News of the raid and arrest of Comrade Sithole by 30 armed Swazi policemen who stormed his home in the early hours of today, has come as a shock to the labour movement.

We wish to state in no uncertain terms that neither the raid, led by Joseph Bhembe, nor the continued arrest of Comrade Sithole will deter us and the SFTU from pressing on with the campaign for the boycott of Swaziland goods, until real constitutional democracy is realised in that country.

This kind of act can only be described as “cowardly and barbaric”. We note that since the recent SATUCC-SADC march against Zimbabwe and Swaziland which took place in Johannesburg on the 16th August 2008, where King Mswati III took chairmanship of the SADC Summit, the SFTU secretary general has endured intense harassment.

Although no formal charges have so fair been laid against Comrade Sithole, we fear that he might be subjected to police brutality and torture. For someone who is still weak and recovering from a major operation, no amount of reasoning can be advanced to explain his arrest as he is no threat to the State.

We call for the immediate release of Comrade Sithole as his continued arrest can only point to rampant action to silence dissent.

COSATU wishes to reiterate demands carried in a memorandum to the SADC Summit held in Johannesburg on16 August 2008, presented by the federation and organs of civil society. Among other demands, we urged SADC leaders to support multi-party democratic elections in Swaziland, unbanning of political parties, return of political exiles and evolution of a truly representative national dialogue or national convention.