Africa-Press – Eswatini. Wakhile Lukhele, the persecuted former Secretary General of the Swaziland National Union of Students(SNUS) and member of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) is in Norway to pursue his Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
Lukhele who was previously suspended by the royal controlled University of Eswatini(UNESWA) for fighting for the rights of students, received financial support from the Norway Government through the Ministry of Education Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills.
The program seeks to support University students who “are actively involved in politics” in dictatorship countries and might as a result of their political activism, be denied jobs.
Furthermore, the program seeks to assist the students leaders to further their studies so that, they can qualify for decent jobs around the world thus mitigating risks to financially struggle in life because of their previous dedication in fighting for the rights of other University students.
Political activists and other human rights defenders are persecuted in eSwatini, a tiny Kingdom ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch.
But the highly controlled media dominated by State spying journalists secretly working as soldiers and the police, is also used to target and portray human rights defenders as enemies of the State.
The censored and highly controlled media normally downplays the seriousness of the political persecution in the country to try and deprive other emaSwati chances of mitigating and accepted by other countries for better employment opportunities.
But reports compiled by world organizations suggest that with the emergence of the independent media, the international community “is now receiving a clear picture of what is happening in eSwatini”.
As a result of this financial support from the Norway Government, Wakhile Lukhele will receive a monthly allowance amounting to NOK15,000.00 an amount equivalent to twenty-five thousand Rands(R25,000.00) for a period of two(2) years and this amounts to six hundred thousand Rands(R600,000.00).
Reached for comments, Lukhele, thanked Norway for the financial support, he further confirmed that, after completing his Bachelor of Commerce Degree in eSwatini, he was persecuted and denied jobs.
“I am very honored to be offered the opportunity to further my studies here in Norway. As you might know that some of us were denied job opportunities back home in companies that have royal links because of our activism and disagreement in how the country is governed, this gives us an opportunity to stand out from the rest and increases our chances of being employed anywhere else in the world,” he said.
The former Students Union Secretary General said upon completion of his studies, mindful of all the difficulties faced by eSwatini, “he look forward to bringing home not only advanced skills, but also lessons on transparency and citizen-centred leadership with the hope of contributing in the construction of a fairer and more prosperous future for the country, hopefully under a constitutional multi-party democratic dispensation”.
On another note, Maxwell Dlamini, a PUDEMO leader was recently granted refugee status by the Government of Ireland as the epersecution of political activists and human rights defenders intensify in eSwatini.
Dlamini left the country after the royal controlled Supreme Court of eSwatini dismissed an application he filed together with other PUDEMO leaders that include President Mlungisi Makhanya, the then Secretary General, the late assassinated human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and the late PUDEMO President Mario Masuku.
The court application was challenging the constitutionality of the Suppression of Terrorism Act, a draconian law used by the Tinkhundla undemocratic regime to persecute those calling for democracy including independent journalists in the tiny Kingdom.
But the dismissal of the application placed Maxwell Dlamini, the PUDEMO Deputy Secretary General(DSG) in a vulnerable situation to be re-arrested as he was previously arrested together with Mlungisi Makhanya and Mario Masuku among others, under the same law.
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