Rights group accuses King of Eswatini of killing opposition leader

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MANZINI, Swat

The killing of prominent human rights lawyer and opposition politician Thulani Rudolf Maseko has sparked a wave of anger against King Mswati III of Eswatini.

Maseko was shot dead around midnight on Saturday by unidentified gunmen at his home in Luhleko, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital Mbabane.

According to local media, the rights defender was shot through a window as he sat with his family, with three bullets to his chest and one to the head.

Maseko was also co-chair of the Swaziland Multi-Stakeholder Forum, a platform of political parties and various civil society organizations leading the charge for democratic reforms in the country.

Rights groups in Eswatini and the wider region have strongly condemned the deadly attack, which they say was carried out at the behest of the country’s leader.

Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) and the African Regional Organization of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) have called for immediate action against King Mswati, accusing him of ordering the killing of Maseko and other militants of the rights.

Thulani’s assassination “is the clearest indication of the efforts that King Mswati will go so far as to cling to power”, said Mfanafuthi Tsela, acting spokesperson for SSN, a civic organization of political activists. exiled in South Africa.

“However, never in the history of mankind have a determined people been defeated, no matter how mighty the enemy they are fighting. King Mswati will not defeat the people of Swaziland (old name of Eswatini), no matter how many he kills or exiles. He will fall.

A political party in Botswana has denounced Eswatini’s “evil monarchy” and urged the regional bloc the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to suspend the small landlocked country’s membership.

“The government of Botswana must sponsor a decision for Swaziland to be suspended from SADC until accountability for the act is established, as well as a comprehensive plan to emancipate the people of Swaziland from the evil monarchy,” the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) said in a statement. .

The Swazi Lives Matter Global Solidarity Movement (SLMGSM) went further by demanding the deployment of SADC peacekeepers to Eswatini, citing “the growing insecurity caused by the regime”.

The group criticized SADC for its failure to protect the people of Eswatini “subjected to terror and aggressive means, legal and illegal, by King Mswati III, his government and his mercenaries”.

The Eswatini Mass Democratic Movement and other rights groups have repeatedly reported evidence to SADC, according to a SLMGSM statement.

“However, SADC continues to undermine the dire situation facing the people of Swaziland who are working for a peaceful resolution of political transformation in the country,” he added.

Mercenaries and Threats

Maseko’s killing came amid a furor in Eswatini over an SSN report accusing King Mswati of hiring mercenaries to quell growing dissent in the country.

The report released last week alleged that Russia was training mercenaries, mostly white Afrikaners from neighboring South Africa, who were part of the king’s ‘death squad’.

The allegations were denied by Alexander Surikov, Moscow’s ambassador to Eswatini, who said Russia “only provides scholarships for higher military education”.

Alpheous Nxumalo, spokesman for the Eswatini government, also dismissed the report, saying “no hitmen have been hired”.

In a speech hours before Saturday’s deadly attack on Maseko, King Mswati threatened activists challenging his rule in Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

“These people should not complain about the mercenaries who kill them or blame King Mswati when the government retaliates because of their actions. They must not forget who started the violence,” he said.

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