Political meeting stopped, Denmark consultant detained

MANZINI- A planned political meeting failed to start yesterday as police stopped it and detained a visiting consultant from Denmark.

Motern Koefen, a consultant from Denmark currently on attachment with the Foundation for Socio Economic Justice offices in Manzini, was detained while attending a meeting organised by the Swaziland Chapter of the Global Democracy Campaign for Swaziland.
Koefen was on his way to the meeting together with political activist Mphandlana Shongwe but were told that the meeting had been banned.

The meeting was to be held at Caritas in Manzini.
Bishop Ncamiso Ndlovu confirmed that the Swaziland Democracy Campaign had been allowed to use their facilities but said he did not know why police were there. He referred further questions to their offices which, however, were closed at the time of going to print.

Koefen was immediately detained (at around 5pm) and kept at the Manzini regional offices before he was taken to the Manzini charge office accompanied by four senior police officers only to be released at 8pm. He had called in lawyers Thulani Maseko and Sipho Mnyovu Mnisi.
However, Assistant Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Stephen Dlamini said they briefly detained Koefen to enquire about the legality of his stay in the country. He said his detention had nothing to do with the banned meeting.

He said Koefen was detained far from the venue and that his interrogation was in line with customary police procedure to enquire about the foreigner’s legal documents or otherwise permits in the country. He also said the reason they banned the Swaziland Democracy Campaign meeting was because it was also organised by PUDEMO.
He said they could tell by the people who turned up for it. He said since PUDEMO was a banned entity in Swaziland it could not be allowed to hold meetings.

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