Eswatini opposition leader in critical condition after alleged poisoning

The Eswatini government said Mlungisi Makhanya was ‘not wanted’ there but it was ‘not our policy to kill or poison people who hold a different political view’. Photograph: Pudemo

The leader of Eswatini’s main opposition party is in a critical but stable condition after allegedly being poisoned in what allies say is an assassination attempt.

Mlungisi Makhanya is in a hospital in South Africa after the alleged poisoning on Monday night at his home in the capital, Pretoria, where he was living in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy, said Penuel Malinga, the secretary general of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo).