The ongoing imprisonment of opposition parliamentarians Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube is part of a broader pattern of human rights violations in Africa's last absolute monarchy, where King Mswati III's government is unyielding in its quest to crush dissent.
Listen to this article 6 min Listen to this article 6 min In a lonely cell in Eswatini's maximum security Matsapha Correctional Complex, former opposition parliamentarians Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube marked three long years in prison on Thursday, 25 July 2024.
Earlier in the month, a court sentenced them to spend a combined 43 years behind bars after convicting them on bogus, trumped-up terrorism-related and murder charges. Prison guards have allegedly assaulted the two men since locking them up in 2021, and after the sentencing, they started denying food to Mabuza, which amounts to torture or other ill-treatment.
Mabuza and Dube's plight is part of a broader pattern of human rights violations in Africa's last absolute monarchy, where King Mswati III's government is unyielding in its quest to crush dissent.
But their harsh treatment should not be just another example of abuse of power in the nation. Instead, it should be a wake-up call to southern African governments to urgently take unified action to help Eswatini improve its human rights record.
In particular, South Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) must ratchet up the pressure on Mswati to...