>> you're watching al jazeera. a reminder of our top stories. donald trump's company and his finance chief are being prosecuted in new york for what's been described as a sweeping and ebay schist tax fraud. the trump organization denies scheming of avoiding paying taxes on benefits. we have more from new york. >>indictment. i read it through several times at this point. it's full of all sorts of allegations by the prosecutors

against not only andy weisel burke, but the trump organization as a whole. also survived -- all sorts of implications. it all comes down to fraud and avoiding paying taxes. >> rescue workers are resuming the search for survivors in florida a week after the champlain towers collapsed. earlier, president biden visited the site. he met with families of victims. at least 18 people are confirmed dead. the men in charge of securing coronavirus vaccines to africa has blasted europe for failing to deliver a single promise dose -- promised dose. less than 1% of the continent has been fully vaccinated. infections are overwhelming hospitals. celebrations on canada day have been muted in multiple rallies have been held express in solidarity with indigenous people coming after more than

1000 unmarked graves were discovered at former indigenous residential schools in recent weeks. the schools were run by the catholic church and funded by the government. a major supply route used to deliver much needed food to ethiopia's tigray region has been destroyed. it's not clear who destroyed the bridge would relief workers say it is a major setback. 2 million people have been displaced since fighting broke out last november. the government, declaring a unilateral cease-fire, once armed groups to lay down arms. the people's liberation front calls the cease-fire a joke. you can follow those stories on our website, al jazeera dot com. next, it's "inside story." stay with us. ♪

sami: protests for democracy in africa's last absolute monarchy. the king of eswatini spends lavishly, while most in his country live in poverty. will he listen to the calls for change? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, and welcome to the show. i am sami zeidan. eswatini is one of the world's last absolute monarchies. king mswati has ruled the kingdom, previously known as swaziland, for 35 years. but for the past week, the people have been defying curfews to demand democratic reforms.

they're angry at widespread poverty, while the king spends millions on private jets and luxury cars. opposition groups say soldiers have killed dozens of protesters, and the government has denied reports the king has fled to south africa. eswatini's regional allies are calling for political dialogue to calm the unrest. we will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report. reporter: anger and frustration in eswatini. crowds built barricades and burned tires, despite an overnight curfew, what the opposition is calling a tipping point for the nation. demonstrations like this are rare in the small landlocked country, formerly known as swaziland. but dissent has been simmering for years, much of it, focused on king mswati, africa's last absolute monarch, and one of the few remaining in the world. >> ladies and gentlemen, his

majesty, the king of swaziland. reporter: he was crowned in 1986, aged just 18, and has unfettered political power. he has 15 wives and has been criticized for his lavish spending, while most in eswatini live in poverty. >> we are the youth of swaziland, and we are so much depressed -- oppressed by the government. our government is not being fair. look at me. our government is not being fair. reporter: the protesters say they want democracy. political parties are banned. and even though people are allowed to vote for members of parliament, the opposition says they are not elections, more selections of people signed off by the king. >> as young people, we don't

want the king to be part of the government. and if you want to be part of the government, you must first be a citizen, like the rest of us, and go to work like every one of us. reporter: some shops in the two biggest cities have been looted, and others, set on fire. the military has been out to enforce a curfew, which the government says is to ensure the safety and security of residents. but the opposition says some protesters have been killed, and many others wounded. the acting prime minister says he is open to hearing the people's complaints, but demonstrating is not the way to do it. >> we are a nation that believes in dialogue. the government has opened an e-mail address, where individuals can continue to direct their concerns and petitions. reporter: for decades, king mswati has been portrayed as a deeply popular monarch. now, the government's been forced to deny reports he's fled

the country. his kingdom appears to be in crisis. ♪ sami: let's bring our guests into the show. joining us on the phone from eswatini is mlungisi makhanya, leader of the opposition pudemo party. in cape town, we have senior political and country risk analyst, menzi ndhlovu. he works at signal risk. and in london, christopher vandome, research fellow with the africa programme at chatham house. welcome to you all. if i could start with mlungisi first of all in eswatini, this is of course not the first time that we've had protests in eswatini. are the protests different this time around, though? >> indeed, the protests are quite different this time around. this time around, mswati is faced with a generation of young people, who have to take some

time to look at themselves and decide the future they want for the country. and they arrived at a point where it cannot be business as usual. and they've got to take a step, and a decisive step toward the final blow into the life of this evil regime. sami: menzi, it sounds from what mlungisi is saying, this is quite serious. how accurate are the reports that protesters are being shot dead? >> yeah, so, due to the closure of the internet and the restrictions to communications, the number of casualties can't be entirely verified. but what i'm hearing from my sources on the ground, some of them who are family members, they can confirm that there has been some violence that has been

enacted on the protesters by the army and by police personnel. this already is a trajectory, or a tendency that we have seen amongst eswatini police and security personnel throughout the reign of king mswati. this tendency to respond with coercion to any kind of dissidence and any kind of grievances that are being publicly aired by the civilian population. sami: christopher, it seems this time around, the protests have been initially sparked by the government decree banning any petition for democratic reform. what prompted them to issue such a decree? >> so, what prompted them to issue a decree to restrict them -- to restrict democratic reform, i think it comes out of

what's been bubbling up, following an incident earlier in may, involving students in eswatini. off the back of that, we've seen this growing rise in protests, so it's not just what's been happening in june. this has been growing for some time. i think what is important here is, to build on what mlungisi has been saying, is the real importance of the role of the youth in these protests. where we have seen protests in the past that have been organized by the tribe unions or others specifically targeted towards democratic reforms, but organized in a stricter way, these seem to be far freer protests. we are seeing people say things and seeing people do things that is a little bit unprecedented in eswatini. sami: my question is, if you are the government, why would you issue a decree to ban anyone even submitting a petition? why wouldn't you at least go

through the motions, accept the petition, and make the kind of statements it seems the government is now making, saying hey, we hear what you guys are saying, and we are looking into it, why issue such a decree? >> because i think exactly what your guest from cape town has been saying, which is that there is a clear m.o. for the government of eswatini throughout the last couple of decades, which is when they think -- when the pressure is starting to boil up, then they clamped down. -- then they clamp down. what's different here is they tried that approach, and they tried to get ahead of this, and they tried to issue that decree and they tried to quash it, but actually, what's going on here at the moment is different to what's happened in the past, and they haven't been able to quash it in the same way, and it's resulted in the violence on the streets that we've seen. sami: right, it does seem like things are escalating. mlungisi, our protestors still -- are protestors still calling simply for reform and and of corruption and so on, or are they now calling for a complete

end of the monarchy? >> the call from the protesters has indeed escalated to the issue that they want total abolishment of this monarch. to add to what chris was saying, what obviously is worsening the situation is the fact that the chief of the team has been leaving and posting on social media. very obscene opulence in the face of poverty for ordinary citizens. the people were reduced to spectators on social media, when they see the royal family. it arrived at a point where it became apparent to many young people that this is not just the royal family, but this is an institution of parasites that

lives off the sweat and blood of the ordinary citizens. there's also a lot that's been said to the effect of that mswati is a popular king among the people of swaziland. it has not always been true. they always make sure to clamp down on any form of organization. which explains why they took the decision to deliver the decree to suspend petitions. because people are getting organized. and everyone has always known that when swazis are organized, it will present a threat. sami: let me play devil's advocate here. we did reach out to the authorities in eswatini and invited a government official onto the show, but unfortunately we didn't hear back from them. however, let me try and play devil's advocate a little bit

here and present to you the government line. the authorities say they are simply applying law and order. this is not about suppressing people. this is not about squashing people. this is about establishing law and order. they want to prevent the country from descending into chaos. how do you respond to that? >> i wish i had provided for you the earlier images of what had happened when the people were delivering the petition. because there was never violence, when people were delivering petitions. the violence started after the government banned the delivery of petitions. and when the people insisted on defying that ban, to go on and deliver petitions. the police used brutal force, firing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets and sometimes real bullets on peaceful protesters whose only plan was

to deliver petitions. but also i think it is important to speak to the excuse that they used when banning the delivery of these petitions, which was the spread of the coronavirus. in the last two weeks, the king's keep has hosted parties. which were having huge audiences with friends. so it's not about people gathering. it is about denying the poor the opportunity to gather and express their frustrations about this oppressive regime. sami: menzi, why haven't we seen the king make any public appearance, making a statement, when the country is clearly being gripped by some serious turmoil? >> i think more than anything, it is anxiety. and it is unwillingness to come and step up and account for the actions of his government. and i think there might be an element of fear, an element of

concern. and he is trying to wait for the situation to simmer down. and for this whole operation of law in order to take its course. and i guess, in his hopes, to establish some degree of calm before he comes out and says, okay, i am here, let us negotiate a path forward. whether or not this will arise during these circumstances, that is still on the balance. historically, as mlungisi has noted, pro-democracy sentiments in eswatini are not something new. it's a sentiment folks have held for decades on end. and the monarchy has been able to write things out through a combination of stick and carrot mechanisms. in instances of unrest, there is a tendency by the monarchy to keep quiet, until things are in order. so, it is no surprise to us that

the king has kept silent, while his generals, while his police officials do the work, calm the population down, then when things are a little bit calmer, he will probably come out and speak up. sami: perhaps we should explain some of the political background to the story. eswatini is a monarchy where the king is above the law and has absolute political power, right? this is the political environment we are talking about. >> yes, so, in this case, back to the period in which eswatini, then swaziland, claimed its independence from the united kingdom, it was a protectorate. when that independence came under mr. mswati's father, there was a process of nationbuilding that involved a kind of strong cultural element of separating aside what is kind of typically eswatini, versus south africa and creating that divide of

trying to partition against what was then apartheid south africa and creating this very distinct and separate country. and so, the king's authority as an absolute monarch has been partly built upon this building of a culture -- a cultural identity for the country and his place within it. so there has been some form of democracy within the system. the king has a form of democracy under the system. where you have people appointed, you have some elections, but it is largely a selection process, but it's still under the control of the king himself. now, whether there have been protests or pressures before, including or especially around election times, and from international corners around election times, this has forced,

at times, a reaction from the king. for example, the head of the -- ahead of the 2013 elections is when he coined this term, "monarchical democracy," as a way of categorizing the political system in eswatini. sami: right. let me bring mlungisi in on this point that christopher was talking about. the degree of the political process. political parties were banned in 1973. so how do political parties like yours operate? >> thank you very much. political parties were banned to a degree. -- by a decree. the fact that i come from and i -- the party that i come from and i lead, pudemo, does not fall among the parties that were banned. a step was taken by the king on

pudemo in 2008. it is a criminal offense to belong to pudemo or being seen wearing anything relating to pudemo. because for the longest time, pudemo was the only active political weapon in the hands of the democracy of the people of swaziland. and it was for that reason that when the king realized that the most effective way of shutting them up is to put this label of terrorism on them, effectively banning pudemo. sami: so avenues are being blocked. let's talk a little bit about economics. menzi, to what extent is economic hardship driving the discontent? some estimates put poverty above 60% and unemployment, depending on how you measure it, at 40%. -- unemployment, depending on how you measure it, at 40%.

>> absolutely. i think we can't discount the importance of economic fact as being a key driver of the unrest at the moment. we have seen the swazi state struggle to pay its workers. and that's led to a whole class of protests that occurred prior to this unrest that we see. the state has struggled to pay teachers. the state has struggled to deliver services, all the while, as mlungisi mentioned, the king and his close circles have been living opulent lives. sami: menzi, can you correlate the strike action? >> i think in a sense, yes. i think there's a degree of coordination, or at least a confluence of demands. previously, what we saw from outside was the strike action was relatively disparate, but when the prime minister issued a decree on the 24th of may, there seemed to be a coming together of forces. at the same time, i think it is important to bear in mind that pro-democracy sentiments have been simmering in eswatini

for a while now. and i think that the 24th of may decree was, so to speak, the straw that broke the camel's back. then there's a whole coronavirus -- the whole coronavirus pandemic. which has exacerbated concerns in eswatini, all the while, the king and his brethren and his close circles have been living opulently. and the state also received various channels of funding, for instance. they have yet to account for the funding received from the imf. and all this -- sami: that is building up in the public psyche, no doubt. let's bring in mlungisi. we've just got a few minutes. we've heard opposition figures calling for south africa to impose sanctions. is that where the opposition is going? is it counting on pressure from regional actors and international actors now? >> indeed. we are calling for decisive

pressures from regional and international players. we are calling for targeted sanctions. against the king and his close associates, who are responsible. the king has been taking irresponsible loans. because the coffers of the nation are empty. we are calling on the international community. more than anything, we are calling for criminal charges to be pressed against the king and his government, because of all that's been committed during this uprising, a lot of people have died, yes. the international community will be shocked by the figure

of the people who have been killed randomly by swazi soldiers during the protests. sami: christopher, 90% of eswatini's imports come from south africa. the country relies, eswatini, on aid and assistance from countries like the u.s. how do you read the mood right now in regional and international areas toward eswatini? >> when we wrote our report, now eight years ago, we called it swaziland, southern africa's forgotten crisis, for exactly this reason, this has been bubbling for a long time. we were trying to garner international attention on it. because the international capital says this is not high up on the agenda. what's really interesting at the moment is two things, one, this

is a situation that's come out of the fact that the money that's been going into eswatini has not been used to deliver the development. citizens are seeing what's going on elsewhere and not feeling the benefits of development in the country. that points to one person, which is the monarchy. the relationship with south africa has always been very complex, for multiple reasons. pudemo has a relationship with the system and aligns in south africa. the former president, zuma, has his own personal relationship with the king. they have long been looking at the country. in 2013 made recommendations to government that this needs to be something to be dealt with. but i don't think it's been clear within south africa what they have, in terms of diplomatic resources to be able to engage. there's not been a clear,

cohesive effort. sami: i want to get the last minute to manzi, we heard at the beginning of the show the protesters want the monarchy to go. christopher's outlined for us with the mood is with regional and international actors. where do you think it's going to end? will the monarchy topple? >> i think history warns us against having great expectations, when events like this occur. as much as they might be a massive call for change, it doesn't mean it will occur. and we have seen the monarchy adapt itself to varying circumstances. i would curb my enthusiasm and i would expect there to be some kind of political process that leaves the monarchy intact somewhat, but perhaps with some greater allowances for political activity by the opposition and by civil society at large. sami: all right.

it's been a fascinating discussion. i'm sure we could go on a lot longer, but i'm afraid we are out of time, so let's thank our guests for their wonderful contributions, mlungisi makhanya, menzi ndhlovu, and christopher vandome. and thank you, too, for watching. you can see the show again any time by visiting our website, aljazeera.com. for further discussion, head over to our facebook page. that's facebook.com/ajinsidestory. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle there is @ajinsidestory. from me, sami zeidan, and the whole "inside story" team here, thanks for joining us. ♪ c?c?c?c?aew■x.ççççñçñçñ

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