THE Communist Party of Swaziland has called on the youth of African nations to mobilise following accusations that soldiers viciously assaulted a student leader.

Swaziland National Union of Students president Colani Maseko was reportedly seen being attacked by members of the armed forces during a campus protest demanding free education on Monday. 

He was allegedly dragged into the back of an army vehicle in the Kwaluseni campus of the University of Swaziland where he was badly beaten. 

A further assault took place near a river beside one of autocratic ruler King Mswati III’s palaces. Mr Maseko was dumped at the Sigodvweni police station in Matsapha where it was reported he was denied access to medical treatment. 

It is not the first time the student leader has been targeted by the authorities. In January he was detained on what were described as “politically motivated charges” and was accused of sedition and malicious damage to property.

Mr Maseko’s arrest triggered mass protests while Amnesty International called for his immediate release and an end to the brutal crackdown on political activists and human rights defenders.

The CPS condemned the latest attack on students who have played a leading role in the movement for democracy in Swaziland. 

“The regime is desperate to cling to power as it continues to resort to extreme violence in its bid to stop the democracy wave,” general secretary Kenneth Kunene said. 

“In its attempts to stop the democracy wave, the regime has primarily focused on working-class youth and students, the most resolute in the Democracy Now campaign, abducting and brutalising them.”

The communists have called for a boycott of what it views as sham elections.