JOHANNESBURG – The South African Communist Party (SACP)’s central committee said recent elections in both Zimbabwe and Eswatini can’t be described as free and fair.
This is in spite of President Cyril Ramaphosa seemingly endorsing Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mngagwa’s re-election by attending his inauguration.
The party – which held its central committee meeting over the weekend – said the Zimbabwean polls took place under toxic domestic and international conditions, including continued sanctions against it.
Zimbabweans held their elections in August while Eswatini voted last month.
While observer missions felt Zimbabwe’s polls fell short of the free and fair elections standards, the African Union and South African Development Community approved of Eswatini’s elections.
Swaziland is an absolute monarchy with attempts to bring about democracy often being shot down.
The SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said South Africa needs to intervene in Eswatini.
“There’s no democracy in Swaziland, whether those elections were credible doesn’t even arise, resources to go observe elections in Swaziland is a waste of resources until political parties are unbanned until there’s freedom of association.”
Post published in: Africa News