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Thursday 27 June 2019

Swaziland public servants talk of working three-day week as wages dispute drags on

Public servants in Swaziland / eSwatini are threatening to work only three days a week in the latest move in a two-year-old pay dispute.

They want a 14.4 percent cost of living increase but the government of absolute monarch King Mswati III has said it cannot afford to pay anything.

Public service unions marched on government on Wednesday (26 June 2019) to deliver a petition. 

After the march the Times of Swaziland reported union negotiators said if the government did not meet their pay claim by July, public servants would only work three days a week in future. 

It reported, ‘Their argument was that as it was, they were working five days per week but received a salary equivalent to three days, based on the erosion by inflation rate in the past two financial years.’
Negotiations are due to continue between unions and government next Wednesday.

Four public service unions have joined forces in the negotiation; they are the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) and the Swaziland Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP).

Ahead of the march, SNAT said the government claimed it had no money but continued to spend on ‘national celebrations that do not feed into the developmental agenda for the country’. These included the King’s Birthday. It said, ‘Millions of Emalangeni were spent in these vanity activities and yet the middle class and the poor continued to live in abject poverty. With 70 percent of the population living in rural areas and 63 percent of the population living below the bread-line, it spells doom for Swaziland.’

See also

Industrial Court stops Swaziland public servants strike at last minute
Swaziland absolute monarch gets millions in cash as birthday gifts while people die through lack of medicine

Wednesday 26 June 2019

Swaziland with world’s worst HIV rate only has four months’ ARV supplies

Swaziland / eSwatini which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world has only four months stock of life-saving ARV drugs, as the health system in the kingdom continues to disintegrate.

The government of the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III has not paid drug suppliers because it is broke.

The shortage was revealed to members of the Ministry of Health Portfolio Committee when they toured the kingdom’s Central Medical Stores (CMS) in Matsapha which houses Swaziland’s medical supplies.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane, said ARVs were available but not in adequate supply. They preferred to have stock for seven months. 

The Times of Swaziland reported CMS Deputy Director Themba Motsa said government allocated about E270 million for ARVs supply, but the Ministry of Finance released only E68 million which was paid to the various suppliers. 

The newspaper added, ‘He said the paid amount did not even cover the E100 million owed by the Ministry of Health to the suppliers. This, he said meant that the ministry was able to use the available resources to partly pay the suppliers, but there was still no funds to beef up the supply of ARVs.’

Chairman of the Ministry of Health Portfolio Committee, Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini said the Ministry of Health also suffered fuel shortages.

Swaziland Positive Living (SWAPOL) Director Siphiwe Hlophe said, ‘This is a disaster.’ She said Swaziland must prioritise buying ARVs. She added she had received reports that some clinics were allegedly rolling out expired ARVs to patients, especially those who were ignorant.

Hlophe said, ‘Does the country want us to die because if the shortage continues, a number of people will relapse.’ She said Swaziland would go back to a time where funerals were being held in every corner.

Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. As of 2017, 27 percent of the population, or 210,000 people, were infected. There were reportedly 7,000 new infections in that year.

Swaziland’s health system is in meltdown mainly because the government, which is not elected but appointed by King Mswati III, has not paid suppliers.

Medicines of all sorts have run out in public hospitals and health clinics across Swaziland. Local media reported in the past that many people, including children, have died as a result.
 
Hospital equipment, including at intensive-care units, has not been maintained and cannot be used. In September 2018 it was reported Mbabane Government Hospital was unable to feed its patients because it had no money. There are 500 beds at the hospital. Hlatikhulu Government Hospital faced a similar problem in February 2019. 

In June 2018 it was revealed there were only 12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no new ambulances since 2013.

See also

Swaziland health crisis getting worse as budgets cut. Rural areas most affected
Medicine shortage: five die
Report: patients die as Swaziland government hospital runs out of cash
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/report-patients-die-as-swaziland.html

Tuesday 25 June 2019

Swaziland teacher arrested after boy, 10, beaten for defiance, needed medical treatment

A schoolteacher in Swaziland / eSwatini has been arrested after allegedly whipping a 10-year-old boy.

Corporal punishment was banned in the kingdom in 2015 but is still frequently used.

In the latest case reported, the boy from Gilgal Primary School needed treatment at a health centre. 

The teacher whipped the boy and kicked him while he was on the ground, according to a report in the Times of Swaziland. He was punished for defying the teacher, the newspaper said. He received a bruised lip, a swollen cheek and bruises on his back.

The teacher, Thulile Fortunate Mhlanga, aged 39, was charged under the Children Protection and Welfare Act.

There have been numerous reports of teachers illegally using corporal punishment. In March 2019 a 12-year-old girl at Mkhuzweni Primary School had her fingers broken when she was caned 25 times across her hand.

In November 2018 it was reported police were investigating St Theresa’s Primary School, Manzini, following an allegation that teachers whipped children to make them do better in their exams. In June 2018 teachers reportedly caned every pupil at Mbuluzi High School for poor performance. 

In August 2017 it was reported boys at Salesian High, a Catholic school, were forced to take down their trousers and underpants to allow teachers to beat them on the bare buttocks.

In May 2017 pupils at Lubombo Central Primary School in Siteki were thrashed because they did not bring enough empty milk cartons to class. 

In March 2017 children at Masundvwini Primary School boycotted classes because they lived in fear of the illegal corporal punishment they were made to suffer. Local media reported that children were hit with a stick, which in at least one case was said to have left a child ‘bleeding from the head’. 

In August 2016 an eight-year-old schoolboy at Siyendle Primary School, near Gege, was thrashed so hard in class he vomited. His teacher reportedly forced classmates to hold the boy down while he whipped him with a stick. It happened after a group of schoolboys had been inflating condoms when they were discovered by the teacher.

In June 2016 the school principal at the Herefords High School was reported to police after allegedly giving a 20-year-old female student nine strokes of the cane on the buttocks. The Swazi Observer reported at the time, ‘She was given nine strokes on the buttocks by the principal while the deputy helped her by holding the pupil’s hands as she was made to lie down.’

In September 2015 the Times reported a 17-year-old school pupil died after allegedly being beaten at school. The pupil reportedly had a seizure.

In March 2015 a primary school teacher at the Florence Christian Academy was charged with causing grievous bodily harm after allegedly giving 200 strokes of the cane to a 12-year-old pupil on her buttocks and all over her body.

In February 2015 the headteacher of Mayiwane High School Anderson Mkhonta reportedly admitted giving 15 strokes to a form 1 pupil for not wearing a neck tie properly.

In April 2015, parents reportedly complained to the Ndlalane Primary School after a teacher beat pupils for not following his instruction and shaving their hair. 

See also

Children fear beatings, miss school
Cane banned in Swazi schools
Teachers beat boys on naked buttocks
Research in Swaziland suggests spanking children is harmful and can cause mental problems

Monday 24 June 2019

Swaziland nurses give govt one month to solve drugs shortage or they strike

Nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini have given government four weeks to solve the drugs shortage crisis in the kingdom or they will call a nationwide strike.

This was stated at a protest march where petitions were handed into the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday (21 June 2019).

Swaziland, ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has been short of medicines in public hospitals for more than a year. The government, which is not elected but handpicked by the King, is broke and has not paid suppliers. Media in Swaziland reported people, including children, have died because of the shortages.

President of the Eswatini Nurses Association Bhekie Mamba told the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland that government had lied in the past when it said medical supplies were being sent to hospitals and clinics.

Nurses also want government to prioritise hiring of nurses and for health care to be adequately financed.

The Observer quoted the nurses association’s Second Deputy Secretary Neliso Matsenjwa saying, ‘if this is not done in the next four weeks, we shall render the health sector unworkable’.

Last week psychiatric nurses in Swaziland said say they might release patients from their clinic because there were no drugs to subdue them after supplies ran out and they feared for their own safety.

See also

Swaziland health crisis: fearful psychiatric nurses say they might release patients
Swaziland hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread
HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

Friday 21 June 2019

No guarantee of workers’ rights in Swaziland, ITUC reports, and it’s getting worse

There is no guarantee of workers’ rights in Swaziland/ eSwatini and it is getting worse, a report from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) concluded.

ITUC placed Swaziland, which is ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, near the bottom of countries across the world. It said in the past year ‘police brutality reached unprecedented levels’ and ‘security forces fired live ammunition at protesting workers’.

In a review of workers’ rights during 2018, ITUC reported, ‘In eSwatini, a peaceful demonstration, organised by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) to deliver a petition to the deputy prime minister’s office, was brutally repressed by armed forces on 29 June 2018. 

‘The police prevented workers from reaching the deputy prime minister’s office by using water cannon and tear gas canisters, and attacked demonstrators with batons. Four members of TUCOSWA were gravely injured and taken to the hospital, while Majembeni Thobela, a security guard who was marching this day, received severe beatings and was left unconscious covered with blood on his face from head injuries. 

‘The police did not even bother to rush him to the hospital, and first aid was later applied to him by other marchers. Many demonstrators ran for safety, with pursuing police beating everyone in sight with batons. Some were cornered and severely assaulted by the police. A week after the events, two people were still in a critical state in hospital.’

The ITUC Global Rights Index ranked 145 countries on the degree of respect for workers’ rights in law and in practice. It reported the situation n Swaziland /eSwatini had worsened since last year.

The case highlighted by the ITUC was not an isolated incident. In August 2018, for example, police attacked three separate demonstrations by workers protesting for better pay and conditions. 

Police fired several gunshot blasts while textile workers, mostly women, protested at Nhlangano about poor pay. More than 200 paramilitary police and correctional facility warders with riot shields, helmets and batons guarded the entrance to Juris, one of the major factories, according to a local media report. It happened on 30 August 2018 when five firms closed after management locked gates after workers gathered.

On the previous Friday police shot and wounded a schoolteacher during a march in Manzini. On the Wednesday that week in Mbabane nurses were tasered. Both groups were protesting at the Swazi government’s decision to offer a zero increase in their salary cost of living adjustment.

In September 2018, police blocked nurses who were legally trying to deliver a petition to government as part of their ongoing campaign against service cuts. One local newspaper reported a policeman’s baton was broken in two during the confrontation.

Also in September, police officers were captured on video viciously attacking defenceless workers on the street in Manzini during a legal protest over pay. Dozens of  officers in riot gear and waving batons were seen chasing workers. At least one officer appeared to be wielding a whip. Workers were seen running fearing for their safety. The police indiscriminately hit the fleeing workers around their bodies. It was on the first day of a three day national strike organised by TUCOSWA. Protests took place simultaneously in the towns and cities of Mbabane, Manzini, Siteki and Nhlangano.

The strike had earlier been declared legal under Swaziland’s Industrial Relations Act.

On 13 April, police fired rubber bullets as about 2,000 workers and supporters took to the streets of Mbabane to protest against worsening living conditions. The AFP news agency reported one protestor was hit in the thigh by a rubber bullet.


See also 

Swaziland police fire gunshots during textiles dispute, third attack on workers in a week
Swaziland teacher who stopped police chief shooting into unarmed crowd appears in court
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/swaziland-teacher-who-stopped-police.html

Police in Swaziland attack nurses with taser during peaceful protest over pay
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/police-in-swaziland-attack-nurses-with.html

Thursday 20 June 2019

Swaziland health crisis: fearful psychiatric nurses say they might release patients

Psychiatric nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini say they might release patients from their clinic because there are no drugs to subdue them after supplies ran out and they fear for their own safety.

The drug shortage is part of a nationwide health crisis after the government failed to pay suppliers.

Nurses at the National Psychiatric Centre, near Manzini, have been drawing attention to the problem for some months, but government has failed to respond.

Nurses told the Swazi Observer newspaper that they suffered violence from patients. 

It quoted one nurse saying, ‘The wards have become battle rings because the patients are fighting more than usual since there are those who need to be kept in check through medication. It’s hard for us because our patients can’t reason due to their ailment.’

Meanwhile, senators in Swaziland have given the Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi seven days to submit a detailed report highlighting the problems in the health sector, including the drug shortages and proposed industrial action by health workers. 

Public services, including health, are grinding to a halt as the government, which is not elected but handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has repeatedly failed to pay suppliers. Medicines have run out in public hospitals and clinics and children who rely on free food at schools to fend off hunger go unfed.

See also

Swaziland hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread
HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

Wednesday 19 June 2019

Swaziland public service unions call national strike to march on government

Public service unions across Swaziland / eSwatini plan a nationwide strike against government.

They intend to march and deliver petitions to a number of government ministries. It is due to take place on Wednesday (26 June 2019).

Four public service unions have joined forces, they are the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) and the Swaziland Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP).

One of the matters the union wants sorted is the shortage of medicines at public hospitals and clinics. The government, which is not elected but handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III, is broke and has not paid suppliers.

SNAT Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini told the Swazi Observer that the shortage was so bad that people had died as a result.

Members of the SWADNU already plan to march on Friday (21 June 2019) over the issue of healthcare.

Workers have been campaigning for the past two years for cost of living salary increases of 6.5 percent. The government offered zero percent. Unions say inflation in Swaziland has risen by 14.5 percent over the past two years.

See also

Industrial Court stops Swaziland public servants strike at last minute
Swaziland public servants prepare for pay strike amid fears of renewed police violence against them
 HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Swaziland hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread

Patients in a public hospital in Swaziland / eSwatini were only fed two slices of bread at meals when food ran out because the government had not paid suppliers. 

It was reported the bakery would only deliver bread if it was paid in advance. 

Swaziland is reeling from a health crisis because the government has not paid it debts. Nurses plan a protest march against government.

The Times of Swaziland reported on Monday (18 June 2019) that the food shortage hit two public hospitals, Hlatikhulu Government Hospital and Nhlangano Health Centre, both in the Shiselweni Region.

It reported at Hlatikhulu, ‘patients revealed that for the past week, hospital staff had been dishing only two slices of dry bread for all the meals of the day’.

It added, ‘An interviewed patient said there was a brief relief on Tuesday when they were given porridge and soup. Thereafter, the patient said they were back to the bread supply.’

At Nhlangano it was reported staff paid for food out of their own money.

In the past food shortages have been reported at the Mbabane Government Hospital and again at Hlatikhulu Government Hospital. 

The food problem is one of many facing the health service in Swaziland which is caused by the government’s inability to pay suppliers. There are shortages of many drugs across the kingdom. Local media reported in the past that many people, including children, have died as a result.

Members of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) plan to march and deliver a petition to the Ministry of Health on Friday (22 June 2019) to demand it addresses the drugs shortage. 

It is not only a problem of drugs. Hospital equipment, including at intensive-care units at Mbabane Government Hospital, has also not been maintained and cannot be used. 

In June 2018 it was revealed there were only 12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no new ambulances since 2013.

See also

HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens
Swaziland health crisis getting worse as budgets cut. Rural areas most affected
Report: patients die as Swaziland government hospital runs out of cash
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/report-patients-die-as-swaziland.html

Monday 17 June 2019

Swazi police ‘force boy, 6, to strip and illegally thrash his naked buttocks’

Community police in Swaziland / eSwatini illegally forced a six-year-old boy to strip and then thrashed him on the naked buttocks after he was accused of stealing a cellphone from a schoolteacher.

It was one of a long list of cases where community police have taken the law into their own hands. The latest happened at Gundvwini in the Manzini region, the Times of Swaziland reported on Monday (17 June 2019).

The newspaper reported the aunt of the boy said he had been thrashed by a community police member.  It reported, ‘She said the pupil informed her that he had been taken to the mountains and had his private parts squeezed before being ordered to undress. After undressing, she said Simo was allegedly thrashed a number of times with a stick on his bare buttocks.’

The community police operate in rural Swaziland and are supervised by traditional chiefs who are local representatives of King Mswati III, Swaziland’s absolute monarch. They have the authority to arrest suspects concerning minor offenses for trial by an inner council within the chiefdom. For serious offenses suspects should be handed over to the official police for further investigations.

There have been a number of cases reported by media in Swaziland where community police have acted illegally. In June 2018 five community police officers at Ngoloweni in Sandleni attacked a man described as ‘mentally disturbed’ and beat him close to death and set his genitals on fire. They suspected the 44-year-old man had attempted to rape a girl aged six.

In April 2018 it was reported that two community police officers at Malindza stripped a man naked, tied him to a tree and flogged his bare buttocks with sticks until they bled profusely. They had accused him of stealing pots from his grandfather’s house.

In March 2018 a court heard  that three community policemen from Dvokolwako gang-raped a 17-year-old schoolgirl at knifepoint and forced her boyfriend to watch. One of them recorded it on his cellphone. The teenager was in her school uniform while she and her boyfriend walked to a river after a school athletics competition. The community policemen told them they were on patrol to make sure none of the pupils committed any offences during the athletics competition.

In 2014 three Malindza community police beat to death a mentally challenged man who had escaped from the National Psychiatric Centre.  

In 2011 community police in Kwaluseni reportedly threatened to murder democracy activist Musa Ngubeni if he was released on bail pending trial on explosive offences. Residents accused the community police in the area of being involved in criminal activities. 

See also

Police beat man close to death
Police gang-rape schoolgirl
Community police banish gay men

Thursday 13 June 2019

Time for Swaziland to follow Botswana’s lead and decriminalise gay sex

Swaziland should follow the example of its near-neighbour Botswana and decriminalise gay sex.

The kingdom, also known as eSwatini, has much in common with Botswana. Both were protectorates of Great Britain and have laws relating to homosexuality dating back to that time. They became independent in the 1960s. Both countries have small but active fundamentalist Christian groups that today demonise LGBT people; the media largely ignore them and when they do report they are usually antagonistic. Both countries want people to believe that homosexuality is in some way ‘un-African’. Nevertheless, both want to believe that they are modern societies. Swaziland aims to become a ‘First-World’ country by 2022.

The Botswana High Court on Tuesday (11 June 2019) unanimously ruled in favour of decriminalising homosexuality. Judge Michael Elburu said, ‘Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized.’

According to a BBC report, he added laws banning gay sex were ‘discriminatory’. He also said, ‘Sexual orientation is not a fashion statement. It is an important attribute of one’s personality.’

The Mail & Guardian newspaper in South Africa reported the court said, ‘Homosexuality is not unAfrican, but it is one other way Africans identify but have been repressed for many years.’

Commenting on the ruling, United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, said, ‘Criminalising homosexuality and other forms of sexual and gender diversity is one of the root causes of grave and pervasive human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It also violates international human rights law.’

He said legal provisions banning homosexuality were often remnants of colonial laws.

He added, ‘Countries around the world that still criminalise homosexuality and other forms of sexual orientation and gender identity must, without exception, take note of this recent advance in Botswana, which joins India and Angola in definitely abandoning this odious form of discrimination. All countries in which homosexuality or any other form of gender diversity remain criminalised must examine their legal frameworks in order to become fully compliant with international human rights law.’

The main difference between Botswana and Swaziland is that Botswana is a multi-party democracy and Swaziland is ruled by an absolute monarch King Mswati III, who has in the past reportedly said homosexuality is ‘satanic’. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections in Swaziland and there is very little opportunity for people in the kingdom to discuss how they might change the way they live.

Swaziland has a poor record on LGBT rights. In May 2016, Rock of Hope, which campaigns for equality in Swaziland, reported to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Swaziland that laws, social stigma and prejudice prevented LGBT organisations from operating freely.

The report, presented jointly with three South African-based organisations, stated, ‘In Swaziland sexual health rights of LGBT are not protected. There is inequality in the access to general health care, gender affirming health care as opposed to sex affirming health care and sexual reproductive health care and rights of these persons. HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care services continue to be hetero-normative in nature only providing for specific care for men born as male and women born as female, thereby leaving out trans men and women as an unprotected population which continues to render the state’s efforts at addressing the spread and incidence of HIV within general society futile.’

The report added, ‘LGBTs are discriminated and condemned openly by society. This is manifest in negative statements uttered by influential people in society e.g., religious, traditional and political leaders. Traditionalists and conservative Christians view LGBTs as against Swazi tradition and religion. There have been several incidents where traditionalists and religious leaders have issued negative statements about lesbians.   

‘Human rights abuses and violations against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex population continue to go undocumented, unreported, unprosecuted and not addressed.’

It added, ‘There is no legislation recognizing LGBTs or protecting the right to a non-heterosexual orientation and gender identity and as a result LGBT cannot be open about their orientation or gender identity for fear of rejection and discrimination.’

There are attempts to register the first LGBT group in Swaziland and on 22 June 2019 the second annual Pride parade is due to take place in the kingdom.

Richard Rooney

See also

Attempt to register first LGBTI group in Swaziland as preparations for second Pride parade underway
LGBT Pride film shows what it’s like to live with prejudice and ignorance in Swaziland
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/lgbt-pride-film-shows-what-its-like-to.html

Wednesday 12 June 2019

HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

Drugs to treat HIV infection are not available in most hospitals and clinics across Swaziland / eSwatini as the public health systems sinks further into crisis.

Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. As of 2017, 27 percent of the population, or 210,000 people, were infected. There were reportedly 7,000 new infections in that year.

The drugs known as antiretrovirals (ARVs) have been out of stock in many places for at least a month, the Times of Swaziland reported on Wednesday (12 June 2019).

It said the shortage affected ‘most public health institutions’. It added, the shortage also affected some private health facilities. It said the shortage was countywide and patients had been told to seek alternative suppliers.

Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM), Manzini, is one hospital that still has supplies of the drugs. The Times reported, ‘Sources at the RFM Hospital have revealed that there were currently unbelievable queues for ARVs because of the shortage at other health centres.’

Swaziland’s health system is in meltdown mainly because the government, which is not elected but appointed by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has not paid suppliers.

Medicines of all sorts have run out in public hospitals and health clinics across Swaziland. Local media reported in the past that many people, including children, have died as a result.
 
Hospital equipment, including at intensive-care units, has not been maintained and cannot be used. In September 2018 it was reported Mbabane Government Hospital was unable to feed its patients because it had no money. There are 500 beds at the hospital. Hlatikhulu Government Hospital faced a similar problem in February 2019. 

In June 2018 it was revealed there were only 12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no new ambulances since 2013.

See also

Swaziland health crisis getting worse as budgets cut. Rural areas most affected
Report: patients die as Swaziland government hospital runs out of cash

Monday 10 June 2019

S. African High Court told Swaziland development projects worth billions were ‘a con’

Frans Whelpton, a former law professor in South Africa, who worked closely with the Swaziland / eSwatini government on projects said to be worth billions of emalangeni that never came to anything is being accused of being a conman in a high court action.

Whelpton, once of the University of South Africa, touted projects in Swaziland, including the construction of a coal-fired power station, a social upliftment project, and creation of a free trade zone.

The Sunday Times newspaper in Johannesburg reported (9 June 2019) that a Pretoria doctor Francois Olivier is suing Whelpton in the Pretoria High Court for R6m (US$400,000), saying the former professor’s ‘grand promises were no more than a con’.

It added, ‘He says his case is just the tip of the iceberg and that over the years Whelpton has pocketed about R100m from up to 40 people.’

Whelpton denied the claim and in turn issued a defamation action against Olivier, demanding R1m in damages.

Whelpton was widely known in Swaziland for many years and was said to be close to King Mswati III, who rules the kingdom as an absolute monarch.

The Sunday Times reported that Olivier said in his court papers, there were a series of ‘fraudulent misrepresentations’ by Whelpton, which included that he had acquired rights to the:
The Sunday Times reported, ‘[O]ne of Whelpton’s central claims - that the UN is providing millions of dollars for his work on recording customary law in eSwatini - could not be confirmed this week. A spokesperson for the UN in SA, Zeenat Abdool, told the Sunday Times none of the UN agencies operating in SA had any record of dealing with Whelpton.’

The newspaper added, ‘Seven years ago, in a separate case, a Pretoria court ordered Whelpton to pay R10m each to two doctors, Reynhardt van Rooyen and Johannes Kok, after an alleged eSwatini health-care project in which Whelpton promised them a leading role failed to materialise.’

See also

Mystery man in King’s jet saga found


$5bn Swazi power plant was a con
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/5bn-swazi-power-plant-was-con.html

Monday 3 June 2019

Attempt to register first LGBTI group in Swaziland as preparations for second Pride parade underway

The second annual LGBTI Pride is due to take place on 22 June 2019 in Swaziland /eSwatini. It comes as a newly-formed group the Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities (ESGM) attempts to become the first LGBTI group to be officially registered in the kingdom.

LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) people face discrimination in all walks of life in the conservative kingdom ruled by King Mswati III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. King Mswati reportedly described homosexuality as being ‘satanic.’ Homosexual acts are illegal.

ESGM is seeking to become registered under the Companies Act as a specifically LGBTI rights group. At present The Rock of Hope campaigns for LGBTI rights but it is also a group offering sexual health and HIV / AIDS advice.

Melusi Simelane, one of the founders of ESGM, and one of the organisers of Swaziland’s first LGBTI Pride in 2018, told MambaOnline the move was designed to bring a stronger focus on decriminalising LGBTI identities in eSwatini.

Separately, on his blog, Simelane wrote about the reality of being a gay man in Swaziland. He said, ‘I would like to believe that as a citizen of this country I am rightfully equal before the law, but I am forced by reality to believe otherwise.

‘Should I be found guilty of the sodomy offence, or even found to have had the intention to commit “sodomy”, I can be arrested without a warrant. This in accordance with the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938.

‘Furthermore, the National Register for Sex Offenders would enlist me, under clause 56 of the recently passed SODV [Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence] Act of 2018.

‘It cannot be justice to have my name branded as a sex offender for being in love, and being in a consensual loving relationship. Alas, that is what our government is saying to me.’

Swaziland is a tiny landlocked kingdom with a population of about 1.3 million people, mostly living in rural communities. 

In May 2016 four organisations jointly reported to the United Nations about LGBTI discrimination in Swaziland. Part of their report stated, ‘LGBT[I]s are discriminated and condemned openly by society. This is manifest in negative statements uttered by influential people in society e.g., religious, traditional and political leaders. Traditionalists and conservative Christians view LGBT[I]s as against Swazi tradition and religion. There have been several incidents where traditionalists and religious leaders have issued negative statements about lesbians.’  

In June 2018 Swaziland held its first LGBTI Pride event. It passed without incident and received positive international attention, but it also provoked a number of virulent attacks on gay people in newspapers and churches within Swaziland. 

See also

LGBT Pride film shows what it’s like to live with prejudice and ignorance in Swaziland
LGBTI Pride gets global attention
Kingdom’s first LGBTI Pride takes place
‘Observer’ steps up LGBTI hate campaign
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/observer-steps-up-lgbti-hate-campaign.html