MASUKU TRIAL WAS POLITICAL

One of Swaziland’s top independent journalists says the trail of Mario Masuku on a terrorism charge was politically motivated.

But the Swaziland state, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, came unstuck when the Swazi High Court asserted its independence and freed Masuku only hours into a trail that was expected to last several days.

Vusi Sibisi, writing in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, today (7 October 2009) says the state prosecuted Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Party (PUDEMO) because he represented all the people ‘whose political opinions are diametrically opposed to those of government’.

Sibisi writes that Masuku’s arrest and prosecution ‘was politically motivated’ and like the Suppression of Terrorism Act was ‘a subterfuge to positively project the Swazi government as allies united in the global fight against terrorism when in effect the law was primarily a political weapon of choice with which the ruling elite could deal with political dissent and opposition’.

To read Sibisi’s full article, click here.