Life is more dangerous than usual for human rights lawyers in several Southern African countries. Chief among these are Eswatini, where a prominent legal activist was shot dead this past weekend, and Zimbabwe, where lawyers seem fair game for the local police, particularly in the run-up to this year’s national elections.
The assassination-style killing of Thulani Maseko, shot through the window of his home in Luyengo, Eswatini, has stunned human rights organisations in the region. Maseko was a revered figure, considered a highly principled man who acted for clients unpopular with the monarchy and its government.
Maseko was also willing to put himself on the line, taking strong personal protest action when the issue warranted. He was, for example, sentenced to two years in prison for challenging the lack of judicial independence and integrity in Eswatini.
His death followed shortly after a particularly incendiary speech by King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch. Mswati’s speech last weekend was delivered before a gathering of traditional regiments at a royal residence. He spoke about “more trouble” coming — an apparent threat of further action against pro-democracy protesters. Dozens have already been killed during ongoing demonstrations in the country.
The Eswatini government has expressed alarm at Maseko’s killing, saying his death is a loss to the nation and that the security forces are already looking for those responsible.
But such comments aren’t persuasive for those with first-hand experience of the violence of the country’s regime — such as Maseko’s own family. They know the cases he had been dealing with before his death, and they say they have strong reason to believe the state was complicit in his murder.
Reacting to his death, regional legal rights organisation Freedom Under Law said it had left his country poorer and its “human rights conscience brutally stifled”. It suggested that the law society of Eswatini mark January 21 each year as a day of mourning, on which members should rededicate themselves to the rule of law.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) said it was deeply saddened and that Maseko was “not an ordinary human rights lawyer”, but rather the epitome of human rights law. He travelled the world, raising awareness of the situation in Eswatini and was “a beacon of hope for African lawyers battling state repression”.
Thulani Maseko was ‘a beacon of hope for African lawyers battling state repression’
Maseko’s death came at a time when he, like many others in Eswatini, was dealing with “an oppressive and brutal political system”, SALC said. It further urged the AU and the Southern African Development Community to immediately address the targeting and assault of pro-democracy activists in Eswatini, and said human rights organisations worldwide should press their governments to “call out the brutality of the Eswatini regime”.
Impunity in Zimbabwe
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe the treatment meted out by police to human rights lawyer Kudzayi Kadzere earlier this month shows little mercy can be expected from that quarter as national elections, likely to be held midyear, get closer.
Kadzere was left with injuries, including serious bruises and a broken hand, after police assaulted people attending a meeting at the home of an opposition MP, for which official permission had not been granted. Kadzere was present in his professional capacity.
Human rights lawyers have for years reported similar experiences of police brutality, mostly carried out with impunity.
A new scholarly publication, The Journal on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights in Zimbabwe, has just published an edition focused on elections in that country. One article points out that an official inquiry investigating August 2018 election-related violence had found six people were killed and 35 injured through police and military action.
The perpetrators “must be held accountable”, the inquiry said. However, no member of the police has been prosecuted for those killings and assaults.
Commenting on the situation, one contributor to the journal says the sense of impunity created among police actually encourages unlawful conduct and has deterred people from freely exercising their rights.
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