The management of the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Swaziland has suspended seven students, victimising them for taking part in a students’ demonstration outside the boundaries of the university on 4 September 2018. This is one of the many attempts that the regime has undertaken, especially during this tinkhundla elections year, to suppress the voice of the people.

The students demanded the release of their allowances which were long overdue, that their book allowances be deposited into their personal bank accounts.

The Communist Party of Swaziland has received information that the university management intends to bar the students from exercising their right to writing examinations. They want to use them to set an example to the rest of the students that dissenting views will not be tolerated in the institution.

The Disciplinary Committee that the students have been subjected to is not even independent. All of its members are Limkokwing University’s staff members and are beholden to the university management for their jobs. To keep their jobs they have had no choice but to return a verdict of guilty on the students, though without concrete evidence on the charges.

On the other hand, the university management is refusing to give the students their verdict letters. They wish to keep students on a tight leash because of the upcoming graduation and thus silently punish them.

It is important to understand that this act by the university management is directly connected to the general oppression of the people of Swaziland. In 2018 the Mswati regime toughened its dictatorship even more in a bid to force the people to partake in the sham elections that elected a puppet parliament for the imposition of the absolute monarch’s decisions. It is therefore not surprising that the attack on the students is for protest actions that occurred during September, the month of tinkhundla elections in 2018.

The Communist Party of Swaziland stands on the side of the students and calls for the great mass of students and youth, workers and unemployed to rise against the victimisation of students. We will continue to give our solidarity to the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) and to the students. The regime has been trying over the decades to destroy SNUS but continues to fail because the union correctly stands for the empowerment of students and also enjoys widespread support from them. All revolutionaries therefore have a duty to close ranks and defend SNUS.

Issued by the Communist Party of Swaziland