As Zimbabwe prepares to put its union leadership on trial for criticising the government’s violent excesses, a similar story is unfolding in neighbouring Swaziland. Jan Sithole, Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), was arrested on Friday, after 30 armed police stormed his house in the early hours of the morning.

The ITUC believes that Sithole has since been released, but this is a terrible way to treat a man who was recuperating from a major operation. He had already had ten police officers coming to his house unannounced to question him earlier in the week, about the arrangements of a demonstration at the SADC Heads of Government meeting, and why they had displayed a slogan “The struggle continues”. He had bravely replied:

“On the issue of ‘The Struggle continues,’ I told them that it means we will continue demanding and putting pressure on government for democratic changes respect for human rights respect for the rule of law and social and economic justice without relenting until those concerns are positively addressed. They asked what we believed would be the immediate solution to this long drawn struggle and my response was ‘Genuine, Result oriented all inclusive social dialogue, not the fake dialogues that do not have mandate as the recent past one.'”

Swaziland is Africa’s last remaining absolute monarchy, and celebrates 40 years of independence from Britain next week – 34 of those years maintaining a state of emergency granting the King all legislative, executive and judicial powers. The SFTU had planned to use the occasion to demonstrate about their concerns at sharply rising food prices, and a ban on political parties standing in elections due later this year.

Sithole, and many other unionists in Swaziland are no strangers to police harrassment, with a long history of detentions and beatings for those in the labour movement who voice dissent with the King’s rule.

Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU’s General Secretary gave a speech earlier this year, which was reported on the TUC website, drawing the parallels between the situations in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Vavi condemned Britain, the former colonial power, for its double standards, speaking out on Zimbabwe but helping to maintain a cover-up on Swaziland.

“There are important differences between the situations in Zimbabwe and Swaziland but the end-result is basically the same – the continued exploitation and oppression of the poor as under colonialism.”

In return, Zanu-PF has branded COSATU a “terrorist, uncivilised body”, after the federation declared it was seeking to mobilise workers to refuse to handle goods destined for Zimbabwe – in an echo of the unilateral action taken against a Chinese arms shipment earlier this year. Zimbabwean Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu claimed:

“COSATU is led by brainless and misdirected people who should instead focus on poverty and xenophobic attacks in South Africa. It has never happened in the history of politics that a labour body can organise such a criminal act.”

As Terry Bell of South Africa’s Business report believes, this is a concerted effort by both regimes to weaken their countries union movements, sending a clear message to activists: “if we can do this to your leaders, what chance do you stand?”

Wellington Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo of the ZCTU go on trial in Harare tomorrow. Show your support for them at www.wearezctu.org