Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko’s mum dies
MBABANE - Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko has lost his mother. Beauty Tikholisile Maseko (nee Vilakati) was 86 years old when she passed away. According to a family member, who spoke anonymously because he had not been mandated to speak on behalf of the Maseko family, Beauty’s death was a result of kukhula.
She is survived by her two children, Thulani and his sister.
The family member said Beauty initially had eight children.
However, some of them died in their early lives.
According to the family member, Beauty’s husband died a long time ago and she raised her children alone for the most part.
“She was everything to her children.
“When you talked about a parent, they knew their mother to be just that,” said the member of the family.
Beauty will be laid to rest at her homestead at KaLuhleko in Bhunya today after a vigil.
The Human Rights Lawyer, who is also the Chairman of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF), Thulani, could only confirm that his mother had passed on.
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The death of Thulani’s mother comes at time when her son and his organisation, the MSF is pushing for political reforms and had penned a letter to the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Sipho Dlamini.
This was not the first time the organisation wrote to the PM as it also did in August last year.
According to its own definition, the MSF is a broad collective of civil society organisations in the form of the youth, students, women’s organisation, the church, business community and political parties, that desire to see the country move forward peacefully, towards a multiparty democratic order to avert the recurring political and governance crisis that had led to social strive, economic stagnation and massive poverty.
In the letter, the MSF stated that the prevailing situation in the country had widened the gap between the rich and the poor. It wrote the letter after noting the Budget Speech delivered by the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg on February 18, 2022, where he informed the nation that government had set aside E22 million for the National Dialogue to be held at Sibaya.
The organisation stated that in November 2021, His Majesty King Mswati III had held a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
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After the meeting, the organisation said, the president informed the nation and the world that in the discussions between the two leaders it was resolved that the Kingdom of Eswatini will embark on a process that will work towards the establishment of a National Dialogue forum.
It was mentioned in the letter that it was agreed that the SADC Secretariat would work closely with the Government of Eswatini to draft terms of reference for the National Dialogue.
The terms of reference, the organisation said, would specify processes as well as the composition of the forum.