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ZINASU condemn the arrest of the Swaziland student leader
Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
May 25, 2011

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) condemn in the strongest terms the arrest of the president of Swaziland National Students Union, Cde Maxwell Dlamini. The student leader was arrested after expressing dissenting views over issues of governance of the country. The arrest has subsequently hampered him from sitting for his current and ongoing examinations.

The arrest of the student leader can only be viewed as a deliberate crack down campaign by the unpopular and out dated Mswati monarchy which is in an attempt in vain to kindle the recent pro-democratic campaigns. This rapacious behavior by the monarch is a direct attack on the spirit and effort of true pan Africanism.

As the continent and the world remembers as well as celebrates Africa day, Mswati's conduct is a glimpsy reflective of the concealed yet substantive subversion of wills and vision of Africa's quest for liberation, by those who once stood as pillars of self-determination. Instead of celebrating decades of independence the voice of the African child is still shut out by its supposedly leaders who have successfully concealed their selfishness under the already forgotten revolutionary visions. Mswati just like Gadhafi have seized to stand for the people they are supposedly leading. Time has come that the world in particular Africa realizes that our struggles against the evil colonial establishments were anchored not on the need to remove individuals but the creation of a new and all inclusive political culture, based on democratic ethics.

ZINASU urges the students of Swaziland not to be deterred by these acts of cowardice but to draw inspiration and strength form such rapacious and barbaric governance. Because no matter how vicious a system may appear, no governing system is immune to overhaul because political power lays not in the state machinery but the seemingly powerless, yet potent masses. It is our understanding that when a government wantonly arrest or detains its citizens for expressing a concern over the style of governance it is not proving its powers but exposing its deeply seated fear of people power.

ZINASU demands that Mswati halt his barbaric merchants of repression of citizens who are genuinely expressing legitimate governance concerns. We also demand the unconditional release of the arrested student leader and that he be allowed to sit for his examination.

Visit the ZINASU fact sheet

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