King Mswati III head of state of eSwatini. Picture: AFP.
Eswatini’s King Mswati III has reportedly fled to South Africa following violent pro-democracy protests that have rocked the tiny kingdom.
The Communist Party of Swaziland on Tuesday morning confirmed on its Facebook account the monarch boarded his private jet out of the country after protesters clashed violently with the army on Monday.
The organisation also claimed that several people were shot with live bullets in a crackdown by the army and Swazi police.
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It’s understood that several government buildings, businesses and trucks have been set ablaze by demonstrators during ongoing clashes that started about a week ago in the Manzini district.
The Communist Party of Swaziland’s Thokozane Kunene told EWN King Mswati’s special jet apparently left the country on Monday night. He said the king was “hiding in Johannesburg, in the Sandton area”.
Last Friday, shops were looted and one was set alight during clashes in the township of Msunduza, near the capital Mbabane, with the unrest continuing into the night.
Police fired tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon at the protesters.
The demonstrators, who are demanding a multi-party democracy and an elected prime minister, pelted police with stones in response.
Political parties have been banned in the southern African country since 1973.
King Mswati III names government ministers and controls the parliament, while a Constitution introduced in 2005 forbids parties from running in national elections.
Protests are usually rare in Eswatini, which was renamed from Swaziland by Mswati in 2018.
But about a week go, around 500 youths protested in the Manzini district, 30km from the capital, demanding democracy.
The government had banned protests, with national police commissioner William Dlamini warning that officers would be “zero-tolerant” of breaches of the ban.
The king, crowned in 1986 when he was just 18, has come under fire for his expensive taste and lavish spending, while most inhabitants live below the poverty line.
In 2019, the country was rocked by a series of strikes by civil servants who accused the monarch of draining public coffers at the expense of his subjects.
Additional reporting by AFP