MBABANE:Oliver Dickson, a Presenter of the South African Broadcasting Corporation(SABC) SaFm radio came hard on King Mswati for attending the recent inauguration for President Cyril Ramaphosa, while refusing to allow democratic reforms in eSwatini.
The Presenter made a brief comment on air last week, expressing concerns about the invitation of the King to attend such events that are a product of democracy.
“King Mswati was there watching all this,he was even smiling”, said the Presenter.
Other listeners called SaFm questioning why the King was invited to participate in the democratic inauguration of the South African President considering his human rights violation record.
King Mswati,an absolute Monarch,was among the Guests during re-elected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, he was sitting next to the re-elected President.
Eswatini is an absolute Monarchy, political parties are banned from participating in elections while human rights defenders are arrested,tortured and killed for demanding democracy.
Thulani Maseko, a highly regarded human rights lawyer,was assassinated on the 21st January 2023, a few hours after King Mswati threatened those calling for democracy.
The lawyer who was the Chairperson of the pro-democracy MultiStakeholder Forum(MSF) was killed while facilitating a political dialogue as part of peaceful means to resolve the political crisis in eSwatini.
But eSwatini pro-democracy groups and international human rights organizations are demanding an international independent credible investigation into the death of the lawyer.
King Mswati among the guest during President Cyril Ramaphosa inauguration(pic: Gov).