Cops disperse SWALIMO Youth Command Unit
MBABANE – SWALIMO Youth Command Unit yesterday visited government offices in an attempt to deliver a petition.
However, they had to abandon the mission after police dispersed the youth unit.
The petition was intended to stop government from demanding payslips from parents when applying for scholarships for their children.
SWALIMO is the abbreviation for Swaziland Liberation Movement.
Yesterday, members of SWALIMO Youth Command Unit marched to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to deliver the petition, which was mainly on the said subject of the payslips and bank statements.
This comes after the ministry announced that this year it would reduce the number of students who would be awarded scholarships.
Scholarships
The ministry further stated that in order to be able to distinguish who would be afforded scholarships, parents would have to provide their payslips and bank statements so as to establish if they really needed the assistance or they could afford to cater for their children’s tuition fees.
The ministry said this would be done to allow children who were less-privileged to get the scholarship against those who may afford.
The SWALIMO youth members arrived at the ministry’s premises at around noon and they managed to enter the premises without being stopped by anyone or the police, until they stopped right at the ministry’s door.
According to sources close to the matter, the SWALIMO members organised their picket without making many announcements because they wanted to take the ministry by surprise and it worked for them because no police officers were deployed at the gate by the time they arrived.
One of the SWALIMO youth unit leaders said this was how they were now going to picket or protest, in order to avoid police stopping them.
Ace Casseira, the President of the newly-launched SWALIMO youth league, said they came to the ministry to warn it (ministry) to retract the statement of cutting the number of students who would be offered scholarships this year.
Casseira said it was worth noting that the reduction in the number of students who would get scholarships had been happening for so many years. He said in fact, each and every year, the number was being reduced.
He further said what was happening this year, to demand payslips and bank statements, was a new thing and it should be done away with.
The president said they were demanding that every student who had been accepted into any tertiary institution in the country be awarded scholarships.
Money
Casseira mentioned that they were making this demand because the money used for the scholarships belonged to taxpayers.
He added that they would be following up on the matter to make sure that their demand was met.
SWALIMO Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Gift Dlamini, added that his party would be soon mobilising for a mass protest against the said matter of scholarships.
However, the SWALIMO members left the premises without being attended to by anyone in the ministry. Police arrived shortly after Dlamini finished speaking and demanded that the SWALIMO youth unit should leave.
Meanwhile, in the afternoon, the SWALIMO members joined other supporters of the jailed Members of Parliament (MPs) in demonstrations at Msunduza. The supporters, who were waiting for the MPs’ lawyer, Sicelo Mngomezulu, to update them, gathered in song while burning tyres until Mngomezulu arrived.
They burnt tyres in the middle of the road near KaMakhungu. While demonstrating, there were no police present; however, a drone believed to be belonging to the police was spotted flying over the scene.