Understanding Recent Developments in eSwatini
In this segment, Nikiwe Kaunda of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) moderates the conversation with Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh of the International Commission of Jurists and Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International about events in eSwatini. They provide an overview of the recent protests and government response and explain how these events are part of broader ongoing efforts by civil society organizations calling for government accountability for human rights abuses. Niamani Mutima, AGAG Executive Director, moderates questions from the audience and concludes by asking how funders can support civil society efforts. This conversation took place on July 19, 2021
eSwatini is a landlocked country and borders Mozambique and South Africa. It is the second smallest country in Africa with a medium age of 21 and over 75% of its population of 1.3 million people live in rural areas doing small-scale farming.
The death in May of the law student, Thabani Nkomonye, sparked citizen protests and demands for the end to political repression in eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland. The government has responded with a crackdown on anti-government protests resulting in injuries and deaths. eSwatini’s King Mswati III has banned petitions calling for democratic reforms and placed restrictions on internet access. Food and gas shortages, coupled with the impact of the COVID pandemic have raised the alarm about human rights violations for the citizens of Africa’s only remaining monarchy.
For additional information see our blogpost on recent development in eSwatini.
About our Guests
Nikiwe Kaunda - Team Leader: Human Rights, Access to Justice & Rule of Law, Open Society Institute for Southern Africa
As an advisor, Nikiwe works on supporting and developing transformative social programs mainly through the provision of technical support and input into policy and programming. Her expertise lies in program design, grant management, and stakeholder engagement. She advocates for the implementation of high-impact, responsive social programs.
Deprose Muchena - Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Amnesty International
As Regional Director, Deprose leads the Southern Regional Office of Amnesty International on all aspects of human rights and organizational strategy development, implementation, and communication. He also leads all aspects of strategic recruiting, supporting and managing a dedicated team of country experts, campaign and advocacy experts, communication and research professionals to drive the regional strategy and the implementation and communications plan to achieve social change and human rights impact. Prior to his current position he was the Deputy Director of Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh – Director, Africa Regional Programme, International Commission of Jurists (ICI)
Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh is a South African lawyer and joined the ICJ in October 2020. She holds the B.Proc LLB degrees from the University of Natal (now University of Kwa Zulu Natal). She was employed at Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa) where she headed the Immigration Detention Monitoring Unit and was Manager of the Refugee and Migrants Rights Programme. She was the Executive Director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and employed at the International Organization for Migration. Kaajal was previously Board Chair of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa and on the board of the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network. She currently sits on the boards of the Centre for Child Law, South African History Archive, Sonke Gender Justice and is the Board Chair of Freedom House’s Advancing Rights in Southern Africa Program.