28 April 2022:- The Swaziland royal police on Thursday 28 April 2022 abducted three youths, among whom was a 15-year-old school learner. The police in Swaziland are known to torture democracy activists in police cells and impose trumped up charges on them.

The abductions happened at Ngudzeni constituency in the Shiselweni region, south of Swaziland, following democracy demonstrations there.

Intent on concealing their crimes, the police used South African “GP” registered bakkies to harass residents the entire day while abducting others and forcing them to write affidavits incriminating them on the burning of a Ngudzeni government building yesterday.

Most youths from the area are now seeking safety in the bushes following the continued police harassment. Some sustained injuries but cannot go to hospitals in fear of arrest and torture by the police.

By focusing its brutality on the youth, the autocracy aims to suppress youth activism and intimidate them from calling for democracy. The regime is desperate to crush the continuously rising tide of grassroots-based activism that continues to spread to more sectors and communities in Swaziland.

Protests have again picked up in the past few months in Swaziland. Students from higher learning institutions also continue to protest for scholarships for all as well as democracy.

The CPS condemns the royal police’s violence on the youth. The CPS calls for continued pressure throughout the night to ensure the safe and unconditional release of the abducted activists.

A day more under the regime’s rule means another day of enslavement for the people and deepened destruction of the country’s economy by the royal family. The Mswati autocracy must be rendered ungovernable!

CPS PRESS SERVICES