ONLY people’s power will bring democracy to Swaziland, communists warned today, as the persecution of party members continued in a series of raids by armed police. 

Security forces descended on the Msunduza community in the city of Mbabane on Wednesday, claiming to be searching for “guns and grenades.”

Police alleged that the weapons were to be used in an insurrection aming to overthrow the government of autocratic ruler King Mswati III. 

But the Communist Party of Swaziland said the raids aimed to instill fear in the community and victimise political activists. 

The communists have organised a series of summer Sunset Rallies, building community councils and galvanising the country’s revolutionary forces for people’s power. 

Police and armed forces have tried to block the rallies from taking place, including by opening fire on crowds. 

One of those targeted in Wednesday’s raids was Bongi Nkambule, known as Comrade Bongi, who has previously been persecuted by state forces. 

Earlier this year, he was beaten and dumped at the side of a road after being detained. He has been under police surveillance ever since. 

Comrade Bongi said that 30 armed police stormed his home on Wednesday, telling his wife that they were searching for guns and demanding to know his whereabouts while shouting insults at her. 

Other party members have been subjected to similar raids, with police accused of stealing food and confiscating computers. 

The Communist Party, which has played a leading role in the democracy protests that have swept the country since last summer, condemned the latest police aggression against party cadres. 

“These raids expose the regime’s desperation to cling to power,” it said in a statement.

“The raids also vindicate the Communist Party’s campaign, under the Democracy Now campaign, to build community councils for communities to defend themselves while at the same time forming a community-based militant organisation of the people for the future of our country.”

The communists called for the “unity of the mass democratic movement against the people’s common enemy, the Mswati autocracy,” for the overthrow of the government and for the “building of people’s power under a democratic republic.”