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Activists light candles while holding posters at a tribute to the assassinated human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, January 20, 2023.
© 2023 James Wakibia/Sipa via AP Images
On August 13, Eswatini’s Supreme Court overturned a 2016 High Court decision that declared several repressive provisions of the 1938 Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA) and 2008 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act (SSA) invalid.
The 2016 High Court decision had declared that several sections of SSA and STA violated the rights to freedom of association, expression, and assembly, guaranteed in Eswatini’s Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Eswatini is party.
The 2016 decision combined four separate applications to the High Court brought by six activists.
The activists, who included the late human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, Mario Masuku, leader of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), and Maxwell Dlamini, leader of PUDEMO’s youth wing, had been separately charged under the SSA for allegedly making subversive statements and sedition. They had also been charged under the STA for allegedly “chanting slogans of a terrorism nature,” “wearing t-shirts which bore terrorist demands at the back,” and participating in a demonstration calling for a boycott of elections.
The activists argued that the STA, which criminalizes support for a proscribed entity and prevented individuals from challenging that label, infringed on their right to due process and administrative justice.
Political parties have been banned in Eswatini since 1973.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the High Court’s ruling will embolden the government to ramp up its ongoing crackdown on opposition, human rights, and pro-democracy activists and weaponize the criminal justice system. This ruling is the latest in a worrying trend of authorities employing vague and overly broad provisions of terrorism laws to suppress freedom of association, expression, and assembly. In July, two former members of parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, were sentenced to prison terms of 25 and 18 years respectively for participating in and supporting pro-democracy protests in 2021.
This week, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which Eswatini is a member, will hold its 44th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State in Harare, Zimbabwe. The SADC should prioritize the deteriorating human rights crisis in Eswatini and take decisive action. It’s imperative the Eswatini government repeal these repressive laws and ensure full respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights.
