HARARE – Tanele Maseko, wife to slain Eswatini human rights defender and lawyer Thulani Maseko, has bemoaned alleged failure by Zimbabwe and Eswatini judiciaries to protect opposition politician Job Sikhala and her late husband who have taken horrendous abuse from the neighbouring countries’ rulers.
Tanele was speaking in Harare recently during the launch of the report, “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied (Persecution by Prosecution)” authored by human rights defenders focusing on how Sikhala remains in prison even if he has not been convicted.
The event, held at SAPES Trust in Harare, was organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.
“I come from Swaziland (Eswatini) where we don’t have political parties, we live with an absolute monarch,” Tanele said.
“Zimbabwe has a vibrant constitution, a proper constitution. Where I then have a problem is the fact that we all have these constitutions, we all claim to have judiciaries, but my question is that, are these judiciaries independent?”
Tanele’s husband, once imprisoned for two years over his rights work, was gunned down in her eyes and the couple’s young children January this year by assassins suspected to be linked to the Eswatini monarch.
She added, “Do they serve our interests as the general public because here we have Ma (Mrs) Sikhala’s issue?
“Honourable Sikhala is an ordinary lawyer, who is servicing ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe but once he speaks out, he is arrested.
“Does this constitution that is vibrant serve Ma Sikhala and her family?”
Sikhala has been under pre-trial detention since his arrest 14 June last year charged with inciting violence in the wake of slain CCC activist Moreblessing Ali’s death.
