By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: The Times of eSwatini is reporting that an unknown dead soldier told his relative that he sold explosives and weapons to terrorists.

This week,a pathologist conducted a post-mortem and preliminary findings suggest that a military rifle was used to kill human rights lawyer Thulani Rudolf Maseko.

The Times article published on Saturday comes amid international pressure on King Mswati and his Government after the assassination of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko.

“A soldier reportedly confided to a relative that he sold explosives and weapons belonging to the state.He is said to have revealed that these were sold to some people suspected to be terrorists,three days before he allegedly committed suicide next to his work station. Speaking to Eswatini News, the relative, whose identity cannot be disclosed for security reasons, pointed out that the late soldier (name deliberately withheld) could have not killed himself because of the debts he had. Our sister publication, the Times of Eswatini daily, ran an article in which sources attributed the death of the soldier to suspected suicide due to an altercation earlier on that fateful morning,” reads the article in part.

In the article,the names of the relative who was interviewed and the soldier suspected to have committed suicide were not mentioned.

Since the death of the renowned human rights lawyer, the Times has been publishing highly questionable articles that sought to shift the focus from Mswati’s Government.

On Saturday last week,King Mswati allegedly threatened that his mercenaries woul deal with those calling for democracy, a few hours later, Maseko was assassinated.