The Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns in the strongest possible terms the petrol-bombing of the house of former of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) President, Comrade Alex Langwenya, in Bhunya.
The attack took place at around 11 p.m. on 8 June 2010. Less than ten minutes later the police unit known as Lukhozi arrived on the scene and and arrested Alex, his wife and his brother. They are currently detained at Bhunya police station without being charged with any crime.

According to the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), "no attempt was made to pursue any would be suspects or to make preliminary investigations at the crime scene. The police's sole objective was detaining Langwenya. Never in the history of policing in Swaziland has it ever happened that the victim of a crime ends up being the one detained. Fearing that the worst would happen to them, Langwenya quickly phoned his president who then notified the movement's lawyers."
COSATU fully backs the SSN's calls to put pressure on King Mswati's support base. As they say, the South African government set a very good precedent when they recalled the country's ambassador to Israel in protest against the attack on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. "This protest will appear insincere if the country cannot take action against a brutal regime in a neighbouring country that has declared war on its own people."
While the federation is relieved that no-one was injured, this in no way diminishes the seriousness of this latest atrocity by the dictatorship headed by King Mswati III. It is a declaration of war against those fighting for democracy and human rights and COSATU reiterates its full support for the mass campaign for democracy.