Mswati must fall, pupils cry
Eswatini protests flare up again
Mbabane – Pro-democracy protests have flared up in Eswatini again, a few months after authorities loyal to the southern African country’s absolute monarch quashed an earlier round of demonstrations using teargas and water cannons.
Asked for comment, government spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini said he was not in the country and would respond today.
Anger against King Mswati III, an absolute monarch, has been building for years. Campaigners say the 53-year-old king has consistently ignored calls for political reforms that would nudge Eswatiniin the direction of democracy.
The king denies accusations of autocratic rule and of using public money to fund a lavish lifestyle in the impoverished nation that borders SA. In July he called protests against his rule “satanic” and said they had taken the country backwards.
The protests this week included demonstrations in schools by pupils chanting “Mswati must fall” and “Release our MPs”, a reference to two legislators arrested in antimonarchy protests in June.
Bus drivers blocked some of the main roads in the nation’s commercial city of Manzini.
Two local newspapers, the Times of Swaziland and Eswatini Observer, published photographs of soldiers they said had been deployed to the streets on Wednesday, when a Reuters reporter also saw soldiers patrolling in Mbabane, the capital. Army spokesperson Tengetile Khumalo could not be reached for comment.
Police spokesperson Phindile Vilakati said she was not authorised to comment to international media without the police commissioner’s permission.
The Swaziland Association of Students has called for a nationwide protest today.
However, in comments on national radio late on Wednesday, deputy prime minister Themba Masuku warned students to be careful about people using them to further their political ambitions. - Reuters