Unions withdraw support for ‘failed tactic’ JAMES HALL MBABANE – Last week’s border blockade with SA to pressure King Mswati’s government on political reforms lost the key support of Swaziland’s labour unions. The Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) disassociated itself from the protest. The trade federation in the past has been a main player in political actions. The country’s two border posts used by traffic going and coming from Gauteng – at Oshoek in the West and Mahamba in the north of the country – were targeted for closure by pro-democracy groups on April 13. The SFTU’s surprise rejection of the border blockade was seen by political observers as an acknowledgement that the tactic has failed to move government in the past, and could be finished as a protest tool. “Once a year, a half-hearted attempt to block a border post is attempted, but no results other than inconvenience for border post users has resulted,” one newspaper commentator told FTW. The border blockade was supported by the Swaziland Solidarity Network, an umbrella body of pro-democracy groups to which SFTU belongs. However, the labour unions expressed their sympathy with the political goals motivating the blockade.
