The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africa’s third-largest political party, has organized peaceful protests along the country’s borders in the KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces with the neighboring Eswatini. Tuesday’s protests, the EFF said, were part of renewed efforts to raise awareness about “ongoing repression against pro-democracy protests in Eswatini.” EFF spokesman Sinawo Tambo told Al Jazeera, “We closed the borders to show [King] Mswati that borders are merely fences and that if the EFF and many South Africans resolve to pledge our concrete solidarity with the people of Eswatini, we would flood the borders which separate us and deliver freedom to our people.” King Mswati III, who came to power at the age of 18 in 1986, has ruled Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, for 36 years.
Since May 2021, the Southern African country has been plagued by civil unrest and violent demonstrations against its ruler following reports that a 25-year-old law student, Thabani Nkomonye, had been killed by the kingdom’s police. And the show of support by the South Africans is being applauded by their neighbors. “We appreciate the solidarity shown by the EFF,” said Lungelo Dube, a human rights activist from Eswatini. “It sends a strong message of our rejection of the current regime to the international community.” “The people of Swaziland cannot breathe,” he continued. “We want accountability, we want the lives of our people to matter. We want the quality of life to increase for our people. Democracy is long overdue.”
Activists have accused the regime of serious human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and forced disappearances. According to a 2021 Amnesty International report, at least 1,000 pro-democracy protesters have been arbitrarily jailed, 80 have been murdered, and more than 200 others were hospitalized since Nkomonye’s death. The EFF claimed that the alleged repression against dissenters is aided by the lack of a democratic process in the country.
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