An esteemed human rights lawyer from Swaziland, Sibusiso Nhlabatsi speaks to me on terrorism legislations, Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act, 2008 ("the Act"), and judicial crisis. Mr Nhlabatsi is known for his fortitude and taking critical human rights cases in Swaziland - even against the machinary of government.
In this episode we talk about: most terrorism legislations have been promulgated as weapons of governments to clamp down on political opponents. Swaziland Suppression of Terrorism Act is no different. The government passed it on a certificate of urgency devoid of following legislative promulgation processes. The Act violates fundamental human rights and the government has been using it to proscribe political movements as terrorist and to silence dissent. A full bench of the High Court of Swaziland, in 2016 declared some of the provisions of the Act unconstitutional. Six years later (2022) the government resuscitates its appeal at the Supreme Court and gets an unprecedented condonation for its laxity in failing to execute the appeal. Ostensibly, government's renewal of its interest to execute the appeal has been incentivized by the current political unrest.  Mr. Nhlabatsi laments that the judiciary in Swaziland is in shambles. 

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