Kenworthy News Media, 16 September
2018
A new Amnesty International report focuses on
forced evictions of poor farmers in Swaziland carried out by local police. Land
and forced evictions are central to Swaziland’s undemocratic system, says an
activist who grew up in Swaziland’s rural areas, writes Kenworthy
News Media.
“Land is life”, a new Amnesty
International report on forced evictions in Swaziland called
“They don’t see us as people” declares. This is to be taken very literally in
the small absolute monarchy, as “the majority of the population rely on
substance farming” to feed themselves.
The forced evictions are a
symptom of “a deeper, underlying problem” as they violate international and
regional human rights law, Amnesty International clearly states in the report.
But the issue of land is also central to the power of Swaziland’s absolute
monarch.
“The discussion about land
ownership in Swaziland has been suppressed for too long. The evictions in
Swaziland are not just a legal limitation but are central to the country’s
undemocratic and irresponsible political system”, says activist Bheki Dlamini.
Dlamini has a degree in
Public Administration from Bergen University, but grew up in Mpofu in the rural
areas of Northern Swaziland.
Unlawful evictions
The Amnesty International report focuses on two cases of forced eviction, both of which are unlawful and constitute a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing, according to the organisation.
In the Malkerns, 60 people,
33 of them children, were evicted without warning in April. They had been
living on the land since 1956, they told Amnesty International.
And in Nokwane, 180 people
were evicted and their homes demolished to make way for the Royal Science and
Technology Park in October 2014.
According to the report,
the government had “failed to provide essential services to those affected by
the forced eviction: food, potable water and sanitation, basic shelter and
housing, appropriate clothing or means of livelihood” in Nokwane.
“They don’t see us as
people. They left us out in the open like we were animals or something to be
thrown away”, a women who had been evicted in Nokwane told Amnesty
International.
More to come
Swaziland’s government believe they have done nothing wrong and are planning further forced evictions, even though Amnesty International recommends that they stop the evictions until legal safeguards are in place that ensure that all evictions comply with international law.
According to Amnesty
International at least three other communities are facing imminent eviction
later in 2018.
In a written response to a
letter from Amnesty International Swaziland’s Ministry of Information claims
that those evicted were squatters and that the evictions were “legal and procedurally
correct and sanctioned by the court of the land”.
Land reform and democracy
According to Bheki Dlamini,
the problematic nature of land ownership in Swaziland has its roots in the
colonial era and the power of the monarchy that followed it.
The Land Partition Act of
1907 gave most of the arable land to white settlers. And after Swaziland’s
independence from Britain in 1968, most of the land became so-called “Swazi
National Land” that is administered under unwritten customary law and thus controlled
by the king.
“The confusion about land
ownership is deep in Swaziland. The Amnesty International report alludes to the
fact that despite those who were evicted from their land having taken the
matter to court to seek redress, the courts could not protect their rights”,
Dlamini says.
He believes that land is
central to the power of the monarchy, and that questioning land management is
seen as a challenge to the powers of the monarchy.
“Land reform in Swaziland
therefore cannot be fully addressed until a free and democratic political
dispensation is in place”, Bheki Dlamini concludes.
See also
Evictions:
Amnesty Calls For Support
Bulldozers
Move in to Evict Families
Court
Orders Homes Destroyed
Homes
Destroyed For King’s Vanity Project
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/homes-destroyed-for-kings-vanity.html
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