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Mzwandile Masuku

Mzwandile B. Masuku is a Swazi human rights lawyer and the son of late prominent opposition leader Mario Masuku. With political parties banned in Eswatini, Masuku and his family suffered persecution and reprisals from the regime of King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch. In 2009, he launched, with the late renowned human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the only law firm in the kingdom fully dedicated to public interest litigation against the kingdom’s repressive laws and pro-bono legal representation of ordinary Swazis facing violations of their fundamental rights or criminal prosecution by the state. Masuku is also a program manager with the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice, which promotes civic education on human and constitutional rights and democratic participation among rural populations. Despite threats, intimidation, the attempted assassination of a member of his team in December 2022 and the January 2023 assassination of Maseko, Masuku continues to champion the rights of detained individuals to a fair trial and advocate for nonviolent democratic reform.

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