On rivals CPS
a µCPS thug’ by 0aNhanya, yet the latter ought to be calling for calm. 9ilaNati said while the CPS member lay on the ground unconscious due to the attacNs, µstones never stopped raining down on his defenceless body’, such that he suffered heavy head and body inMuries. +e said it could have been worse had it not been for one unidentified woman’s brave act of throwing her body into the firing line and whisNing the inMured CPS member away from the chaos.
³:hen the attacNers realised that our comrade could die due to their own actions, they decided to rush him to hospital. 5ushing him to hospital was to save themselves from any potential mur der charges that might have followed. It had nothing to do with acts of humanity. If it were, they would have stopped the carnage from the beginning, but, sadly, they allowed it and even encouraged it,´ 9ilaNati alleged.
ATTACKS
+e further alleged that from the attacNs, it appeared that some people had been hired to assault anyone with red T shirts.
³In the process, one comrade who was also wearing a red T shirt, comrade *u bevu Simelane, was also assaulted by the hired attacNers. +e is not a CPS member, but he sustained the attacN in an apparent case of mistaNen identity. They were assaulting anyone wearing red T shirts, which points to a much deeper scheme which tooN place way before the 0ay 'ay celebration even happened,´ said the CPS leader. 0aNhanya has stated in the audio recording that there was no one who would touch P8'(02’s µyoung comrades’ and go untouched. To this, 9ilaNati said it was unfortunate that it was young CPS comrades who were being attacNed µby senior leaders who should have been the most mature on that day’. +e said one of these young CPS comrades almost lost his life in the process. In the audio recording still, 0aNhanya, referring to an incident that happened prior to last Sunday’s violence, accused µCPS thugs’ of travelling in two fully loaded Nombis Tuantums to /uyengo where they Nid napped a P8'(02 member who was then stabbed and dumped in 0atsapha.
The P8'(02 leader said the stabbed member was later admitted to the 5aleigh )itNin 0emorial +ospital 1a]arene in 0an]ini. ³%ecause it’s a P8'(02 life it doesn’t matter to you you have some thing coming your way, watch the space,´ 0aNhanya said.
9ilaNati, the CPS leader, has not denied the incident, but accuses the P8'(02 member, whom he identified as 0r. 'lamini, of having wielded a Nnife to CPS members who were part of the leadership of the Swa]iland 8nion of Students S18S .
+e said this happened during a S18S Congress in 'ecember 2021.
ELECTIONS
+e said the same 0r. 'lamini was involved in the stabbing of a CPS mem ber during the Student 5epresentative Council S5C elections at the .waluseni campus of the 8niversity of (swatini.
The 0r. 'lamini is said to have provid ed the weapons and provided transport to the man who carried out the stabbing.
9ilaNati said it then happened that when CPS members were returning from the organisation’s 1ational Conference on
th
April 18, 2022, they encountered a traffic Mam at /uyengo and this forced them to parN their vehicle on the side of the road until the traffic subsided.
+e said three of their members then de cided to walN to one of the shops there and they came across the said 0r. 'lamini, who they confronted as they demanded that he should reveal the identity of the man who had stabbed the CPS mem ber at .waluseni. ³:hen those three comrades confronted him on this and demanded that he reveal the identity of the man who had stabbed our comrade at .waluseni, 0r 'lamini responded boastfully, saying, µthis is my hood, what will you do" ’ ‘Kuse kas lam la, nitangentani? ’ . +e again placed trust on his Nnives and connections. That is when the three comrades fought with him. Since he taNes himself very seriously as a danger ous man, it was perhaps embarrassing for him that he was defeated in a fight with three unarmed young people. +e and his friends have thus decided to e[aggerate the numbers to µtwo Tuantums’, and some of the details to µNidnapping’ and µstabbing’,´ 9ilaNati said.
0aNhanya, in the audio recording, maNes it clear that there is no apology that would come from him and that µif what happened last night continues, watch this space’. +e also ends his talN with these words ³*o to 1a]arene and get the medical records of that comrade who was stabbed by CPS thugs coming bacN from their annual conference. %ecause it’s a P8'(02 life it doesn’t matter to you you have something coming your way, watch the space.´
:hile these words may depict enmity, the CPS says it does not view P8'(02 as its enemy, such that it even acNnowl edged during its birth in April 2011 that P8'(02 had played a leadership role in the struggle.
MAJORITY
9ilaNati said the CPS had even opened its doors to P8'(02 and S:A<2C2 members to attend the CPS political schools. ³The results of our political schools have translated to friendly rela tions among members of both P8'(02 and the CPS on the ground, despite any tensions at leadership level. In truth, the overwhelming maMority of P8'(02 members live and eat comfortably with CPS members in the communities, engage in ideological debates, and or ganise protests together without any fear of cross attacNs, etc. These are the real relations between P8'(02 and the CPS,´ he said. +e stated that while a few within the P8'(02 leadership had hurled all sorts of insults on CPS members, calling them µhooligans’ and µthugs’, the CPS leadership had taNen the conscious decision to remain calm and not retaliate in similar fashion. ³:e also note that a maMority of P8'(02 members have also called for a cease fire. The CPS leadership has also called upon CPS members on the ground to not be tempted to respond with violence on these threats of violence against them. This is a solution for the interim,´ he said.
)or the long term, however, 9ilaNati said there was need for political actions, the first being political education and the second should be on the respect for the independence of organisations, such as S18S and the Trade 8nion Congress of Swa]iland T8C2S:A .
³1o political party must ever thinN it owns any of these organisations. These organisations belong to their own mem bers and must be accountable to their members, not to political parties. 2f course, political parties have interests in these organisations. +owever, these interests must never lead to interference into their internal affairs. Interests should translate to solidarity and not a taNeover,´ he said. Adding, 9ilaNati pointed out that P8'(02 was e[pected to hold its national congress this year and the CPS placed their trust in P8'(02’s mem bers to rise and resolve all these issues.