Swaziland / Eswatini is so broke that pensions for the
elderly are not being paid. State-controlled
radio has been broadcasting the news over the past few days.
It is another example of how the kingdom ruled by King
Mswati III has been mismanaged. The pensions for people aged 60 and over, known
locally as elderly grants, are for E400 (US$30) per month.
About 70,000 people receive the grants which often are
the only income a family has.
A year ago it
was reported more than
80 percent of women aged 60 and over and 70 percent of men in Swaziland lived
in poverty. The figures were contained in the National Strategy and Action Plan
to End Violence in Swaziland: 2017 to 2022.
About seven in ten of Swaziland’s 1.1 million population live in abject
poverty defined as having incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day. The
report said poverty among people aged 60 or over was highest compared to other
age groups.
News that elderly grants cannot be paid comes as the
new government in Swaziland announced ‘cost-saving’ measures. At a press
conference on Thursday (22 November 2018) Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini
announced that senior government officials would no longer fly first class when
they travelled abroad on official business. In future they would go by business
class.
He also shelved a plan to buy new top-of-the-range vehicles
for himself and the Deputy Prime Minister. Cars recently rented for the use of
Cabinet ministers will be returned.
Swaziland is broke and as of 30 June 2018 owed a total of E12.9
billion, the equivalent of 20.8 percent of the kingdom’s GDP. Of that
nearly E3 billion is owed to suppliers of goods and services.
Hospitals and health centres across Swaziland have run
out of medicines, including vaccines against polio and tuberculosis, because
drug suppliers had not been paid.
In June 2018 it was reported that children
collapsed with hunger in their school because the government had
not paid for food for them. The kingdom had previously been warned to expect
children to starve because the government had not paid its
suppliers for the food that is distributed free of charge at schools. The
shortage was reported to be widespread across the kingdom.
Meanwhile, King Mswati III who rules Swaziland as one
of the world’s last absolute monarchs, wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th
birthday party in April. Days earlier he took delivery of his second private
jet, a A340 Airbus, that after VIP upgrades
reportedly cost US$30 million. He received E15 million
(US$1.2 million) in cheques, a
gold dining room suite and a gold
lounge suite among his birthday gifts. He now has two private
planes, 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars.
See also
Swazi
Govt fails to pay elderly grants
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