Times Of Swaziland: LAWYERS AGREE TO HELP PROTESTERS

LAWYERS AGREE TO HELP PROTESTERS
================================================================================
NHLANGANISO MKHONTA on 29/06/2021 08:54:00


MBABANE – Lawyers have pledged assistance to those who were arrested during
the protest marches that took place over the past weekend.
Secretary General of the proscribed People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO) Wandile Dludlu confirmed that there were lawyers who had agreed to
assist those who were arrested during protest actions. Dludlu said the lawyers
include Mzwandile Masuku, Thulani Maseko and another one he identified as
Kunene. Dludlu was responding to questions on why his cellphone number was
posted on social media. He said the number was posted so that people could
contact him in case they were arrested and he would contact the lawyers and
inform them about the people who had been arrested.
He said the lawyers had volunteered to help where they could. He said these were
emaSwati lawyers who could see the situation outside. He said PUDEMO was in
solidarity with emaSwati, hence if one was caught in a certain situation, they
tried to assist where possible. He said they did not want a situation where
someone was arrested and did not have a lawyer because that would allegedly
cause the Tinkhundla System taking advantage of those who did not have lawyers.
When contacted, one of the lawyers, Human Rights lawyer Thulani Maseko,
confirmed that they had agreed to assist those who were arrested. However,
Maseko neither confirmed nor denied that they would provide their service for
free. When asked about the trending campaign termed #Kungahlwakwenile, Dludlu
said as PUDEMO, they were not behind it or part of it. He said he only read
about it on social media.
interpretation
Nonetheless, Dludlu said their interpretation was that the Tinkhundla system was
unsustainable. “This was an expression of deep anger and frustration of
emaSwati,” he said.  He said COVID-19 made the situation dire and the fact
that government failed to provide help to the people, they had lost hope hence
the anger expressions. He said government failed to listen to the people instead
it instigated war against the protesters. He said there were assumptions that
emaSwati were scared of war while that was not the case. He said some of the
actions to be taken by the people were unknown and unpredictable because they
did not need to ask for permission from anyone to express their anger. He said
government should not rule by imposing fear to the people because that was an
unsustainable route.
When contacted about the campaign, Chief Police Information and Communications
Officer Superintended Phindile Vilakati said it was not their responsibility to
respond to anything written on social media. She said as police, they knew their
duty and would continue executing it throughout. Vilakati said for the police to
respond to whatever the protesters posted on social media would cause them to go
on with the protest actions. She said as the police, they would not always
respond to what protesters were saying but they were only going to do their
work.