7 March 2022: On Friday night, the oppressed community of Msunduza in the outskirts of Mbabane city, the capital of Swaziland, staged a sunset political rally in demand for their freedom from Mswati's dictatorship.

This comes after the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) launched the countrywide Sunset Rallies on 25 February 2022 in Matsapha under the "Turning up the Heat for Democracy Now" campaign.

Hundreds of Swazis, women and children, young and old, including people with disabilities, enthusiastically participated in the mass action.

Slogans and songs calling for the fall of the autocracy were chanted with zeal. The need for communities to defend themselves against tinkhundla repression by establishing community councils for security, welfare, etc., remains a central subject in the build-up campaigns for people's power.

Addressing the community, CPS head of Women’s Commission, Comrade Gabsile Ndukuya, said, “These community councils will help us, members of the community. We no longer need the killer police in our communities. We must take charge of our own security and keep ourselves safe from all forms of crimes, including police violence.”

“As the Communist Party, we say this is the decisive moment for us to unite and overthrow the Mswati autocracy, for it is of no good for our developmental aspirations except to kill us and sink us deeper into poverty,” Ndukuya added.

In the history of the struggle for democracy in Swaziland, Msunduza township remains well-known for building a very strong resistance movement. Therefore, the campaign has re-ignited the hope of freedom and peace to the people.

Swaziland is the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa. The majority of the people are denied freedoms of association, speech, including a heavily suppressed press, among others. Political parties are banned, while political activists are constant targets of state terror.

The insatiable appetite for luxury of the royal hegemony continues to rise despite the growing poverty in the country.

The Sunset Rallies, led by communists, which are meant to raise the consciousness of the working class towards a successful revolution, are showing a positive expansion in the urban poor communities.

The CPS will therefore continue to work with the people in organising more rallies in communities across the country.