PRETORIA, South Africa
Eswatini’s main opposition leader has been poisoned as part of an assassination attempt and is being treated in hospital, his party says.
Mlungisi Makhanya, 46 (above), has
been living in exile in neighbouring South Africa for the last two years,
saying he fears for his life at home following a violent crackdown on
pro-democracy activists in Africa’s last remaining absolute monarchy.
“Our president has been stabilised,
but he is still in a critical condition,” the People’s United Democratic
Movement (Pudemo) said.
Eswatini spokesman Alpheous
Nxumalo denied state involvement, saying the “government does not kill or
poison suspects”.
Pudemo says the attempt on its
leader’s life comes ahead of planned protests next month calling for
multi-party elections.
The country, formerly known as
Swaziland, allows independent candidates to stand for parliament but does not
allow political parties to participate.
King Mswati III has been on
the throne since 1986 and rules by decree. He has been criticised for his
extravagant lifestyle and is regularly accused of not allowing any dissent,
which his government denies.
Last year, Thulani Rudolf
Maseko, a human rights lawyer, who was opposed to the king, was killed in his
home in the capital, Mbabane, sparking widespread condemnation.
In September 2022, Makhanya’s
home in Eswatini was set alight in an alleged firebomb attack by state agents.
He now lives in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, with his family.
Makhanya leads Pudemo, one of
the leading pro-democracy parties which are theoretically allowed but banned
from participating in elections.
He was allegedly poisoned in
the early hours of Tuesday inside his house in Pretoria by an unnamed “young
boy”, who Pudemo said was used as an “agent of evil intent by Swazi
government”.
Makwanya was rushed to a
Pretoria hospital escorted by the South African police, the Swaziland News
website reported. He was later moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), in a
critical but stable condition, it added.
He reportedly informed police
and doctors that he had been poisoned and robbed of his cell phones.
In a press briefing on
Wednesday, Wandile Dludlu, the Pudemo deputy president, said an “extremely
dangerous and fatal” pesticide poison was used in the incident.
“It is encouraging that the
president has survived a day,” Dludlu added.
“It was an assassination
attempt on the life of our leader.”
This was rejected by the
Eswatini government.
“Government, through the law
enforcement agencies – that adheres to a strict code of ethics and
professionalism – only apprehend suspects and bring them to Justice, and they
are brought to justice ‘alive’, not ‘dead’,” Nxumalo said in a statement.
The Pudemo party has appealed
for international support to ensure Makhanya’s security and that of his family
while in hospital.
The Swaziland Solidarity
Network (SSN), a group of Swazis living in South Africa, condemned what it
termed a “bold attack” and a “clear assassination attempt” against Makhanya.
It called on the South African
government to take action against Swazi state agents it said were targeting
exiled pro-democracy activists “fighting for freedom”.
Opposition parties have
accused security agents of killing dozens of protesters who have blamed the
lack of development in the country on the current political system.
In 2021, student-led protests
that began over alleged police brutality morphed into calls for political
change. At least 46 people died in a series of clashes between the security
forces and demonstrators, according to Human Rights Watch.
The government has disputed
this figure and said that the police were responding to violent attacks.
“This is a political fight
between the oppressed masses and the traditional autocratic monarch,” Dludlu
said, vowing that Pudemo would proceed with next month’s protests as planned.
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