The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) urges all our people in Swaziland to abide by the basic rules of a comprehensive lockdown, together with physical distancing, hand-washing, and avoidance of all social, cultural and other events.

It is essential that our country takes on board the same strategy that South Africa has adopted and that we realise that the fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) and the pandemic is a matter that intrinsically places the countries in our region in the same boat.

Having said that, our country faces specific vulnerabilities that must urgently be taken into account and which make the process of carrying out the lockdown subject to careful monitoring and response.

The partial lockdown imposed by the Mswati regime is a grossly insufficient measure that is not aimed at protecting the most vulnerable of our people – which is the majority of our citizens, the poor and those whose health has been compromised by other epidemic diseases.

Mswati, true to his policy of enriching and protecting the royal elite and the rest of the Swazi ruling class, has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic as if the majority of our people do not exist. In a country such as ours, and given its small population and small geographical space, it should have been relatively easy to put the interests of the entire population first through swift proactive measures.

The most revolutionary thing our comrades can now do is to use all available methods to further the protection of the people. There is no suspension of struggle due to the disease; only changed circumstances.

If the regime will not institute a proper lockdown to protect the people and slow the rate of infection, communists and all those who count themselves as part of the progressive movement must inform, enlighten and support our people in observing the basic comprehensive lockdown rules referred to above.

We must also ready people for the fact that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – globally, regionally in the southern African area, and within our own small country – will be a total game-changer. We do not yet know how this will play out, only that in an overall context it will see a massive global recession that will make the 2008 (ongoing) recession seem like a happy upturn.

We must also be ready for the fact that the pandemic will affect Swaziland particularly severely. As we see in South Africa, the lockdown there has slowed the rate of infection. But epidemiologists reckon that this will merely buy time before the rate of infection greatly increases in the population. A similar scenario would appear likely for Swaziland. The ability to slow the rate of infection now and in the coming months is essential in order for us to prepare for when Covid-19 spreads more rapidly. This will buy us time, and in that time we need to force the regime and the Ministry of Health to prepare the country as far as possible to institute testing for the virus and to provide the right response to infections (initially isolation followed when needed by treatment).

The CPS calls on all progressive organisations in Swaziland, particularly TUCOSWA and its affiliates, to pressure the regime and the Ministry of Health to respond properly to the pandemic. Why is it that the ministry fails to post daily updates on its website (the last one was published on 23 March!). Already one death was recorded yesterday (and there could be many others), and the regime is silent about that. Mankayane Government Hospital health workers meeting to discuss solutions was yesterday disputed by the police. The issue under discussion was the lack of personal protective clothing. Working-class organisations must make their voice heard loud and clear to demand that the regime diverts sufficient money to completely upgrade the response to the pandemic. The regime has the money. The monarchy has the money.

We must also lobby beyond our borders, to solicit help from the AU, SADC and from our neighbour South Africa to pressure the Swazi regime to be fully a part of and in line with their strategising on how to manage the pandemic. We particularly need support for how to manage the situation of our people who have their health compromised by HIV and/or TB. Swaziland has the highest rates of these diseases in the world, and we desperately need a strategy for how to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic in our national context. Lobbying for this too is revolutionary work and is the duty of our Party and the working-class organisations we belong to.

We are in totally uncharted territory concerning the immediate future of our country. For years, the Mswati regime has been slowly rotting away, active only in keeping the bare essentials of our country functioning to enrich the elite. We need now to look towards a situation where, even further mired in crisis, the regime will impose ever more brutal tactics to hold on to power, or even where it will try to siphon even more cash out of the country as an insurance policy for a future decampment to Dubai or some other haven. In that case we will need to work with all democratic forces to create an interim administration capable of creating a transition to democracy and free and fair elections.

As CPS and as a progressive force, we need to keep these multi-perspectives in clear view as we map out the way ahead. It is impossible to spell out what scenario we will face during the rest of this year and into 2021. However, we must be alert to all possibilities and show maturity and readiness to act in wholly unexpected conditions and situations.