Mswati’s police arrest students in latest attack on the democracy movement

Manzini, 26 January 2023:– Two Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) members were arrested by Mswati's police on Wednesday 25 January 2023 following a political school that was held at Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU), organised by SNUS. 

The two students are Comrade Sambulo Shongwe, a student from the University of Swaziland (UNESWA) Mbabane campus who also serves as the SNUS UNESWA Mbabane Campus branch Chairperson, and Comrade Lwazi Maseko, a student at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, and a member of SNUS. 

These two students are also members of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS). 

The students were arrested after attending the SNUS political School after a confrontation they had with traffic police in a roadblock that was staged near the SANU gate where the political school was held. 

Witnesses reveal that, a few moments after the confrontation, the students, who were travelling in a big group, were approached by plain clothed police officers who then harassed the two students and forcefully arrested them. They drove off with them to Manzini Police Station where they were kept for interrogation. 

The students spent the night in Mswati's police cells in Manzini without any legal representation. The police concocted charges of obstruction of justice against them. 

On Thursday morning, the police secretly took the two students to Manzini Magistrate Court without legal representation. The magistrate thereafter swiftly ruled that they should remain in custody until Monday 30 January for their judgment on the case. 

The CPS condemns the attacks on students by Mswati’s police. The CPS also demands their release for they have committed no crime except to capacitate themselves, in community with fellow students, with political education. 

The struggle for democracy in Swaziland will win, and our country shall survive. No amount of intimidation and attacks will douse the people’s hunger for freedom.