Two pro-democracy deputies from Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Eswatini, who were found guilty of terrorism last year in connection with the anti-regime protests that shook the country in 2021, were today sentenced to heavy prison sentences.
Mthandeni Dube was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza to 25 years for “violating the anti-terrorism law”, approved in 2018, announced Judge Mumcy Dlamini, at the High Court in Mbabane, the capital.
Regarding Dube, the judge said: “I took into account the fact that he expressed remorse during the trial and that is why I gave him a lighter sentence.”
The hearing room, heavily guarded by police, was full of representatives from opposition parties, according to an AFP correspondent.
The two deputies were tried last year, almost two years after their arrest in July 2021 and, having been accused of inciting demonstrations, they declared themselves innocent.
But the judge found them “guilty of all charges presented”, specifying that the sentence would be announced later.
Mabuza and Dube were detained in 2021, at the height of a wave of demonstrations demanding democratic reforms and which were severely repressed by the regime’s police, with police repression causing dozens of deaths on the side of the protesters.
Political parties, theoretically authorized, cannot participate in elections.
In September 2023, the monarchy of the country, formerly known as Swaziland, welcomed the “free and fair” election of 59 deputies.
Candidates for these elections presented themselves officially without party labels and were selected in electoral districts by traditional chiefs, who normally defend the interests of the monarch.
A small, poor country in southern Africa with a population of 1.2 million, Eswatini has been governed since 1986 by Mswati III, who is criticized for his luxurious lifestyle and regularly accused of human rights violations.
The sovereign appoints ministers, controls parliament, the police and the army and also appoints judges.
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