The Times of Swaziland reported: "A magician died after he was dumped on the roadside by two unknown police officers at Mvakwelitje, Mbabane in the early hours of yesterday.
The man, Mduduzi Gama from Zone II, was left near the shopping complex in the area. The police officers, who were travelling in a police van, are said to have left the man, who could not walk, after taking him out of the vehicle at around 5am.
Before he died, he bled from his head and people who saw him said he had bloodshot eyes. Gama, according to his family, made a living through performing magic. The family also said the late popular magician, who was known as Ndlovu, taught Mduduzi magic tricks.
According to a vendor who sells fat cakes in the area, she saw the police van coming from the Hilltop direction. She said she arrived at the market at 4:55am. She said she was facing down minding her own business when she heard the car driving past the speed humps, and she looked up and realised that it was a police van.
“The vehicle came to a halt at the bus station and a male police officer alighted from the van. He told the man that he should get off because he said he was going to Mvakweltje,” the vendor said.
She said a female police officer alighted from the passenger side of the vehicle and gave the man a plastic bag. The vendor said the male officer helped the man out of the van as he could not walk. She said she thought he was drunk.
The vendor said the man tried getting up from where he had been left but failed and he stayed on the ground until he was helped by passers by to get to the other side of the road. She said she was worried that the man would be run over by cars and she asked some men to remove him. “While he was on the ground, he was screaming asking to be helped up. I was worried that he would get cold and that he would be hit by passing cars so I asked some men to move him to the other side of the road."
By Rainny Dlamini
References:
http://www.times.co.sz/news/108178-magician-dies-after-cops-dump-him-on-roadside.html
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No Mother's Day celebration until the Swazi government aligns the laws of the land with the United Nations Geneva convention laws "Mothers Day"; A day where all mothers globally celebrate social, economic and political achievement and yet on the contrary in my own motherland none of this applies to Swazi women.
References:
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In Swaziland there has been a drastic deterioration of human rights, citizens' conditions and respect for the rule of law in recent years. King Mswati III, uses the 1973 king proclamation which banned political freedom, and at this point in time there is no freedom of expression, no freedom of assembly and no freedom of association. Since political parties were and still are banned, therefore cannot participate in any of the white-wash elections that are held to just solidify king Mswati's absolute power. I'm talking about artists in Swaziland whom the government of Swaziland is against their freedom of speech. They cannot express themselves, as artists would normally do, no freedom of speech!!! The government of Swaziland is against their vision, it wants to control what artists expose to the world about Swaziland.
Many political activists and trade unions have been killed, tortured, persecuted, had unfair trials, suffered ill treatment both outside and inside of jails.
The King rules by decrees including the king's decree of 1973, media is tightly controlled with the government controlling television and radio broadcasting stations and of course the government's own newspaper (The Swazi Observer).
The Royal Swaziland Police have killed, tortured many political activists and no one police officer has been brought to justice, and we all know no one will.
Recently university students protesting peacefully outside the University of Swaziland were dispersed by military vehicles, and in the process, a young girl called Ayanda was crushed deliberately by the police armoured vehicle (Casper). The government is using the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act and 1938 Seditious and Subversive Activities Act to intimidate political activists, jail activists without trial, and or hold unfair trials thereafter. There is no freedom of speech in Swaziland, and I say to the Swaziland government We will not stop expressing ourselves and demand democracy and the respect of human rights until ALL that is achieved. As citizens and political activists please respect our human rights!
Viva Swazi Vigil Viva!!!!
By: Philile Dlamini
References:
http://www.times.co.sz/entertainment/107121-%E2%80%98govt-against-artistic-freedom-of-speech%E2%80%99.html#.VusXZOMVysk.mailto
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Protest photos on Flickr - Click