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Unknown gunmen kill popular Eswatini rights activist hours after altercation with King

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A prominent human rights activist and opposition politician in Eswatini, Thulani Maseko, was on Saturday, killed by unknown gunmen at his home, hours after the country’s King Mswati III challenged the country’s activists opposed to his rule.

Maseko, a lawyer, was shot dead in the night by the attackers at his home in Luhleko, about 50km (30 miles) from the capital Mbabane, Sikelela Dlamini, the spokesman for the opposition MultiStakeholder Forum (MSF), founded by Maseko, told journalists on Monday.

Dlamini said he was informed that the assassins shot Maseko through the window while he was inside the house with his family.

“Details are still scant and, owing to the trauma his family members are undergoing, they are not yet ready to speak,” Dlamini added.

Until his assassination, Maseko was a leading human rights lawyer and columnist in Eswatini who had a pending court battle with King Mswati over the monarch’s decision to rename the country Eswatini by decree in 2018.

King Mswati who is Africa’s remaining absolute monarchy had changed the country’s name from Swaziland to Eswatini to mark the 50th anniversary of its independence from Britain, an action which has continued to draw opposition and litigations since then.

Maseko’s position was that the king had not followed the constitution in the process.

King Mswati, who has ruled since 1986, is regularly accused of human rights violations. The king, who can dissolve parliament, and government and appoint or dismiss judges, also commands the police and army.

Last week, the the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) accused the king of hiring mercenaries, mainly white Afrikaners from neighbouring South Africa, to help Eswatini’s security forces suppress rising opposition to his regime.

In response, King Mswati was quoted as saying:

“People should not shed tears and complain about mercenaries killing them,” King Mswati had said.

“These people started the violence first but when the state institutes a crackdown on them for their actions, they make a lot of noise blaming King Mswati for bringing in mercenaries,” he added.

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Metro

65% of Nigerian households lack money for healthy food—Survey

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A survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that around 65% of Nigerian households, which is about two-thirds of the population, lack the financial means to eat healthy food.

According to the survey by the agency, the decline is a reflection of the multidimensional poverty in the country and the impact of continuous reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians due to rising prices of goods and services.

And as a result, two-thirds of households in the country lack money to eat healthy, nutritious food, the NBS said.

Titled “Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024),” the survey examined demographics, education, and health trends in Nigeria, comparing data from Wave 4 (2018/19) and Wave 5 (2023/24).

On food insecurity, the survey stated:

“Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should.”

It added that between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 percent to 62.4 percent.

On access to energy, the survey revealed said:

“82.2 percent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas. Nigerian households face an average of 6.7 power blackouts weekly.

“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 percent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.

“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 percent of households using bushes or streets,” it added.

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Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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