILD CHAPTERS of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign to coordinate action on the dates outlined above.
  3. ENSURE that PSI makes Swaziland democracy a key campaign for the next period, and to raise the matter with governments in general but especially within the African Union and SADC to delegitimize the Swazi regime.

See all Congress resolutions including the Program of Action and the Constitution.

Downloads

Also see