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Swaz
iland's banned opposition yesterday said it will continue to
bring pressure for democratic reform in the tiny African country,
Africa's last absolute monarchy.
"We remain guided by the core principles of our struggle that the
liberation of the people can only be an act of the people
themselves," said the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo)
president Mario Masuku.
"This liberation means the destruction of the Tinkhundla regime,
its legacy and its replacement with the institutions of a
democratic system," Masuku said in a statement issued in
Mbabane.
Masuku added: "Never before has this country been buried in damp
and dirty blankets of social crisis, political irrelevance, deep
injustice, tension, economic decay and despicably bad government
practices".
Pudemo said the Swazi government, headed by the king who has the
final word in any decision, was "facing a permanent crisis forcing
the royal regime to try cosmetic reforms and that the majority of
Swazi have realised that the system lacked legitimacy".
The southern African country, roughly the size of Belgium, held
elections in October last year but voters could only choose
individual candidates because of a ban on political parties under a
political system called Tinkhundla (seSwati for "meeting
place).
Both Pudemo and the country's powerful trade union federation
claimed victory in a campaign to get voters to stay away from the
polls, but some observers said activists missed a chance to fight
the country's complex political system from within. –
Sapa-AFP.
Photos
