As tension prevails, relatives mourn Eswatini crackdown victims

Africa’s last absolute monarchy has for days been rocked by the largest pro-democracy protests in years.

Khohliwe Mathunjwa is in mourning. She is also stuck. Her nephew, 35-year-old Sicelo Mathunjwa, was shot in the head on Tuesday evening when police in Eswatini dispersed crowds with gunfire in Matsapha, a small industrial hub about 35km (21 miles) from the capital, Mbabane. “Sicelo is dead, he died on the spot,” Mathunjwa told Al Jazeera, saying she cannot leave her village of Mazombiswe to head to her nephew’s village of Hosea, some 30km (18 miles) away, and pay her finals respects due to the tensions in the small landlocked country formerly known as Swaziland.