The cold-blooded murder of world-renowned human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) has raised the stakes on the country’s tortuous path to democracy in Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

In death, Maseko has aroused the nation’s conscience in agitating for a culture of respect for human rights, while shining a spotlight on the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) ability to put out the flames of political conflict and mudslinging between the state and the opposition.

The assassination of the human rights defender also exposed how the state and the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) use the issue of the right to free expression as a shield to justify their diametrically opposed positions on the way forward to bring democracy to the country.