The Congress of South African Trade Unions handed a memorandum calling for a transition to democracy in Zimbabwe and Swaziland to a Southern African Development Community official in Sandton on Saturday.

"We, civil society organisations from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, gathered at this meeting of SADC Heads of State in Johannesburg on August 16 2008, reassert our commitment to the struggle for a transition to democracy in Zimbabwe and Swaziland," the introduction to the memorandum read.

The memorandum said the principles of democratic governance, embodied in the SADC and African Union charters, were the birthright of every African.

The key defining features of both Zimbabwe and Swaziland were electoral fraud, political manipulation by ruling elite, institutionalised oppression, state brutality and an environment of fear and oppression, the civil societies said in the memorandum.

The signatories urged SADC countries to be guided by the Zimbabwe People's Charter; which was adopted after widespread deliberation and discussion with the public.

Elections would remain illegitimate until they were held under a new, democratic constitution and that a constitution was invalid unless it was the product of a people-driven, participatory process which made room for the input of all Zimbabweans, the Charter read.

The main points concerning Zimbabwe were the cessation of political violence, the establishment of law and order through the release of political prisoners, the abolishment of repressive laws and the facilitation of humanitarian relief via the lifting of bans on aids groups.

"Swaziland has the oldest state of emergency in the region, with all public institutions and decision-making the monopoly and sole preserve of the royal family," the memorandum read.

"Years of convenient silence on Swaziland have promoted a culture of impunity and disregard for the fundamentals of democracy in the whole region."

"We urge SADC to adopt a new sense of urgency to tackle the crises in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. We have for too long allowed these illegitimate and undemocratic regimes to fester and begin to affect the entire fibre of the region," the societies said.

"Robert Mugabe and Mswati III are not legitimate leaders of their countries and cannot claim any legitimacy to rule, for they have not been democratically elected by the peoples of their countries."

Signatories of the memorandum were: The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum, Revolutionary Youth of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Exiles, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, People's United Democratic Movement of Swaziland, Swaziland United Democratic Front, Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, Swaziland Federation of Labour, Swaziland Youth Congress, the Federation of Unions of South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign and the Anti-privatisation Forum.