MBABANE: Incarcerated pro-democracy Members of Parliament(MPs) would be visited by international Legislators amid reports suggesting their rights were being violated.
This comes after efforts made by South African MP Floyd Shivambu, the Deputy President of the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) and eSwatini pro-democracy Members of Parliament(MPs).
During the Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) Assembly held at Nusa Dua, Indonesia in March 2022 Shivambu made submissions and urged the IPU to pay specific attention to eSwatini.
“The IPU should pay specific attention to eSwatini because what is obtaining there is that political parties are not allowed to exist, a lot of activists have been arrested who are trying to call for democratic reforms*.I wouldn’t think that it would be a correct assessment to conclude that we’ve a constitutional order in eSwatini because there isn’t such. It’s an absolute Monarchy and only being one in the entire world possibly where all Parliamentary and Executive functions are performed by the royal family and does not permit political activity to exist there, to the extent that the Prime Minister is appointed by the King. When MPs express their disagreement with the King, they get arrested and they are detained, it’s more than twelve months now, we got MPs that have been detained in eSwatini. I would think that the IPU might need to pay closer attention of what is happening in eSwatini,” said the South African MP who doubles as the Deputy President of the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF).
As reported by this Swaziland News, apart from the efforts of the EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu, pro-democracy MPs wrote a letter to the IPU asking for an intervention amid the continued incarceration of the MPs.
On Sunday, the Times of eSwatini reported that the Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) would be visiting eSwatini to monitor the situation of the incarcerated MPs pro-democracy MPs and verify allegations suggesting that their rights were being violated.
Reached for comments, one of the MPs confirmed the letter but said they resolved to remain anonymous as political temperatures remained high in the country.
“It\'s was a group of the pro-democracy MPs that wrote the letter, we just endorsed all our signatures,” said the MP.
Reached for comments on Sunday, Sicelo Mngomezulu,the lawyer representing the incarcerated pro-democracy MPs,thanked the Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF)Deputy President who raised the plight of the MPs during the Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) in Indonesia.
“We welcome the confirmation that the IPU will be visiting my Clients who are in unlawful detention. We especially thank the EFF Deputy President, who was first to raise the plight of the 3 MPs in Indonesia, following our meeting with him alongside PUDEMO President, Mlungisi Makhanya a few days earlier,” said the lawyer.
EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu.