Swaziland
Newsletter No. 737 – 29 July 2022
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge.
Increase grants by 100%, minimum wage - unions
By
Nonduduzo Kunene, eSwatini
Observer, 28 July 2022
MBABANE: Trade unions have
called upon government to increase social grants by 100 per cent.
In so doing, they gave
government until next week Friday to have responded to their concerns, which
they said if addressed, would help alleviate some of the financial challenges
faced by the nation.
They urged government to
give workers a chance to voice their concerns and address them accordingly.
The unions stated that they
were willing to meet with government and be part of the solution through
sharing ideas about allocation of resources.
The unions, led by the Trade
Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), yesterday delivered petitions to four
government departments, including the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, which is
responsible for grants.
The departments were the
prime minister’s office and DPM’s office, ministries of labour and social
security, and commerce, industry and trade.
Despite exceeding the
limited number of people allowed to march without permission from the municipal
council, the march proceeded as petitions were delivered in all government
ministries without any challenges.
The numbers grew as they
proceeded to other ministries. In as much as there was a minor clash between
marchers and some police officers, the petitions were delivered rather
peacefully.
Decrying the increasing cost
of commodities and services, in particular fuel and bread, the unions called
upon government to increase the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) grant
from E2 500 to E4 000 per learner.
TUCOSWA Secretary General
Mduduzi Gina, who delivered the petition received by the Principal Secretary,
Melusi Masuku, said this would ensure that there were sufficient provisions in
schools.
Gina said by increasing the
OVC grant, the country’s education system would take its rightful place and
save the economy from total collapse.
He said the current amount
allocated for each learner was insufficient to cater for the actual cost of
their education.
He stated that schools with
a higher enrolment of OVC were unable to provide adequate teaching tools and
materials for learners.
The unions further stated
that the elderly grant should also be increased to E1 500 monthly from E500 per
month.
He said the grant currently
paid to the elderly made it difficult for them to make ends meet.
“Since the elderly are the main sector of our society, their proper upkeep
becomes very important. A country that neglects its elderly population attracts
a curse,” he said.
Serious
Gina said government’s lack
of a concrete action in improving the situation was a serious call for concern.
He said if government failed
to implement robust solutions to improve the economy, the country would
experience a deep economic crisis and the increase in prices of food and
services would continue.
Further, he said operating
mines in Eswatini was likely to save the crippling economy so long as the
profits would be allocated to the state.
“Profits from natural
resources should benefit Emaswati,” he said.
TUCOSWA first SG Winile Mlotsa, during a petition delivery at the ministry of
labour and social security, decried what she described as a serious violation
of the fundamental trade union rights by government.
Mlotsa stated that they were
troubled by the fact that the minimum wage in the country was still way below
E3 500.
“We are concerned about your
response to the textile workers; that they are happy with the E12 per hour
earnings, which they had proved they were unhappy with especially in the rising
cost of living,” she said.
Mlotsa wondered if the delay
in distribution of student allowances and scholarships would ever come to an
end.
She called on the ministry
to urge the private sector to give better salaries to workers to enable them to
increase their buying power, which would enhance economy circulation.
Tertiary
Also, she called upon
government to declare a plan on scholarships and education of tertiary
students.
Still on minimum wage,
Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) President Wonder Mkhonza said
textile workers struggled to even buy decent grocery items.
According to Mkhonza, there
were industries that had lower wages than the textile workers.
He said a decent monthly grocery for a single person cost E1 700 while the
minimum wage was E1 000.
Mkhonza wondered where
government thought workers would get the rest of the funds for other basic
commodities.
He said it was high time
government considered increasing the minimum wage.
We
will continue with marches and defy minister Simelane - Bheki Mamba TUCOSWA
president
By
Eugene Dube, Swati Newsweek, 27 July, 2022
MBABANE: Bheki Mamba, the Trade Union Congress of
Swaziland (TUCOSWA)president said they will now march in the streets of
Eswatini without getting permission from Minister Prince Simelane.
Mamba said these remarks outside cabinet offices in
Mbabane City today where they delivered a petition and complained about the
ongoing economic crisis.
Mamba said, “The price of petrol and bread is very
high now. Life has become very expensive.”
He added, “Let it be known that from now onwards we
will march without getting permission from Minister Simelane,” Mamba said.
Eswatini has been rocked in recent months by periodic
protests calling for wider political reforms in Africa’s last absolute
monarchy.
At the height of the protest in 2021, Eswatini Housing
and Development Minister Prince Simelane banned all protest in a bid to quell
the uprising.
The Minister is on record saying, “Due to the spate of
violent cases during protests, I have stopped all city and town municipals from
issuing permits to hold protests.”
Police
June 2022 secret report reveals: Over R400,000.00 public monies disappeared at
Pension Fund.
By Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 26 July 2022
MBABANE: Bhekithemba Mamba,
the Benefits Manager at the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) reported to the
police after the disappearance of over four hundred thousand Rands (R400,000.00)
within the public entity.
This is contained in a
bundle of police secret State documents that expose sabotaged reported fraud
cases involving high profile people with alleged links to Mswati.
An independent investigation
conducted by this Swaziland News uncovered that on or around 30th June 2022,
Bhekithemba Mamba, the Benefits Manager within the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF)
reported the disappearance of a collective amount of R415,857.65, the names of
the suspects were provided but the police Executive Command systematically
sabotaged the investigations.
It has been disclosed that
under normal circumstances, when a case of fraud is reported, it is immediately
handed over to the Police Fraud Department, however, cases of alleged fraud and
corruption within the Pension Fund are scrutinized by senior police officers to
ascertain if those involved are not closer to the King.
A questionnaire was sent to
Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, the Police Spokesperson, however, she had not
responded at the time of compiling this report.
Reached for comments,
Sibongile Mazibuko, a member of the Swaziland Pensioners Association (SPA) Board
of Trustees said looting has become a culture in eSwatini.
“It has become a norm for
high profile people entrusted with public funds, those who loot and share the
money with the King are not arrested. Millions have disappeared at the Pension
Fund and other entities, only those who loot for themselves get arrested,” she
said.
Reached for comments on
Tuesday morning, Elkan Makhanya, the Pension Fund Spokesperson asked for
more time to consult and verify the information with the relevant officers,
however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.
“Morning Zweli, am currently
in a meeting. May I come back to you before close of business today (Tuesday 26
July). I will need to verify this information with the relevant officers,” said
the Pension Fund Spokesperson.
Reached for comments,
Mduduzi ‘M’agawugawu’ Simelane, the President of the Swaziland Liberation
Movement (SWALIMO) said only those who did not know what happened during the
time of Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini, the then Pension Fund CEO could be
taken by surprise.
“That institution is a
milking cow for the regime and its elites, Comrade NNLC President long raised
the alarm. Only the Nation can save their money in that institution. Let us
stand up together, the country is burning in official corruption,” said the
SWALIMO President.
Media freedom in eSwatini declines further as Swaziland
News and editor announced as terrorists
By Aphiwe Kunene, Biz Community, 25 July 2022
Freedom of expression in
Eswatini is further declining as Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini has
announced that online news publication Swaziland News and its
editor Zweli Dlamini are ‘terrorists’.
Prime Minister Dlamini
published the declaration in early July in terms of Eswatini’s Suppression of
Terrorism Act.
Swaziland News
Swaziland News is an
independent online newspaper established in 2015 that seeks to provide
uncensored insight of what is happening in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The
publication commands a great following with over 49,000 thousand followers on
Twitter and 222,000 thousand followers on its Facebook page.
Its editor has immediately
hit back, saying this is another attack on media freedom in Eswatini.
“This declaration will not
affect the operation of the Swaziland News because it is
registered in South Africa and has not been proscribed in South Africa and the
world at large,” says Dlamini.
Afraid for his life, Dlamini
fled to South Africa in 2018 because of a series of government authority
intimidation and harassment and later the banning of Swaziland News under
Eswatini’s Registration of Books and Newspapers Act.
After fleeing, he registered
and set up his online publication in South Africa and has joined the Press
Council of SA, a self-regulatory body which monitors media conduct.
“Where there is
dictatorship, the media become the first victim because the media is the voice
of the people. So, when dictators want to silence the people they censor the
media because they want to shut down the voice of the people,” says Dlamini.
A reputation of
suppressing rights
Eswatini, the last absolute
monarch in Africa has a reputation for suppressing the rights to freedom of
expression and of the press with apparent impunity, although protest action has
increased over the past two years.
In 2014, The Nation editor,
Bheki Makhubu, and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko were convicted of
contempt of court for having written articles that were critical of the regime
and the then chief justice.
They were sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment but were released after 15 months following mounting
international pressure.
Pro-democracy
demonstrations
Over recent months, much
of Swaiziland News’ content has been strongly critical of the
eSwatini authorities, particularly the security forces. Much of the coverage
deals with how pro-democracy movements are being treated.
“Eswatini is known by the
world for violating human rights, it is not democratic, it is ruled by an
absolute monarch. We as the media have an obligation to report on what is
happening on the ground without censoring ourselves,” says Dlamini.
In July of 2021, the
eruption of violent pro-democracy demonstrations in Eswatini led to protestors
including journalists, facing arbitrary arrests, intimidation, torture and the
removal of means to disseminate information as they tried to report the ongoing
conflict on the ground.
During these protests, New
Frame journalists Magnificent Mndebele and Cebelihle Mbuyisa were
abducted, detained and allegedly tortured by security forces in the country
merely for doing their work as journalists.
Continuous decline of
media freedom
According to the 2022
edition of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, which
assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, Eswatini ranks
131 of 180 in terms of media freedom.
In March 2021 a submission
by Human Rights Watch (HRW) also found that eSwatini ranks among the lowest in
the world in terms of countries’ level of media freedom.
While section 24 of
Eswatini’s constitution makes provision for freedom of expression, journalists
are hamstrung by state interference and harassment.
Though a legislative
framework exists to protect media freedom, the opposite is true according to
HRW.
Contrary to the
Constitution
The Campaign for Free Expression
(CFE) in a statement has expressed strong concern at the declaration and called
on the government to revoke it.
“This declaration is not
only contrary to the Constitution of Eswatini, but also international
instruments which Eswatini is party to, such as the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the AU
Protocol on the Media, the 1991 Windhoek Declaration and the 2021 update,
Windhoek +30,” read the statement.
During a recent United
Nations Human Rights Council universal periodic review of Eswatini, Minister of
Justice and Constitutional Affairs of Eswatini Pholile Shakantu said The Public
Order Act of 2017 fully protected and allowed citizens to enjoy the rights to
freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. However these rights
are not absolute.
“Like all other rights,
these rights were not absolute – common limitations and boundaries applied.
Inciting violence, riots, violent gatherings, burning and destroying of public
or private property was illegal and was not protected by freedom of speech or
assembly,” she said during the sitting.
This article was originally
published by frayintermedia, written by Aphiwe Kunene.
EU
helping emaSwati children to dream again, reshape their future
European
Union External Action website, 25 July 2022
In the run-up to the Transforming
Education Summit at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2022, European
Union (EU) Ambassador to Eswatini, Dessislava Choumelova, accompanied by the
UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mohamed Fall, visited
Emthonjeni High School in the Manzini region on 21 July 2022 where she met and
interacted with pupils who are benefitting from an EU-funded project which
aims, amongst other things, at improving access to education through school
reintegration, remedial education and drop-out risk reduction targeting
children who have lost parents or guardians as a result of COVID-19.
The two-year project, implemented by
UNICEF and other partners in several other schools located in four
constituencies in the Manzini region, is also reaching out to pregnant
adolescents and adolescent parents, adolescent boys and adolescents with
disabilities who dropped out of school to go back to class.
Overall, the projects seeks to reintegrate
more than 200 needy pupils, in the targeted schools, who have dropped out of
school either due to pregnancy or loss of parents/guardians as a result of
COVID-19. At Emthonjeni High School alone, so far 10 pupils, who had dropped
out of school as a result of a myriad challenges at home including lack of
financial support, are already back in class and reshaping their future, thanks
to the project.
“We are supporting this project because it
aligns with EU values. It is very important for pregnant girls and other
vulnerable children to come back to school to continue with their education.
This is all about transforming education and helping these pupils to dream
again and reshape their future,” said EU Ambassador Choumelova.
Emthonjeni High principal, Thokozile
Dlamini, paid tribute to the EU for its support, saying the project has reached
out to very needy children who had dropped out of school but are now back in
class.
“Many of our pupils are facing serious
challenges at home including lack of money to continue with education. That is why
some of them have even dropped out of school. But thanks to the EU support, we
have been able to bring these pupils, who would otherwise be at home, back to
class,” Dlamini said. The principal herself has also played a role in ensuring
that pupils from poor backgrounds do remain in class despite their parents not
paying school fees.
The visit also took the Ambassador to
Baylor Clinic in Mbabane where she was shown how an ECHO-funded project was
increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake and caring for children and adolescents
living with HIV. In both centres, EU support was well appreciated by the
beneficiaries.
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