Masuku (69) died at a government hospital on Monday due to Covid-19 coronavirus complications.
He was diabetic, a condition that Makhanya alleged Masuku had developed as he spent a cumulative seven years in the kingdom’s prisons from the 1990s, because of his fight for democracy. He was charged with treason.
The former Pudemo president had retired from active politics in 2017 due to ill-health following persecutions and jail stints at the hands of Eswatini King Mswati III’s regime.
As part of remembering this great giant, Popcru will continue intensifying its solidarity work with its sister organisations across the SADC region and beyond.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply saddened by the passing of a gallant and revolutionary leader of our time, Comrade Mario ‘Bhambatha’ Masuku. Comrade Masuku lowered his flag as the long-standing President of the banned political entity, the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), after serving the movement for over 22 years. Masuku passed away on the 11th of January 2021, at the age of 70. Former President Mario Masuku played an outstanding role in the evolution of the people’s revolution for democracy and social justice in Swaziland, and he is amongst the key figures that contributed immensely to the growth and development of PUDEMO. He led PUDEMO from the underground between 1983 and 1990, actively building an organ of political consciousness in advancing the people’s struggle. Part of his contribution to PUDEMO was building mass democratic underground structures.
The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] has learned with great sadness, the passing of Comrade Mario Masuku, the long serving President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO). Comrade Mario Masuku is known to be an outstanding, fearless and relentless activist, an intellectual and a leader par excellence. Comrade Mario Masuku was the founder of the Swaziland Union of Financial and Allied Workers (SUFIAW), an affiliate of Swaziland’s largest trade union federation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). He was a committed and rare working-class activist at all times, leading from the front during difficult times.
#Coronavirus: Eswatini PM Ambrose Dlamini dies ofm.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ofm.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
âââ 06:50 Mon, 14 Dec 2020 Ambrose Dlamini. Image: Getty
The prime minister of Eswatini, Africa s last absolute monarchy - formerly known as Swaziland - died in a South African hospital on Sunday after contracting coronavirus, the government said in a statement.
Ambrose Dlamini, 52, had been hospitalised in South Africa in early December, two weeks after testing positive for Covid-19. Their Majesties have commanded that I inform the nation of the sad and untimely passing away of His Excellency the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said.
The prime minister passed on this afternoon while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa, he added, without detailing the cause of Dlamini s death.