The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government’s plan to feed
300,000 people during the present coronavirus lockdown is in shambles.
On 22
April 2020, Swazi Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini announced they would be fed
within 14 days. That deadline was reached on Wednesday (6 May 2020) and no food
has been delivered via the government scheme.
Instead there has been turmoil in parliament. The House
of Assembly refused to back a plan from the Deputy Prime Minister Themba
Masuku to send destitute people money rather than food.
Then there was chaos across the kingdom as people who
tried to register for food aid were turned away.
The latest twist was a report that some
people were being charged E50 to have their names put on the registration
list. In normal times about seven in ten of the population live on incomes less
than the equivalent of US$2 (E37) a day.
Swaziland has been in partial lockdown since 27 March
with only essential businesses allowed to operate, travel severely restricted
and people banned from meeting in groups of more than 20. Almost as soon as the
lockdown started reports circulated of people unable to feed themselves because
they no longer had incomes.
In response Ambrose
Dlamini announced a government food aid scheme. He said it would, ‘Provide
food assistance to the most vulnerable of our society that have been adversely
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The food assistance will benefit over
300,000 individuals from 63,000 households across all four regions of the
Kingdom.’ The total population of Swaziland is about 1.3 million.
It was one of several pledges the Prime Minister made
on 22 April that he said would be fulfilled over the coming two weeks.
Almost immediately, the Swazi House of Assembly rejected a plan put
forward by Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku to send people money instead of
food.
The plan was to spend about E270 million (US$14
million) with government distributing about E45 million per month to 301,762 people
across the kingdom.
Masuku said the scheme
would give people the choice on what food to buy and stop them gathering together to receive parcels and
risk catching coronavirus (COVID-19). He said it would also save on the cost of
delivering food.
A number of members of
parliament thought the plan was open to corruption and money might not be
used for the intended purpose of buying food.
Then Wandile Mavuso, spokesperson for the National
Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), which is organising the food relief, confirmed
that people in urban areas would not get food. He explained
on state radio that the government was directing its efforts only to rural
areas.
He said the government would only work in places where
there were ‘local structures’ in place. This would include chiefs and those who
worked with chiefs. Mavuso said this would ensure that ‘deserving
beneficiaries’ were identified.
Even without a definite plan for food distribution in
place, the NDMA set about registering the names of people wanting to apply for aid.
This descended into chaos as hundreds of people ignored social distancing
guidelines and queued to register.
The Sunday Observer
reported 200 residents of Msunduza crammed an assembly point. It said, ‘Despite
having been registered by their health motivators, the residents had to be
re-registered by the Food Security Consortium coordinated by the NDMA.’
It added, the Food Security Consortium refused
to register the residents because of their numbers and they did not maintain
social distancing.
 |
Residents of Msunduza ignore social distancing
guidelines to queue to register for food aid. Picture: eSwatini Observer
|
On Tuesday (5 May 2020), the Times of eSwatini reported politicians were ‘fighting’ with the NDMA over who should register people. NDMA Chief Executive Officer Russell Dlamini said there was confusion about who should make the assessment of a person’s eligibility.
On Wednesday the
Times reported that some people in the Shiselweni region of
Swaziland were being forced to pay E50 before they could register for food aid.
It reported, ‘As a result people are complaining that a lot of deserving folks
have been left out of the list simply because they did not have the money to
pay.’
The NDMA said it had not received reports about this.
On Tuesday NDMA Chief Executive Russell Dlamini announced distribution
of food parcels would start on Friday (8 May 2020) in two areas of Swaziland
but he would not name them.
Richard Rooney
See also
Swaziland
police fine man trying to buy food for destitute children during coronavirus
lockdown
Swaziland
Govt. confirms it will not feed the starving in towns and cities during
coronavirus lockdown
Swaziland
Govt. pledges to feed 300,000 facing hunger in next two weeks as coronavirus
intensifies
People
face ‘imminent death from hunger’ in Swaziland as coronavirus lockdown hits
poorest
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