Eswatini - September 2024

Exiled opposition leader poisoned in alleged assassination attempt

On 24 September, Mlungisi Makhanya, the leader of Eswatini’s main opposition party, the People’s United Democratic Opposition Movement (PODEMO), was found poisoned in his South African home, following what his party and others allege was an attempted assassination by an agent of Eswatini’s government. PODEMO said that Makhanya had been hospitalised after ingesting a ‘pesticide poison’ and described his condition on 25 September as being stable but critical. They noted that the poisoning came shortly after their leader had announced pro-democracy protests planned for October. Makhanya has been living in exile in South Africa after his house in Eswatini was set on fire in September 2022 in an alleged attack by government agents. Eswatini’s government denied any involvement in the poisoning.