SADC

A flood of shocked, sometimes angry, sometimes despairing, often challenging, responses has followed the murder of Eswatini human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko, last weekend. From embassies to human rights defenders in remote parts of the continent, all have paid tribute to this extraordinary man and his dedication to the task of ensuring justice and democracy for the people of his home country.

The International Commission of Jurists has brought out a briefing paper on access to Covid-19 vaccines in the Southern Africa Development Community states. The report is called, ‘The Unvaccinated: Equality not Charity in Southern Africa’. It finds a collective failure to ensure access to vaccines even though more than 60 000 people have died due to the virus and the lives of countless others have been affected. The failure was caused by a number of factors, according to the report.

Relatives of people murdered allegedly on the orders of prominent politicians in Lesotho have gone to court to challenge a new agreement brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Under this agreement, all parties have been urged to join talks on the way forward for the country, and those now in exile out of fear of being charged with murder and other crimes, have been assured no action would be taken against them if they returned for the talks.