Times Of Swaziland: COPS ABDUCT UNIONISTS

COPS ABDUCT UNIONISTS
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BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE on 13/04/2014 08:28:00


MANZINI – The commemoration of the April 12, 1973 Decree did not take place
yesterday as police abducted union leaders and dumped them several kilometres
from where the event was to be held.
Union leaders like Vincent Ncongwane, Quinton Dlamini and Thandokwazi Dludlu did
not meet their membership as they were taken to police stations for questioning.
The meeting was convened to analyse the impacts of 1973 Decree on the freedom of
workers.
The decree by King Sobhuza II banned the operations of political parties in the
country.
Ncongwane, the Secretary General of Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA),
was first chauffeured in a police van from Mhlaleni at 7.40 am to Manzini
Regional Police Headquarters where he was interrogated by police.
He was then taken to Mafutseni Police Station, about 20 km from Manzini, for
further questioning. Ncongwane was released after 12 noon.
Still under police surveillance, he was escorted to Manzini where he was ordered
to be a passenger in his own car.
A police officer drove it to Mbabane.
The officer handed it back to him at 12:45 pm on the foot of Malagwane Hill in
Mbabane. This is about 30 kilometres from Manzini.
There was a police car following that of the TUCOSWA secretary general.
On the other hand, Quinton Dlamini, the President of National Public Service and
Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), was taken to the same regional headquarters
before he was dumped at the foot of Malagwane.
Mduduzi Gina, the first Deputy Secretary of TUCOSWA, drove fast in the streets
of Manzini on suspicion that police were pursuing him.  He alighted from his car
near the Mandlenkhosi Building and sprinted to his office.
The Mandlenkhosi Ecumenical House houses the offices of TUCOSWA.
Police came and warned him to remain in the office – and should not be seen
loitering the streets of Manzini.
Mphandlana Shongwe, the Second Deputy President of the People’s United
Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), was also ordered to remain indoors at the
Mandlenkhosi Ecumenical House Building.
Sipho Kunene, Second Deputy President of TUCOSWA, was ordered to alight from a
bus at Mhlaleni where police mounted a roadblock. He was taken to the regional
headquarters and later accompanied to the same building.
Thandukwazi Dludlu, Secretary General of the Public and Private Sector Transport
Union (PPSTWU) was also taken in for questioning at the regional headquarters
with five others after being ordered to alight from a bus in Moneni at 10 am.
From the regional headquarters, Dludlu and his colleagues were then taken to
Mafutseni Police Station before they were dumped at Mbhandlane near Mpaka at
1pm.
The five others were Zama Maziya, Sifiso Mabuza, Sizwe Masina, Ncamiso Nkuna and
Mduduzi Fakudze.
It can be said that police managed to disorganise the meeting.
About 54 workers from textile firms from Siteki were later called to TUCOSWA
offices after they found police in full control of the venue of the meeting at
St. Theresa’s High School.
Police ensured the workers did not devise another strategy to continue with the
meeting in an alternative venue. They manned the gates to Caritas.
It can also be said that the Mandlenkhosi Ecumenical House received high level
security surveillance as police armed with batons were monitoring the situation
there.