‘POOR MUST RISE UP FOR THEMSELVES’

After his acquittal on terrorism and subversion charges, Mario Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement, has been writing about his time on remand in prison and giving some of his thoughts on the state of Swaziland today

The articles have been appearing n the Times Sunday, part of the only newspaper group in Swaziland free of direct government control.

In the first of his articles, called ‘The problem with this country’, Masuku calls for the oppressed and downtrodden majority of Swazis to themselves make freedom a reality.

He says, ‘There always, in life of the dominated poor, comes a time when they can bear no more, and proclaim that enough is enough.’

To read the full article, click here.

Mario Masuku is president of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) in Swaziland, a political formation banned in the kingdom ruled by King Mwsati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Masuku was on remand in jail from November 2008 to September 2009 on charges of terrorism and sedition. When he eventually appeared in court, the Swaziland High Court judge threw out the case after five hours of a trial expected to last several days. The judge called the prosecution case ‘hopeless.’

This article appeared in the Times Sunday on 4 October 2009.