A chilling video has gone viral in which King Mswati III tells political activists agitating for democracy, “Don’t cry when mercenaries deal with you, who started the violence and killings?”.
The surfacing of the video coincided with the assassination of prominent human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko who was gunned down in his Luyengo home, south of the capital, Mbabane, on Saturday.
Maseko, who had previously been jailed for writing articles about rights abuses, was chairperson of the MultiStakeholder Forum.
The MSF comprises political parties under Political Parties Assembly and Civil Society Organisations representing: Democracy, Governance, and Leadership, women, youth, Church, labour, people living with disabilities, and business.
Maseko’s murder points to the worsening of rights abuses in the mountainous kingdom.
Fingers of accusation are pointing at King Mswati’s regime.
The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said it “mourns with the entire Swazi nation the tragic loss of this selfless defender of human rights and appeals to the entire world not to turn a blind eye to the plight of the people of Swaziland (Eswatini)”.
The SSN added: “This killing of comrade Thulani, is the clearest indication of the lengths to which Mswati will go, to cling on to power.”
Maseko spent his youth and adult life opposed to the regime.
“In 2014 his deeply enlightening articles, published in a national magazine, landed him in jail for two years,” lamented the SSN.
Upon release Maseko continued fighting for human rights.
The SSN said, “consequent to the bloody June 2021 unrest in which the Swazi state’s armed forces massacred over 80 unarmed Swazis, Maseko was elected to be the chairperson of MSF”.
The SSN said King Mswati “will not defeat the people of Swaziland, no matter how many he kills or exiles”.
“Let this tragic death of Maseko serve as a springboard for unity and a collective effort in the fight against this tyrant.”
Interventions by SADC have failed to quell the violence with pro-democracy activists refusing to cower to the royal family that rules Eswatini with an iron fist.
Opponents of the royal family complain that about 60% of the country’s 1.2 million people wallow in poverty, while the king and his 15 wives and 36 children enjoy stupendous wealth.
As far back as July 2021, Amnesty International accused the government of Eswatini of launching a ruthless crackdown on human rights in response to pro-democracy protests, with dozens killed and many others tortured, detained, or abducted.
The King has labelled those calling for democracy as “dagga smokers”.
