Mlungisi Makhanya is in a hospital in South Africa after the alleged poisoning on Monday night at his home in the capital, Pretoria, where he was living in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

Eswatini’s Human Rights Defender, Velaphi Mamba confirms that Makhanya is in a critical condition but stable. " Our leader has a team of medical professionals looking after him 24 hours and we are confident that he is receiving the best possible care. He is also under high security protection”, said Mamba.

In various reports, the Secretary General of Pudemo, Penuel Malinga was quoted saying that this is a clear assassination attempt by the Eswatini state. However, eSwatini Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo rejected the claim.

According to Nxumalo, it is not in their policy as the government to either kill or poison people who hold a different political view in the country.

" The allegations that are being leveled by the Pudemo Executive against the government are dismissed with the contempt in which it deserves.” Nxumalo continues to say “Pudemo is not a new organization and has had layers and layers of leadership, Presidents and so on and so forth. None of them at any given point in time have been threatened with poisoning or even with killing.”

Mamba still believes that the current government in eSwatini is fully responsible for Makhanya's murder attempt. Mamba says the regime that Nxumalo represents is a very brutal government that has never admitted to killing anyone in the country, even when it’s known that it has killed people.

“I will make an example; even in the June 2021 unrest, the government unleashed the security forces on and aimed citizens and killed them. The narrative that came from the government was that these people were killed by mercenaries. This government has never at any point taken any accountability for all the extrajudicial killings that it has visited on emaSwati”, explains Mamba.

In conclusion, Mamba says that doctors expect Makhanya, who was currently unable to speak, to recover in around two weeks.

--ChannelAfrica--