SWAZILAND IS ON ITS KNEES

A remarkable ‘open letter’ published in both the Swazi Observer and Times of Swaziland should spark the most important debate in Swaziland for a generation.

Swaziland is on its knees and the kingdom’s ability to stand and face adversity is slowly being eaten away. ‘HIV, death, disease and poverty have sapped the very strength required to overcome these challenges.’ These are the words of Derek Von Wissell, director of the National Emergency Response to HIV AIDS, published in the two newspapers on Monday (1 October 2007).

Von Wissell identified a kingdom in which 23 per cent of children aged under 18 years are orphans. ‘Poverty is pervasive and hunger is accepted with resignation.’

‘The economy is just as devastated. There is little economic growth and employment has been static for years’, he writes.

Von Wissell has opened a debate that few in Swaziland have dared to tackle before. Swaziland is simply dying and no one has a way of stopping this happening.

A tiny majority are bleeding the kingdom dry at the expense of the majority. ‘More than 60 per cent of the country’s wealth is in the hands of only 20 per cent of the people, while the poorest 20 per cent own only two percent of the wealth,’ he writes.

What makes Von Wissell’s article different from others you can read in the Swazi press is that he goes beyond simply describing the endemic corruption and the poverty in Swaziland. He offers concrete solutions.

He writes, ‘We must develop a prioritised and costed five-year poverty alleviation action plan. This includes taking a hard look at our resources and reprioritising our own spending. We must seek out donors and financiers for support. We must set performance targets and account for the results to the nation.

‘With the planting season upon us, the nation could buy 100 tractors and implements to plough and plant every available field with appropriate crops. Give people tools to look after these crops and pay them a salary to work the fields – even if the fields are their own. People need assistance to survive to the next harvest.
- Buy 20,000 quality goats and give them away to people with appropriate grazing.
- Buy 500,000 indigenous chickens and restock households.
- Give a diary cow to 5,000 households.
- Buy 50,000 fruit trees for those who want them.
- Build small dams and install 1,000 micro irrigation projects to plant vegetables.
- Invite the private sector to join government and assist wherever it can.

‘These ideas and others like them are designed to put back into the hands of the community. These are not handouts, these are assets that families can use to build upon.’

The total cost for the Von Wissell plan would be E100 million (14.5 million US dollars), a fraction of the cost of one highway bypass or one airport.

The plan is a vision and the challenge to the Swazi media now is to facilitate the debate that could lead to real action aimed at saving Swaziland from destruction. Von Wissell who has a clearly articulated proposition has started the debate. Now is the time for media folk, politicians, civil society and other interested parties to get onboard.

I hope it will happen, but I am not optimistic. In the same edition of the Times that carried Von Wissell’s ‘open letter’ there was a short report on the Prime Minister Themba Dlamini’s suggestion to tackle poverty and HIV in Swaziland. His solution: ‘Pray to God.’

The Times reports, ‘The Prime Minister said government could do everything to try to reduce the problems facing the country but if assistance from above was not sought there would be no changes.’

The Times quotes the prime minister saying, ‘Without God there is nowhere we can go. We all have to ask God to lead us at all times’.

No, Mr Prime Minister, Swaziland needs ploughs, not prayers.

Let the debate begin.