WeeklySA_AdminUS DEPORTEES: Pressure mounts for the secretive deal between the kingdom and the Trump administration to be made public and be scrutinised by Parliament…
By Monk Nkomo and Own Correspondent
The agreement between the United States and eSwatini government over the deportation of five foreign dangerous criminals to the mountain kingdom, was unconstitutional and invalid and was also an example of Global North countries exploiting African States for political purposes.
This is the view of human rights organizations who have filed an urgent application in the eSwatini High Court challenging the secretive deal’s validity arguing that whatever agreement existed between the Kingdom of eSwatini and the United States, must be public and be scrutinised by parliament.
The applicants included eSwatini Litigation Centre, Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly, Mzwandile Masuku and Melusi Simelane, civic rights cluster leader of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre. They also argued that the agreement violated the eSwatini Constitution by lacking parliamentary ratification and participation.
‘’ The application was a signal to the world that African countries would no longer act as dumping grounds for the Global North’s unresolved issues’’, the human rights organizations said in a statement.
The Donald Trump administration sent five hardened criminals from Jamaica, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos and Yemen to eSwatini last month in a practice of the so-called third-country deportations after the US Supreme Court rubber-stamped the practice in June this year. The five deportees have criminal records which included convictions for murder, child rape and homicide. The criminals have been imprisoned at the maximum Matsapa security prison in eSwatini.
The Eswatini government has since confirmed the arrival of the five criminals on July 16 and confirmed that they had been detained, claiming that they presented no threat to the people of Eswatini. The government has however, declined to disclose the terms of the agreement, other than to say the United States was covering the costs of keeping the men imprisoned.
The applicants submitted that the terms of the high level agreement were concealed and had been implemented without public participation and the ratification of Parliament, thereby constituting a violation of provisions including section 238 of the eSwatini Constitution.
‘’ The circumstances under which this agreement has been concluded raises serious concerns about executive overreach, human rights and national security,’’ the human rights organisations said in a statement.
Although they had given notice to challenge the urgent high court application, the respondents, who included the eSwatini Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, the Attorney-General, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Correctional Services Commissioner, failed, together with their lawyers, to turn up in court on Friday. They also did not file response papers.
Eswatini’s Attorney- General, Sifiso Khumalo has been quoted by Reuters saying the application had no basis as it was a frivolous legal application.
The applicants submitted that the agreement between the US and eSwatini government posed the risk of ‘’ negating international relations’’ with other countries.
An agreement to accept nationals from third countries who had no ties to eSwatini , risked their international relations with neighbouring countries and the countries from which these five nationals were citizens. The agreement further risked the best interests of eSwatini and their commitments under international law.
They noted that South Africa had raised concerns about this agreement and its potential security risks to the country. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation was deeply concerned about the profiles of the five deportees and the potential adverse impact on South Africa’s national security and immigration policy, given the geographical proximity between eSwatini and South Africa.
SA presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya recently briefed the media saying engagements with the Eswatini government on the matter were continuing and the eSwatini authorities had undertaken to ensure that none of the five deportees escaped their care and fled to South Africa.
The human rights organisations in eSwatini lashed at the United States over the deportations. ‘’ Powerful nations like the US increasingly outsource contentious policies such as third-country deportations to less powerful States, often through opaque arrangements that exploit economic vulnerabilities and bypass democratic safeguards.’’
The Trump administration was reported as also aiming to deport hundreds of immigrants who had entered the United States illegally and they had sought to remove them to third countries.
Shortly after the case was postponed to August 25 in the eSwatini High Court on Friday, the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, confirmed that the respondents failed to appear in court.
‘’ While the State submitted a notice to oppose this case, arguing, among others, that the applicants lack the legal standing to challenge the legality of agreements between the executive branch and a foreign nation, their legal representatives did not appear before the High Court.
‘’ We are extremely disappointed that the matter had been postponed and we are concerned that the State has continued to fail to take citizens into its confidence in relation to the nature of the agreement it entered into with the United States”, Zakithi Sibandze, coordinator of the Rural Women’s Assembly movement said.
The applicants and their legal representatives are expected back in court again on August 25.
They will be represented by human rights lawyers, Mhlengi Mabuza and Mzwandile Masuku of Mkhabela Attorneys supported by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre. – Additional reporting by Genocide Watch
