I was disturbed by comments from babe Hlophe in todays Times about the
arrest of Mario that *"SCCCO Co-ordinator Musa Hlophe noted that fighting
terrorism in the country was a vital step"* and and in the Observer
that *"Terrorism
for any State is a menace, regardless of the reasons. So, it's a challenge
to those in authority. You should remember that the State has a mandate to
protect its citizens"*. Perhaps he has been misquoted. Actually it seem that
it is citizens that needs to be protected from the state!

There may be a fear about other organisations being banned or people being
arrested, but this is just the climate that government would love to create.
To put a distance from organisations that has been banned or individual that
has been arrested (as the SFL statement as reported in todays Times can also
put an impression of) basically helps government to isolate and demonise
those organisations that has been banned. Also when making comments in the
media the starting point should be that this is an illigitimate government
and we should not talk in a way that gives credibility or justification to
it's actions as though this was a normal situation.

Comrades let's not make a big mistake of falling into the trap that
government is setting, of making this about "terrorism"! Surely no-one
really believes that Mario was having some "terrorist" documents in his
house, or that out of the whole membership and supporters of PUDEMO
government just happened to arrest the President. This crackdown is not
about "terrorism". It is about crushing PUDEMO and the rest of the
progressive movement in Swaziland. Let's not buy into the story that Mario
was arrested to fight "terrorism" and let's not give any credibility to
government attempts trying to link these. Government wants to bring down
PUDEMO and is starting from the top.

Margaret

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