On April 12, the first day of the protests, several union leaders were arrested and 100 buses around the country were detained. In an attempt to dismantle the protests, over 50 innocent citizens were detained by police and dumped kilometres away from the capital Manzini without transport. Today, the offices of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) are under siege by armed police ; those inside the building have reportedly been ordered to get on the floor in readiness for a shoot out.

The repression is a sign of government weakness and nervousness not strength. The people and their organisations in Swaziland are mobilising for the rights that their neighbours in South Africa and Mozambique have, to freely elect their leaders and hold them to account. The people of Swaziland want policies which reduce poverty and gross inequality not reward and reinforce an elite. These demands will not go away. Using all the force the state can muster may disrupt a protest but it will not stop the movement and momentum for change.

Repression and clampdown is no solution. ACTSA supports the calls from civil society groups in Swaziland and across southern Africa for the government of Swaziland to release those detained, to cease attacking its own citizens, and listen to the demands of the protesters and begin a process of true democratic reform.