Cde. Alex Langwenya
Comrade Alex Langwenya remains one of the most respected leaders of the youth in Swaziland, especially the Swaziland Youth Congress (Swayoco). He died on 7 October 2014.
At the time of his death, Comrade Langwenya was a CPS member and 1st Deputy Secretary General of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo). He had been ill for a few months, and had been admitted to Mbabane government hospital a week before he died early on the morning of 7 October 2014 at the hospital.
As soon as the news of his death was known, the CPS issued a statement, “mourning the loss of one of the finest cadres of the Swazi liberation movement, Comrade Alex Langwenya,” said CPS on 7 October 2014.
Cde Langwenya held many positions in the leadership of the liberation movement since the late 1990s. Previous positions he had held in Swayoco included National Organising Secretary, Political Commissar and President.
He was also an active trade unionist, first as a member of the Swaziland Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union, and then as a shop steward and executive official of the union in the then SAPPI branch.
He was a brave and committed comrade, who endured harassment, detention, arrest and torture at the hands of Mswati’s police, and routinely charged with various political crimes, including sedition, by the regime – for fighting for the freedom of the Swazi people. The regime also tried to silence Cde Langwenya by bombing his home at night (in the year 2010) while he slept.
Cde Langwenya took an active part in the CPS from its formation stage and was a much loved and valued comrade who resolutely championed the struggle for socialism in Swaziland.
He will be remembered for his never lapsing commitment to the struggle of the working class and poor people of Swaziland and world over.
Cde. Njabulo “Njefire” Dlamini
A trusted revolutionary worker; An Internationalist; Dedicated to the struggle of the people; Communist till the end!
In the late afternoon of Thursday 23 May 2019, the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) lost one of its best cadres and leaders, Comrade Njabulo Dlamini, fondly known among his comrades as “Njefire”…
“Comrade Njabulo “Njefire” Dlamini – a communist till the end”
Comrade Njabulo Dlamini (12 June 1986 – 23 May 2019), fondly known among his comrades as “Njefire”, joined the Communist Party Swaziland (CPS) in 2011 at its foundation stage while a student at the University of Swaziland. He served in the Youth and Students Commission of the Party. Experience gained in the Commission broadened his understanding of the struggle, which helped him to play a key role in the Swaziland Union of Students (SNUS) and the entire student movement. He was then seconded into the Party’s campaigns team where he became assistant coordinator of the Break the Chains Campaign.
His dedication to the struggle and revolutionary potential were demonstrated further when the CPS was in the front line in defence of the people against state-imposed eviction of residents in Madonsa township, near Manzini City, in 2011. He was part of the leading ground organisers of the community resistance there.
Comrade Njabulo was first elected into the CPS Central Committee in 2013 where he served as the Party’s National Organiser. While serving in that position, he graduated with a Bachelor of Education Degree from the University of Swaziland. He was subsequently employed as a teacher by the government of Swaziland and was deployed in a deep rural primary school where he fully applied himself to impart critical knowledge on learners, slowly inculcating revolutionary thought in them.
In the CPS 3rd National Congress in 2017, Comrade Njefire was elected as the Party’s International Organiser where he quickly revitalised the office, serviced its tasks and purposes. He linked the CPS and the Swazi people’s struggles with the international community. He helped the CPS to update the world promptly and more accurately on political developments in Swaziland. He also established solidarity campaign organs within the CPS to support other struggles elsewhere in the world. He helped establish the Swaziland Kurdistan Solidarity Network in solidarity with the people of Kurdistan. His last major international work was during the 2019 Israeli Apartheid Week where he helped organise a solidarity activity in collaboration with the leadership of SNUS, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Incidentally, it was during the days leading to the Israeli Apartheid Week in April 2019 that he started receiving threatening messages from people claiming to be supporters of the state of Israel. Many of these messages even threatened him with death for helping to organise the first Israeli Apartheid Week activity ever to be held in Swaziland. Soon after this activity on 6 April 2019, Comrade Njabulo got sick and could not even attend the CPS National Conference from 18-22 April 2019, dying a month later.
At the time of his death he had been charged by the regime, together with the Deputy National Chairperson of the CPS, on trumped up traffic offences. They had been arrested by the regime on 11 January 2019 while they were on their way to a workers’ planning meeting in Manzini. This arrest was one of the many spells of harassment by the Mswati regime.
Comrade Njabulo represented the CPS in many international meetings, the last being the 20th Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, held in Athens, Greece, in November 2018.
Comrade Njabulo’s work in the teachers’ union
Comrade Njabulo dedicated himself fully wherever he found himself. He participated with utmost commitment in the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). In his new condition as a worker Comrade Njabulo’s theoretical and practical grasp of workers’ issues got further sharpened.
His personal experiences of exploitation as a teacher, including the exploitation of teachers generally, by the royal regime helped him to advance a clearer perspective on how to mobilise teachers and link their issues with those of workers from other sectors. Primary in this regard were young, temporal and misplaced teachers. He was able, together with other young teachers, to engage the union leadership to take up young teachers’ issues.
One thing that did not go down well with some of the former leaders in the union is that Comrade Njabulo tended to pursue issues which were viewed by many as too difficult and impossible to win; issues that had never been attempted before. It was his revolutionary tenacity, persuasion and steadfastness that helped grow the force necessary to convince the leadership that those issues be pursued. With his practical contribution towards the resolution of those issues, he became highly trusted and a great source of inspiration to many members of the union and beyond. The union gradually transformed and became more radical on its campaigns partly due to his untiring work. This is how he was able, working together with other young workers, to hold activities that were thought impossible before, including a fully-packed night vigil in August 2018 and a young workers’ forum where workers’ self-defence units were formed.
He also served as regional coordinator of the Trade Union Federation for the Lubombo and Big-Bend areas in the Shiselweni region. In this work he was able to connect well with other workers from other sectors. His objective in this role was to inculcate radicalism and militancy within the union movement, especially in young workers.
While he was able to inspire many workers, his trade union activism his did not go without opposition. He was able to attract some serious opposition from some anti-communist cliques within the pro-democracy movement. Such opposition could only serve the interests of the Mswati autocracy. At the time of his death, he had defeated many of these elements and won some over to his side.
The legacy of Comrade Njabulo shall live on
Comrade Njabulo died young, a few weeks before his 33rd birthday. He still had more to contribute to the revolution, in pursuit of freedom, democracy and socialism.
The Communist Party of Swaziland will always lift high on, and do everything to live by, the values that Comrade Njabulo left. Dedication, hard work, honesty and loyalty to the revolution is what set him apart from many! He was a true Communist! His revolutionary spirit and legacy shall live on.
Communist Party of Swaziland 