IT’S ONLY IN SWAZILAND THAT ...

I find it very heartening that no matter how many lies Swaziland’s ruling elite tell about life in the kingdom, ordinary people continue to speak the truth.

The Swazi Government claims that people in Swaziland are united behind King Mswati III and the kingdom’s ‘unique democracy’ (no political parties, no real power in parliament, the king makes all the import decisions and so on).

But we know the reality. Political oppression, widespread corruption (King Mswati has a wealth of E1.4 billion - 200 million US dollars – while 70 per cent of ordinary Swazis earn less than E7 a day), more than 60 percent of the population needing foreign food aid to fend off starvation and massive preventable disease.

This letter to the editor published in the Swazi News today (7 February 2009) sums up conditions in Swaziland very well.

In the present climate of political oppression and with those prepared to speak the truth threatened with up to 20 years jail time we should applaud the Swazi News for having the courage to publish this letter.

It’s only in Swaziland that…

Sir,

This is the last absolute monarch standing, with no political parties allowed to contest political power. In short, this is the last country to believe and make believe that its citizens are single-minded. This in itself exerts much pressure on the regime. Having a government with no opposition, a lot of people take the advantage to swindle much of the state resources to their pockets, and a lot of rot is taking place in the government engine and its departments.

On the side more than 60 percent of the population is destroyed by absolute poverty, with no source of food and other basic human needs. It is only in Swaziland where you find a doctor or nurse, who is still practising, running a mortuary.

It is only in Swaziland where there are two systems of governance, one guided by the constitution and weak, whilst the other operates outside the constitution and is so powerful that it decides every citizen’s fate.

Idea

It is only in Swaziland where you find a government official supplying the same government with goods from his/her own company. It is only in Swaziland where the regulator doubles as a player in the same market. It is only in Swaziland where citizens are restricted to acquire passports; many Swazis never own passports for the rest of their lives.

It is only in Swaziland where one needs not to have the slightest idea of politics to get to Parliament/Cabinet but allegiance to the leaders. It is only is Swaziland where more than 80 percent of the citizens, who are actually referred to as subjects, have no ownership to a piece of land, even that one which they have occupied from birth.

It is only in Swaziland where the government is seriously campaigning to be recognised as a poor country instead of a middle income country simply because we want to benefit from International Aid aimed for real poor countries.

Again, it is only in Swaziland where the corrupt are rewarded with higher positions.

All these and many others unmentioned here make Swaziland unique from other states, albeit for the wrong reasons. As long as the above-mentioned conditions hold for Swaziland, there will be no positive change in the state of our economy, except to worsen.

Umsumpe flyeagle.wings