The Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini was reported by one local newspaper saying 200,000 people would be ‘starving’ by then.
That amounts to about one sixth of the 1.2 million population
of Swaziland.
A different newspaper reported Dlamini giving a
higher figure of ‘about 300,000 people’ in need of food aid by April 2016.
Swaziland
is ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political
parties cannot contest elections and the King chooses the Prime Minister and
Cabinet ministers.
Media
in Swaziland reported that members of the Swaziland House of Assembly gave
the Deputy Prime Minister 24 hours to report on where he would find money to tackle
the crisis.
The
Times of Swaziland, the only
independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported
on Thursday (10 December 2015) that the ultimatum came after the Swazi
Government ‘confirmed
that it does not have a budget to feed the thousands of people affected by the
drought brought about by El Nino’.
The Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported Dlamini
saying the figure requiring food aid would rise to 200,000 by March 2015. The Observer added, ‘Dlamini stated that
statistics had revealed that next year 200,000 people would be starving.’
The Times reported, ‘Dlamini said their
predictions showed that by March and April, about ‘300,000 people would be in
need of food aid’.
The Observer reported, ‘The deputy prime minister
stated that unfortunately government would not be able to help the affected
people due to financial constraints.’
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