This week marks two years since the brutal attempt on the life of Sticks Nkambule, General Secretary of the Swaziland Transport, Communication and Allied Workers Union (SWATCAWU).
Today, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), representing 13 million transport workers across the globe, reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with Comrade Sticks, with SWATCAWU, and with every worker and union activist in Eswatini battling for democracy, social justice, and fundamental human rights.
“That Comrade Sticks remains in exile on trumped-up, politically motivated charges is an outrageous assault on freedom of association and the dignity of every worker,” said ITF President Paddy Crumlin. “This blatant disregard for international law reveals the regime’s contempt for universally upheld rights. We reject these acts of repression outright and demand immediate redress.”
The ITF condemns the Eswatini government’s continued violation of human and trade union rights, including its failure to implement the recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and reiterate calls on the government to immediately drop all trumped-up charges against Nkambule and other pro-democracy activists, and allow the safe return of all those in exile—individuals forced to flee because they dared to exercise their rights to free speech, association, and peaceful protest.
“We will not tolerate the vicious intimidation of union leaders or the ongoing ban on political activities in Eswatini,” said Crumlin. “Two years have passed since an attempt on Stick's life, and he still cannot safely return home. We stand shoulder to shoulder with him and with the heroic people resisting the dictatorship.”
We refuse to rest until every citizen in Eswatini can exercise the same freedoms for which the global labour movement has fought relentlessly: the right to organise, to bargain collectively, and to live free from repression.”
ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton added: “Our 13 million transport workers worldwide demand full respect for workers’ rights in Eswatini and insist on the unconditional return of Sticks Nkambule from exile. This regime must end its persecution against Comrade Sticks, trade unionists and pro-democracy activists or face growing international isolation.”
Recent SWATCAWU reports expose a regime hell-bent on silencing its people: workers live under siege, protest is criminalised, and democracy itself is strangled. Yet the fortitude of SWATCAWU and the working class of Eswatini continues to inspire us all.
At the ITF’s 46th Congress in Marrakech this past October, delegates unanimously passed Resolution A08 (Eswatini), declaring our commitment to:
- Sustain unwavering solidarity with SWATCAWU and the oppressed working-class people of Eswatini who have endured dictatorship since 1973.
- Provide all necessary technical and resilience support to SWATCAWU to ensure the full enjoyment of all rights protected under ILO conventions.
- Lobby governments and the international community to put pressure on the Government of Eswatini to comply with ILO recommendations, including dropping all fabricated charges against union leaders.
- Champion the fight to isolate the regime through targeted sanctions against those responsible for human and trade union rights violations.
- Continue working with other Global Union Federations (GUFs) to ensure the people of Eswatini can live in democracy and have their trade union rights upheld.
“No matter how brutal the dictatorship or how long the fight, the ITF will never abandon our comrades in Eswatini,” says Crumlin.
Together, we will bring down the walls of tyranny, so that every worker can live and work free from fear in a truly democratic Eswatini.”
