Today, 29 June 2022, the people of Swaziland commemorate the gruesome massacre spearheaded by the brutal tinkhundla regime on an unarmed population calling for democracy in their country.

From as early as April 2021, leading to 29 June 2021, hundreds of thousands of Swazis bravely took it upon themselves to demand a better and democratic Swaziland. Today marks an important day of reflection on the past year and look at how far we have come as a nation in the struggle for democracy.

In early 2021, the youth of Swaziland came out strongly and declared itself the last generation to be oppressed. Their practical struggles led to what is now known as the 2021 Swazi Uprising which started in May 2021.

Today the tinkhundla systems hang by a thread. Political parties remain banned in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, an archaic system which now offends even some of its imperialist backers. The royal family, in a country where close to 70 percent of the population survive below the poverty line, continues to attract anger from the people due to the royal family’s deepened waste of public resources.

The days leading to the first anniversary of the massacre, we have seen continued harassment of the Communist Party and the mass democratic movement. A stern warning must be sent to the security cluster, that they must know that the people are fed up. The growing tide of democracy-calls from the oppressed and exploited masses of our country can no longer be stopped.

The Communist Party’s “Democracy Now” campaign which the Party launched in 2019 continues to broaden and deepen among the oppressed people of Swaziland. The CPS continues to educate, organise and agitate the masses towards a democratic and ultimately socialist Swaziland.

CPS activists took it upon themselves to learn from the actions of the masses while at the same injecting working-class consciousness. Today, Swazis from rural to urban areas demand democracy now!

The CPS has also gone on to   directly interact with the people in their communities. In this regard, in line with the CPS’s 2021 Red October call to “Turn Up the Heat for Democracy Now”, the CPS has called for the formation of community councils. This is an ongoing campaign and is already putting the regime on the back foot. Despite growing attacks by the regime, the people of Swaziland, in their numbers, have heeded the call by the CPS to defend themselves from the state's murderous apparatus which has for years done as they pleased in terrorising the masses.

The CPS has also deepened the formation of study unity in the communities, guided by the Marxist-Leninist scientific method to revolution. From the study units, more Swazis are now highly conscientized on the necessity for the total dismantling of the tinkhundla system for the attainment of democracy now. The masses of our country have also seen the need to render the country ungovernable, including rendering the regime unable to run its 2023 parliamentary elections.

Though the state in its already known modus operandi tried all manner of intimidation to derail and delay the struggle, the CPS prevailed. The masses and the CPS are far more determined to achieve democracy now and to die for it if needs be.

While the CPS has intensified its calls for the democratisation of the country, the Party has continued to remind the people of Swaziland that full freedom means the total ending of social inequality. As such, our freedom also means the freedom of all currently oppressed social groups such as people with disabilities, women, LGBTQI+, and children. This cannot be compromised.

The CPS commends the spirit of no-surrender that has been displayed by the people of Swaziland.

In memory of all victims of the tinkhundla system, the CPS calls for the greatest possible unity in the fight against the tinkhundla system, for the attainment of true people’s power.

#DemocracyNow! #MswatiMustFall