King Mswati III ‘hasn’t fled the country’, govt says

King Mswati III has not fled the country, the ESwatini government has said, following violent pro-democracy riots in the southern African country. The government deployed soldiers overnight on Monday. 

ESwatini government has denied reports that King Mswati III has fled the southern African country following violent pro-democracy riots.

“I would like to take this opportunity to assure emaSwati and the international community that His Majesty King swati III is in the country and continues to lead in working with government to advance the Kingdom’s goals,” BBC quoted acting prime minister Themba Masuku as saying.

A report by the broadcasting television channel SABC, said on Tuesday Mswati had fled the kingdom after the protests turned chaotic.

Meanwhile, Times of Swaziland reported that trucks – some of them belonging to South African companies – were torched over the weekend, and shops were looted in the rural town of Siphofaneni.

“At the climax of the violent protest, which was organised to deliver a petition to the Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Simelane, a South African registered horse and trailer truck was looted of its contents – sugar – and later torched.

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“…just across the Great Usuthu River Bridge, a horse and trailer truck ferrying an excavator was torched. In this incident, the horse was smouldered into ashes with debris of the frame lying on the ground. What remained intact was its chassis which anchored a few charred debris and the remnants of its engine.

“The chaos was not limited to the torching of the trucks as a shop, run by a Pakistani national, was vandalised and looted as well,” the report said.

As reported by AFP, protests were usually rare in Eswatini, but recent weeks have seen violent anti-monarchy demonstrations erupting in parts of the country.

The government deployed soldiers overnight on Monday to an industrial town near the capital to crack down on protests against the ruling authorities in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, pro-democracy activists said Tuesday.

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Protests are usually rare in Eswatini, but recent weeks have seen violent anti-monarchy demonstrations erupting in parts of the country.

The government last week banned protests, with National Police Commissioner William Dlamini warning that officers would be “zero-tolerant” of breaches of the ban.

The king, crowned in 1986 when he was just 18, has come under fire for his expensive tastes and spending while most inhabitants live below the poverty line.

In 2019, the country was rocked by a series of strikes by civil servants who accused the monarch of draining public coffers at the expense of his subjects.

Picture: Twitter 

Compiled by Betha Madhomu 

Article written by