Wednesday, August 25, 2010

SWAZI GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION DETAILS

A draft programme of action has been drawn up for the Global Day of Action for Swaziland democracy.


It includes boycotting the cell phone company MTN in protest at the exorbitant tariffs it charges because of its monopoly position.


The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC), which released details of the programme, said MTN was ‘also notorious for violating customer information/records confidentiality and allowing police to intercept private calls'.


Twenty civil society groups came together to draw up the final programme for the action which takes place from 6 – 8 September 2010.


A number of issues will be highlighted, including provision of pensions, income tax for the low paid, the policy on student scholarships, the Public Service Bill and the Suppression of Terrorism Act.


There will be two separate protest marches, one in Manzini and the other in Mbabane. The march in Mbabane will stop to deliver petitions ‘to such overtly pro-state (uncritical) public institutions as the Swazi Observer Group of newspapers and the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS)'.


A separate petition will be delivered to the Minister of Justice calling for a speedy trial of incarcerated Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) members Bheki Dlamini and Zonke Dlamini who were recently denied bail on charges of throwing bottles of petrol.


SDC also says delegations of support were also expected from the United Kingdom, Germany, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana and Australia.

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