Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini is threatening to use torture against dissidents and foreigners who campaign for democracy in his kingdom.
Dlamini said the use of ‘bastinado’, the flogging of the bare soles of the feet, was his preferred method.
Dlamini, who spoke on his return from a trip to Rwanda, said in his absence there had been civil disturbances in Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
This was as part of the Global Day of Action for democracy in Swaziland.
Dlamini told the Times of Swaziland newspaper, the only independent daily in the kingdom, he wanted ‘to punish dissidents and foreigners who come to the country and disturb the peace’.
This was, he said, because ‘foreigners and a group of a noisy minority that had taken part in what was supposed to be a peaceful protest march by workers’.
Speaking at the Ngwenya Border gate, the PM said the use of bastinado could be the solution against these people.
The Times quotes him saying, ‘Each person should mind the politics of his own country and not come here to meddle in our affairs especially if that country has a lot of its own problems.’
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