Between collaboration and conflict: patterns of interaction between labour and pro-democracy politics in post-colonial Eswatini, 1973–2014

ABSTRACT Nearly five decades after the end of multi-party democracy, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is experiencing growing support for re-democratisation. This article explores the patterns of interaction between the labour movement and pro-democracy political forces in post-colonial Eswatini. The relationship between labour and pro-democracy forces has gone through both collaboration and conflict, and should be analysed in terms of multiple context-specific factors. Many workers realised that their welfare would not improve under the authoritarian rule of the traditional monarchy. However, between 1973 and 2014, there is no evidence of unified workers’ support for a pro-democracy agenda. Workers regularly took to the street to manifest their discontent with appalling living and working conditions, and pro-democracy forces both within and outside the labour movement, were able to rise to the occasion to rally support for multi-party democracy. Despite this, many workers favoured trade unions that focused primarily on economic, rather than political matters.