MBABANE:Tanele Maseko,the wife to the late eSwatini prominent Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Rudolf Maseko has accused dictator King Mswati of killing her husband.
Mswati rules eSwatini as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned from participating in elections and human rights defenders are arrested and killed merely for demanding democratic reforms.
Addressing diplomats and other internationally respected human rights advocates last month during the Magnitsky Awards,the wife to the late eSwatini human rights lawyer appealed for support to intensify the “Justice for Thulani Maseko campaign”, the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards event takes place in London every November.
“My late husband human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko used the law as a tool to fight this horrible dictator. Thulani was committed to social justice, he was committed to fight for democracy in Swaziland.Like many amongst you today, you are here alive.You are with your families, unfortunately, I had to pick-up my husband’s brain mass. I had to pick-up his skull and my two(2) young boys, we had to try and resuscitate him back to life, he was cold. For merely seeking justice, the horrible dictator shot him dead in front of me and my two(2) young boys”,said the wife to the assassinated eSwatini human rights lawyer.
But Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo released a statement on Friday afternoon, denying that, the lawyer was killed by King Mswati and since the killing of the lawyer, Government has been issuing contradictory statements trying to shift the blame away from the King and his mercenaries.
“The Government would like to categorically state that these utterances are a fabrication of the truth and are part of a narrative that seeks to promote hatred against the King and further perpetrate civil discord, something which should not be tolerated at any platform since it erodes the very existence of fundamental rights which Thulani stood for,” reads the Government statement in part.
The Government Spokesperson said, shortly after the killing of the lawyer, the story was immediately reported by this Swaziland News, he accused the wife to the late lawyer of failing to conduct herself like a widow seeking justice for her husband.
On another note,human rights lawyer Thulani Rudolf Maseko was killed in cold blood on January 2023, a few hours after King Mswati threatened those calling for democracy that his mercenaries will deal with them, he was dispensing his emaButfo at Engabezweni Royal Residence.
The killing of the lawyer who was the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF) came after he wrote letters to the Southern African Development Community(SADC) and other international human rights organizations appealing for support to force King Mswati to participate in an all inclusive political dialogue.
This comes after the King defied SADC recommendations urging eSwatini to use dialogue as means to resolve the political crisis, and subsequently resorted to the shooting and killing protestors including human rights defenders.
The lawyer was also representing persecuted political activists and his death came a few hours after he held a press conference, trying to ensure that freedom fighter Mlandvo Khumalo was buried in a dignified manner, King Mswati and his government had blocked the funeral.
Tanele Maseko-wife to assassinated lawyer Thulani Maseko.