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Editor’s interview with Amnesty International: Eswatini Government must stop Madonsa forced evictions now.

Monday, 15th March, 2021

MBABANE: Amnesty International, a global human rights organisation has vowed to lobby the United Nations to take strong action against the government of Eswatini over the looming mass evictions at Madonsa.

Speaking to this Swaziland News in an exclusive interview on Monday, Robert Shivambu, the Amnesty International Media Manager for East and Southern Africa said they were deeply concerned with the forced evictions in the Kingdom of Eswatini adding that these evictions forced the people into poverty.

“Forced evictions in their nature they tend to drive people into poverty, they destroy their livelihoods because you find that people are staying in a land where they are able to farm and produce food that they can consume on a daily basis. When you evict those people without considering those kind of things, without compensating them, without consulting them, you are throwing them on the streets. They lose their livelihood, they lose their shelter”, he said.

The Amnesty International Media Manager said as an organisation they wanted the Eswatini government to halt the Madonsa evictions, consult and compensate the people accordingly.

“We will put pressure on the government to stop these evictions because they have negative consequences for the people who are directly involved.We are saying to the government they must halt these evictions because they are going to throw people into poverty”, he said.

A questionnaire was sent to eSwatini Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini regarding the Madonsa evictions that have since attracted the attention of the international community, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

On 11th March 2021, Amnesty International released a statement reporting that over 100 people have been living under the threat of forced evictions at Madonsa township to make way for the Eswatini National Provident Fund. The statement also highlights the plight of more than 12 000 Zimbabweans from the Shangani Indigenous minority group who are still facing eviction from their ancestral land in Chilonga.

Editor’s interview with Amnesty International: Eswatini Government must stop Madonsa forced evictions now.
Amnesty International wants eSwatini Government to stop evictions.