King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, is accused of accepting USD 500 million from the Trump administration to accept deported criminals in Swaziland.
With slogans of "Down with Trump", "Down with imperialist agenda", Swaziland's pro-democracy activists exiled in South Africa protested outside the US embassy in Pretoria on September 19, condemning the Trump-King Mswati deportation deal.
For an alleged USD 500 million, Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, reached a deal with US President Donald Trump allowing him to deport migrants convicted of crimes to Swaziland. The first group of five deportees, none of whom were from Africa, was flown into Swaziland (renamed eSwatini by Mswati) on June 15.
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The US Department of Homeland Security's spokesperson had described the deportees - convicted of violent crimes including murder and child rape - as "so uniquely barbaric that their home countries" in Asia and Latin America "refused to take them back."
However, in a decision condemned as "treacherous" in Swaziland, Mswati agreed to take them in, "only because he wants more money to enjoy with his children and 15 wives", said the president of Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), Sakhile Nxumalo, in his address to the demonstration.
Read: US deportation of migrants to Swaziland further undermines the legitimacy of its embattled monarch
Mswati's wealth - displayed unabashedly with a fleet of Rolls-Royce cars, private jets, palaces, and parties - is an eyesore in the country where nearly 70% of the population survives on less than a dollar a day. The money from this deal will not help alleviate its poverty or unemployment, but only further fatten the pockets of the royal family, activists protested.
Condemning the US for further enriching the monarchy, Nxumalo insisted, "the international community must assist us to erase Mswati completely in Swaziland." His reign in Swaziland, inherited from his father, has faced unprecedented challenges in recent years.
Mswati had fled his kingdom briefly in mid-2021 amid an insurrection provoked by the violence unleashed by his security forces on peaceful, country-wide pro-democracy protests. Returning after the army had violently crushed the insurrection, Mswati has continued to rule with near-absolute power.
A demonstration like the one held outside the US embassy would be met with violent force in Swaziland, where all political parties are banned. Nevertheless, several exist, and operate underground, with many of their leaders and noted activists forced into exile in South Africa.
The largest among them is the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), under whose banner its exiled activists marched to the US embassy on Friday. Also present were the banners of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO), amid placards calling for the abolition of the absolute monarchy.
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Sloganeering "One person, one vote!", an activist from the South African Students Congress (SASCO) expressed solidarity with the Swazi activists' struggle for democracy.
"The people of Swaziland should determine its future, not one man working with the man in the US," added another activist from the Young Communist League of South Africa in his solidarity message to Swaziland's "national democratic revolution."
Several other South African activists also participated in the demonstration alongside their Swazi comrades, including from the youth league of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
"We are tired" of the African leaders "selling our states to that white old man," its leader told the demonstration.
South Sudan and Rwanda are among the other African countries that have accepted Trump's deportees. Uganda has also reached a deal with Trump in principle.
