By Wendy Magagula

MBABANE: The South African Union of Students (SAUS) said it stands in solidarity with the Swazi students in demanding justice for Thabani and the calls for democracy.

Thabani Nkomonye allegedly died at the hands of police, his body was dumped at Nhlambeni while his car was found hidden at the Matsapha Police Station.

The South African student’s union, in a statement released on Saturday called for the immediate release of Bafanabakhe Sacolo, the Secretary General of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) who was abducted by the police shortly after the disruption of Thabani’s memorial service.

 The Students Union further called upon the government of South Africa to isolate the intransigent corrupt royalist regime until it handed over power to the people of eSwatini.

“We also note the appointment of a judicial officer to “independently” investigate the brutal murder of Thabani. We believe that those responsible should be at this time be arrested and immediately dismissed from work. We also believe that no judicial officer in eSwatini is credible enough to investigate the actions of police that side since they themselves are complicit in the oppression of the people of eSwatini. In a country where the King appoints judicial officers without consultation whatsoever, such officers tend to be loyal to the oppressor. Hence in Swaziland, progressive judicial officers are purged and pushed to the periphery. We therefore believe SADC must send a high level team to carry out such an investigation. King Mswati III cannot investigate himself”, reads the statement.

The union further called for both Swazis and South Africans to intensify their calls for democracy in the country and to render the country ungovernable until the logical conclusion of the revolution.

When reached for comments, Colani Maseko, the President of the Swaziland National Union of Studennts (SNUS) welcomed the SAUS statement adding that they needed a collaboration with their South African counterparts.

“We appreciate the solidarity from our colleagues from South Africa, because our struggle is also their struggle and their struggle is also ours. We hope that the struggle for justice for Thabani and every struggle organized under the SNUS banner will be recognized by the international community. We do even hope that we will get practical support from other countries and organizations to put more pressure on the Swazi government so that the brutality of the state police can come to an end. We would like to collaborate with the SAUS so we can attain academic freedom which can only be achieved in a democratic government, the youth should look beyond the justice for Thabani protests but should fight for democracy, where education will be free and  where police brutality would be history”, said the SNUS President.