Hundreds join Swaziland anti-government protests

MBABANE (AFP) - Demonstrators Monday danced and sang freedom songs in the streets of Swaziland's capital Mbabane at the start of a planned week of protests against Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III.

Impoverished Swaziland is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, in a financial crisis that has spawned a series of protests this year to demand that Mswati accept multi-party democracy and resolve a budget crisis that has left the kingdom battling to keep schools and clinics running.

Heavy security surrounded the march, which authorities had tried to stop with a court injunction at the weekend.

Around 500 protesters demanded the government tax the royal investment firm Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, essentially controlled by Mswati and used to finance his lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars and palaces for his 13 wives.

The firm has stakes in almost every sector of the Swazi economy, from hotels to media.

"Tibiyo should rescue us," read a placard waved by teacher Agnes Mazibuko, who said the investment firm's resources should benefit the public.

"It was supposed to be invested and kept in trust for the nation so when we have crises like this it could be used, but instead it is used by royalty," she told AFP.

The demonstrations are being organised by a coalition of pro-democracy movements, known as the Swaziland Democracy Campaign.

Organisers hope for a bigger turnout on Tuesday, when protests are planned for the main city Manzini. They also accuse cell phone operator MTN of deliberately shutting down the network on Sunday to hobble the protests.

"We could not communicate with our members," said Sibongile Mazibuko, head of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, a driving force behind the protests.

Mswati reportedly has a 51 percent stake in the Swazi subsidiary of the South African telecom.

The protests come as South Africa is poised to sign a controversial $343 million (237 million euro) bailout to help ease the financial crisis in the kingdom.

The first tranche was expected to be paid out last month, but South African officials said Friday that documents authorising the deal have yet to be signed. The treasury department declined to comment on the loan on Monday.

Political parties have been banned since 1973 in Swaziland and Mswati holds ultimate executive, legislative and judicial power.

The marchers shouted "democracy in our lifetime" and demanded an end to the royal Tinkhundla system of government, in which political parties are banned.

"We have had enough of the Tinkhundla system. There is no return now. The state of our leaders' sobriety is questionable," said Vincent Dlamini, head of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union.

"If those in power are not removed, salary cuts will be affected. We want a democratic society."

This week supporters of Swaziland's democracy movement also plan to hold demonstrations outside South Africa's parliament and Reserve Bank to press Pretoria to attach stringent conditions for political reform to Mswati's bailout.

The loan deal ignited a firestorm in South Africa, where powerful labour unions said Swaziland should be required to make greater democratic reforms in exchange for the money.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week slammed the government for its fiscal reform programme -- the Fund's third negative assessment in a year -- effectively dashing Mswati's hopes of accessing international loans.