By Wendy Magagula

MBABANE: Thulani Rudolf Maseko, the eSwatini’s highly regarded human rights lawyer has described the continuous shutting down of the internet by Mswati’s Government as a gross violation of human rights.

Speaking to this Swaziland News, the human rights lawyer said many people used the internet to communicate and hold meetings.

“So this means by shutting down the internet you are violating human rights that include freedom of assembly and to communicate freely because people now hold meetings online”, he said. 

The sentiments of the human rights lawyer come after this publication exposed a plot by Cabinet to shut down the internet ahead of Mduduzi Magawugawu Simelane’s new political movement official launch.

Simelane, the then pro-democracy Siphofaneni Member of Parliament(MP) will officially launch his political party on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Masuku, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology(ICT) said they would only implement the decision and shutdown the internet once they received an official Cabinet instruction.

Currently, MTN Eswatini and Swazi Mobile are the two mobile operators in eSwatini.