Africa-Press – Eswatini. The United States(U.S) Senate Foreign Relations Committee Committee has once again, lobbied or urged Senators to pass the sanctions oriented Resolution 174 as eSwatini regime intensifies crackdown on political activists and human rights defenders including the recent harassment of Tanele Maseko, the wife to assassinated human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko.
The human rights lawyer was the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF), he was assassinated while writing letters to human rights organizations and regional bodies like the Southern African Development Community(SADC) facilitating a dialogue as part of peaceful means to resolve the eSwatini political crisis.
In an X (formerly Twitter) and in reaction to a story exclusively published in the early hours on Thursday regarding the detention of the late human rights lawyer’s widow including her children, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee noted the ongoing human rights violations in eSwatini.
“This week’s detention & ongoing harassment of Tanele Maseko, following the murder of her husband Thulani last year, is another reminder of the tactics the #Eswatini regime uses against democracy & rights defenders. The Senate must pass S.Res.174”, reads the tweet in part, published on Friday morning.
But the harassment of the widow also attracted the attention of the international human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch.
In an online report published later on Thursday, Human Rights Watch demanded answers why the widow was labeled a wanted person and harassed at the Oshoek Boarder.
“Immigration officials flagged Tanele’s passport as belonging to a wanted person and confiscated it along with her mobile phone.Officials then called the police, who interrogated Tanele for about four hours before releasing her pending an appearance at the Mbabane police headquarters on March 28. But after Tanele arrived at the headquarters Thursday, police delayed her further interrogation until April 2, after her lawyers challenged how many officials could interview her without a lawyer present. The police are now seeking legal advice about interviewing her without her lawyers. Throughout all this, however, officials have yet to provide the reason why Tanele has been labeled a wanted person to begin with”, reads an online report published by Human Rights Watch later on Thursday.
Minor children of the late human rights lawyer spent hours without food at the Boarder and exposed to extremely cold temperatures as police took turns to harass their mother after grabbing her passport and cellphones to ensure that, she doesn’t call anyone.
The widow was then ‘dragged’ to the Regional Police Headquarters where the harassment continued later on Thursday afternoon.
A questionnaire was sent to the Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, the eSwatini Police Spokesperson,however, she had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
Eswatini is ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned from participating in elections or contesting power,while political activists,human rights defenders and independent journalists are tortured,arrested or even killed for demanding democracy or criticizing the State.
Human rights lawyer Thulani Rudolf Maseko was assassinated allegedly by King Mswati’s mercenaries and this comes after he was harassed and arrested together with senior editor of the independent Nation Magazine Bheki Makhubu merely for criticizing or questioning the breakdown in the administration of justice.
Subsequent to the assassination,the regime targeted Maseko’s wife after she uttered statements,highly critical of the eSwatini King during the recent Magnitsky Awards.
The widow alleged that her husband was killed by a \’horrible dictator\’.
But the statements triggered tension between the widow and the regime, she was subsequently threatened by the State through retiring Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo.
While harassing the widow, the Government Spokesperson subsequently uttered arrogant sentiments saying, the eSwatini King and the Government “are not afraid” of the US sanctions and that eSwatini will not allow any country to use sanctions to undermine its Sovereignty.
The sentiments were criticized by some Members of Parliament(MPs) particularly Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo who accused Government of failing to maintain diplomacy when addressing such sensitive issues.
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