It was only a matter of time before the Swazi government started to smear the protestors who have been holding a weekly vigil outside the Swaziland High Commission in London.
Lutfo Dlamini, the Swaziland Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told the kingdom’s parliament that the people on the vigil were not Swazis, nor were they British. They were, he said, a ‘hired group from an African country who are paid to speak bad things about this country’.
You will notice that he doesn’t name the country, nor give any evidence for his claim. But rather sinisterly he went on to tell parliamentarians, ‘We are working on the issue and have a plan in place’.
Quite what he thinks he can do about a group of people protesting half a world away remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the vigil protestors themselves have hit back at Dlamini. On their website they say they have permission from the UK government to hold their protest. They say that ‘the question of nationalities has nothing to do with fighting for human rights as the world has joined hands in the fight for human rights abuse’.
