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"Distribute land or it will be seized", Swazis warn King and white farmers

Swaziland Solidarity Campaign | 18.09.2002 09:02

"The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), a pro-democracy group campaigning for democratic change in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland, has called on Swazis to fight for their land rights." By Bhekie Matsebula

In a strongly worded statement, SSN's secretary, Bongani Masuku said time has come for Swazis to fight for the land in the hands of King Mswati III and his brothers in the royal family. He said what is happening in Zimbabwe might lead to Swazis follow suit if the land is not released to the ordinary citizens.
With reservations on the manner the land is being returned to the people of that country, Masuku said: "We have always maintained that human rights, democracy and economic freedom are inextricably bound. Therefore, we support any struggle for human rights and democracy, because we believe it is at the same time a struggle for economic emancipation."
He added: " When the people of Zimbabwe fought the struggle for independence, nothing was more central than land and democracy. It is in this light that we say so long as land and power are in the hands of a few, black or white, then freedom is a fantasy.
"Any struggle finds meaning in the concrete transfer of power to the suffering majority and its attendants; land ownership and the right to determine their own destiny
"In Swaziland we are confronted by the same puzzle; democracy and land. A few white commercial farmers and their cohorts in the royal family control the land of our country. The majority is literally landless in Swaziland, yet they are expected to make a living. This is where the puzzle of power becomes crystallised."
Masuku said that as the democratic forces in Swaziland campaign for meaningful democratic change in the kingdom the struggle for land should hand in hand also. He took a swipe at the British government for opposing the return of white-owned land in Zimbabwe. He claimed what is happening in Zimbabwe is exactly what could happen to Swaziland.
"In Swaziland we are suffering from the same double standards of imperialist Britain which champions the struggle for democracy only when rich whites are under attack, but when the same puzzle face poor blacks nothing comes out of it," he said.
Masuku concluded that: "Unless land is a central component of any liberation, that liberation is not worth the noble name of freedom, but a mere fantasy for a few and continuation of suffering for the poor majority."

Swaziland Solidarity Campaign
- e-mail: swazis@union.org.za
- Homepage: http://www.swazis.org.uk/~sep02/land.html

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