People
have died of hunger in Swaziland because the Swazi Government has failed to
deliver food to drought-stricken areas, a member of the House of Assembly has
said.
James
Simelane, Member of Parliament for Sandleni Constituency in the Shiselweni
region, was reported in the Swazi
Observer newspaper saying people had started dying of hunger in his constituency.
The Observer reported
on Friday (15 July 2016) that he said, ‘We have started burying people who are
dying of hunger. It’s just that each time a community member dies, there is
always a disease that is associated with the death when in fact the disease
itself has been accelerated by the hunger.’
The
newspaper reported him saying there had been no agricultural activity at all in
his constituency for two ploughing seasons.
Simelane
reportedly said that government trucks carrying bags of food drove past his
Sandleni Constituency to Shiselweni 1 and other nearby constituencies, while
his electorate ‘watched in utter amazement and disgust’.
The
newspaper reported, ‘He said some of the residents in the various communities
under his constituency were now suspecting that he was the one behind
government’s failure or refusal to distribute food in the constituency.’
He said
his people could not understand why others were receiving food and they were
not.
Simelane
reportedly said his constituents thought the Swazi Government would suspend
some of its projects to channel the funds to the fight for hunger but that was
unfortunately not happening.
The news
of the deaths comes just as it was revealed that King Mswati III, who rules
Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was about to take
delivery f a 375-seater private jet at a cost of about US$14 million.
As of the end of May 2016, UNICEF – the United Nations
Children’s Fund – estimated 300,320 people in total in Swaziland were affected
by drought of which 189,000 were children. It estimated that 165,000 children
affected were by drought in the two most affected regions of Lubombo and
Shiselweni.
A total of 200,897 people were food insecure, of which
90,404 were children. Of these, 8,460 children aged 6 to 59 months were
affected by ‘severe and moderate acute malnutrition’.
Meanwhile, the Swazi Government has released
only E22 million (US$1.5 million) of the E305 million earmarked for drought
relief in this year’s national budget. The Observer newspaper reported on Monday (11 July 2016) that the Deputy Prime Minister Paul
Dlamini announced this to the House of Assembly.
The newspaper reported he ‘failed
to explain the reasons behind government’s failure to purchase and distribute
food to the affected communities’.
See also
NO FUNDS
TO PROTECT DROUGHT KIDS
KING BUYS
JET AS UN BAILS KINGDOM OUT
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