CPS Honor Roll — Fallen Comrades
The Communist Party of Swaziland honors its comrades who dedicated their lives to the struggle for freedom, democracy, and socialism.
Cde. Felix Mabaso
The struggle of Swaziland has lost another young life with great potential when Comrade Sithembiso Simelane, known as Felix Mabaso among his comrades, passed away on 12 April 2018 at Robs Ferreira hospital, Mbombela, after a short illness.
Comrade Felix was one of the Swazi activists exiled in South Africa after leaving Swaziland in 2006, avoiding arrest from the Swazi political police who were clamping down on PUDEMO and SWAYOCO. He was a political activist involved in the Hlominsika Campaign which was aimed at mobilising offensive action against the Mswati regime. He, together with other militant activists, regrouped in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, established a new base for the liberation movement and revived solidarity work in the province and beyond.
In 2008, he was one of the comrades who planned on the establishment of the Communist Party of Swaziland and worked for some years as its International Organiser. He served the Party with commitment and dedication, connecting the CPS and the Swazi struggle internationally and with Communist and Workers’ parties who became actively involved in practical solidarity with the struggling people of Swaziland in one way or another. Part of the achievements of his work in the office was the acceptance of the Communist Party of Swaziland as a member of the Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties.
Comrade Felix had potential to add more value to the struggle for freedom in Swaziland. He was not immune from the pressures of exile, but nonetheless he persevered. Like his compatriots in exile, his potential was sometimes frustrated by the tough exile life he had to endure. This is what the Mswati regime has made our comrades go through!
He lived a life with his comrades in the Party, his friends and relatives. More important is his family from whom he has lived outside for the last 12 years of his life.
The undying spirit of Comrade Felix lives on!
Comrade Simphiwe “Tinker” Mkhatshwa
He shared his life with the poor and marginalised
In only two years of its life the Communist Party of Swaziland lost its founding National Organiser, Comrade Simphiwe Mkhatshwa, popularly known among his comrades as Tinker. Comrade Tinker died on 12 October of when the car he was travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle near Middelburg, in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.
Comrade Tinker was a committed cadre of the Party who had cut his teeth in the struggle for the freedom of the people of Swaziland especially in the Swaziland Youth Congress – Swayoco. Thus, his experience proved invaluable to the Party and had trusted him enough to be its National Organiser on its founding on 9 April 2011, a position he executed with commitment and humility.
He was active in the communities of Moneni and KaKhoza [in Manzini], where he struggled to advance housing rights and better living conditions…, took a prominent role in mobilizing workers in strikes for better pay and conditions, and was a dynamic organiser in the communities of rural Mafutseni.
In 2013, mourning his death and celebrating his contribution to the struggle, the Party recalled that Comrade Tinker, “was a stalwart activist in the students’ movement, in which he worked to defend the rights and interests of students.” The Party went on to state that he “was active in the communities of Moneni and KaKhoza [in Manzini], where he struggled to advance housing rights and better living conditions…, took a prominent role in mobilizing workers in strikes for better pay and conditions, and was a dynamic organiser in the communities of rural Mafutseni [northeast of Manzini city].
Indeed, as the Communist Party of Swaziland said about Comrade Tinker soon after his death, “He shared his life with the poor and marginalised”. Liciniso, in its maiden publication, take the opportunity to remember the work of Comrade Tinker and calls upon all workers of Swaziland and the world to intensify the struggle for freedom in Swaziland and a socialist world!
Communist Party of Swaziland 