COSATU calls for sanctions against Eswatini for sentencing MPs calling for democracy to 68 years in prison

17 July 2024

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) calls for sanctions against Eswatini for sentencing Members of Parliament to 68 years imprisonment for calling for democracy. 

COSATU is shocked and outraged by the cruel and savage persecution of the Eswatini MPs who have been mysteriously sentenced to near life sentences for their peaceful call for democracy. 

Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube have been sentenced to 40 years and 28 years, respectively. They played an important role in mobilising the Eswatini people to fight for democracy when King Mswati III unleashed violence in what has become known as the June 29 Massacres that saw more than 80 protesters killed. 

COSATU is alarmed by the shameful silence, tacit condonation and total paralysis of Southern African Development Community and the international community in the face of Mswati’s unapologetic war against his own people and refusal to respect their rights.

COSATU fully supports the call on the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the June 2021 killings. This includes an independent investigation into the cold-blooded murder of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko. 

COSATU also calls on the South African government to suspend the Southern African Customs Union economic windfall, which is subsidising the opulent lifestyle of the Eswatini royal family and not benefitting the people.

Finally, COSATU calls on the international trade union movement and all democracy loving people of the world, including and particularly on the African continent, to stand up and actively be part of the mobilisation for the isolation of the undemocratic regime of Mswati towards a new and democratic society, based on the will of eMaswati. 

Issued by Bongani Masuku, COSATU International Secretary, 17 July 2024