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Monday 16 September 2013

SEDITION CHARGE FOR ANTI-POLL ACTIVIST

Musa Dube, deputy general secretary of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), has been arrested and charged with sedition for campaigning for a boycott of the elections to be held this week in the kingdom.

In a statement, the CPS said, ‘Our comrade was conducting campaign work to promote the message that the only elections that should be held in Swaziland are free and fair ones, where all political parties are able to take part on whatever platform they want.’

Dube reportedly was taken to the Manzini Police Station and is expected to appear in court later this week.

The CPS said Dube and another activist had been shadowed by police for days before the arrest. The other activist managed to escape arrest.

Dube allegedly had a PUDEMO (People’s United Democratic Movement) t-shirt in his possession at the time of his arrest.

Police and security forces in Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have clamped down on all opposition to the election due on 20 September 2013.

Last week the Swaziland Police National Commissioner Issac Magagula claimed that anarchists were intent on undermining the election.

Political parties are banned from taking part in the election and the CPS and PUDEMO are banned as ‘terrorist’ organisations in Swaziland.

See also

POLICE CALL NAIDOO PANEL ‘ANARCHISTS’

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