PLOT TO SABOTAGE ELECTIONS - POLICE CHIEF

Members of various South African trade unionists singing and dancing near the entrance of Oshoek Border during a blockade recently which was part of activities that were lined up for the Global Week of Action for Democracy in Swaziland. (FILE: PIC)

MBABANE – Police have said certain elements with a political agenda are out to sabotage the ongoing National General Elections.

Police National Commissioner Isaac Magagula said such an ill-fated plot accounts for the vigilance of the police to safeguard national security so that the elections are not impeded by such elements.
Though the National Commissioner did not say who the election saboteurs were, he insisted that police were doing everything possible to ensure that such a mission did not succeed.

Magagula said this during a press conference where he set the record straight on allegations that police crushed a Global Inquiry Panel meeting that was planned for the George Hotel last Friday.
The panel meeting was to be held at the George Hotel where panelists were high profile unionists from the Congress of South African Trade Unions COSATU, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
He said it was striking that the Global Inquiry Panel had attributes of the Global Week of Action on Democracy in Swaziland.

He said the Global Week of Action on Swaziland was conceived with motives that undermine the peace and security of the country.
The Commissioner said the meeting was likely to shift the focus of the nation from the ongoing elections process and thereby cause confusion and instability, particularly “given that members of the certain proscribed entities had made threats to sabotage the process.” 

“As a police service, we have found it prudent to provide clarity to the public on the real reasons why we had to intervene and stop this meeting.  This is particularly so, as an unfortunate impression has been created that the police were overzealous and acted ultra vires.
“We wish to state that as far as our careful analysis of the bigger picture is concerned, the organisers are being economical with the truth in relation to the actual purpose of the meeting.  This is because all factors surrounding it suggest that it was not merely intended to discuss bread and butter issues for workers, but it was part and parcel of a broader agenda to further ulterior political motives aimed at breaching the peace and causing anarchy and instability in the country. 

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“The broader agenda was the Global Week of Action for Democracy in Swaziland 2013.”
He said the legal standing of the main organisers (TUCOSWA) as an organisation representing workers in the country was still in question, following the Industrial Court ruling made in 2012 to the effect that the organisation cannot be recognised as a workers’ federation in terms of the Industrial Relations Act.

“In the same vein, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has no legal standing in Swaziland and its involvement in domestic affairs will always be questionable and remain shrouded in controversy,” he said.

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