Swaziland
Newsletter No. 770 – 24 March 2023
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.
Campaign
for Free Expression (CFE) condemns assassination threats, intimidation on
journalists in eSwatini
By
Musa Ndlangamandla, Swaziland News, 22 March 2023
The freedom of expression and human rights
situation continues to deteriorate in the Kingdom of Eswatini since the June
2021 civil unrest, in the wake of amplified calls for justice and democratic
reforms in Africa's last absolute monarchy.
The civil unrest that led to the death of
dozens of civilians and the injury of many more, has divided the nation into
two contending camps that can be loosely described as pro-establishment
conservatives on the one hand and the pro-democracy proponents calling for
political reforms and a human rights culture, on the other.
There has been an increase in violence,
extra-judicial killings, assassinations, abductions and torture, with each
faction blaming the other as the perpetrators of these criminal acts.
Journalists, who have a crucial role
to play in such a situation by providing accurate and balanced information to
allow the public to make informed assessments and decisions, are caught in the
crossfire.
In recent weeks there have been rising
complaints of threats of assassination, violence and general harassment of
journalists.
It is disturbing to note that the
situation in Eswatini has deteriorated to the extent that such threats are said
to be coming from both sides of the political divide - both the state security
apparatus and elements within the mass democratic movement.
The Campaign for Free Expression (CFE)
condemns these death threats, harassment and interference with the journalists'
work, and calls on independent authorities to carry out an exhaustive
investigation into these acts of intimidation, and ensure journalists are able
to do their jobs.
We call on the authorities to also
finalise investigations into the brutal assassination on January 21, 2023 of
Thulani Maseko, a prominent human rights lawyer. We believe that his unlawful
killing is intrinsically linked to the ongoing freedom of expression and human
rights deterioration in Eswatini.
CFE notes with concern reports in the
local press of a plot to assassinate two senior journalists of the Times of
Eswatini, reports last month that an editor of an independent online news site
has had to flee his home to a place of safety after being tailed by security
officers, and developments around another editor of an online publication who
is exiled in South Africa.
In December 2022, the home and family of a
senior editor was attacked by assailants who used a petrol bomb to cause
extensive damage. Fortunately, no lives were lost in the incident.
The threats, harassment and intimidation
on the lives of senior journalists in the print and online media houses in the
Kingdom of Eswatini is a dangerous attempt at censorship. It is also part of a
systematic wave of threats and harassment that journalists have to constantly
contend with, for simply doing their job, and they must stop.
So serious are the threats that some
senior journalists and editors’ lives have been gravely disrupted and they have
been compelled to skip the country to seek safety in neighbouring States.
The authorities, leaders of the mass
democratic movement, with the assistance and watchful eye of human rights groups
and the international community, should investigate the ongoing threats against
journalists in Eswatini and ensure that all journalists in the country,
regardless of their establishment's editorial policy, or the origin of the
threats, can perform their job without fear of retaliation or threats,
including intimidations of assassination and personal harm.
Reporters Without Borders in its 2022
world press freedom index ranked Eswatini 131 out of 180 countries, stating
that the country prevents journalists from working freely and independently by
maintaining total control over the broadcast media, infiltrating the newsroom,
and spying on, arresting and harassing journalists.
To read more of this report, click here
http://swazilandnews.co.za/fundza.php?nguyiphi=4037
Give us food before deworming – Ararat head
By
Nomfanelo Maziya, eSwatini Observer, 22 March 2023
Following the start of the de-worming
exercise in schools on Monday, Ararat (Endlozini) Primary School was forced to
spend funds it had not budgeted for in order to provide food for
pupils.
The ministry of health is administering
albendazole for intestinal worms and praziquantel for bilharzia, which was
procured by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
While albendazole can be taken on an empty
stomach, in mass treatment, it is not advisable as praziquantel should be taken
on a full stomach.
Ararat (Endlozini) Primary Head teacher,
Khanyisile Dlamini, during the deworming exercise at the school yesterday
called on government to provide schools with food before embarking on the
exercise.
She said the school faced challenges in
ensuring that pupils took the medication on a full stomach as required due to a
shortage of food.
Dlamini said the school asked parents to ensure that children came to school
with a full stomach.
“We rely on parents feeding their
children, therefore we do not know how much food or how balanced the food they
receive at home is,” said Dlamini.
She said the deworming was especially
important because the school had noticed that some children suffered from
malnutrition and since there was no food, the schools could not control the
pupils’ diet.
She said they were forced to rely on
information from the children, which could be inaccurate.
“It would have been better if we had food we
could offer them before the exercise so as to be sure,” said Dlamini.
“We appreciate the efforts by the ministry
of health to deworm children as some pupils have shown signs of malnutrition
and some skin problems such as ringworms, therefore we can see why the process
is especially important,” she said.
Dlamini said the school had not received
food from government, however, made a plan for the day as the medication needed
to be complemented by food to minimise complications.
“We made a plan to ensure that there is food for our pupils after the exercise,
otherwise we have not received any food from government,” said Dlamini.
She added that their cries to government
pertaining the food issue in schools had fallen to deaf ears, however, the
school understood and appreciated the initiative.
The head teacher said due to the fact that
they understood the importance of the exercise the school out of their own not
so deep pocket made means to ensure that the pupils were fed. She further
pleaded with government that the next time such an exercise was carried out, it
should ensure that schools had food for the pupils.
Dlamini said this was because as a school
they rely on government to ensure that pupils got to eat at least once a day.
Overall she said the exercise was well
received, as a majority of pupils had permission letters from their parents.
“We have 214 pupils whose parents have
consented to the exercise and their children were dewormed. This is a very good
number as there are 272 children in the school, excluding Grade Zero, which was
not a part of the exercise,” said Dlamini.
Shocker:
one ambulance for all sports countrywide
Machawe
Fakudze, Times of eSwatini, 19 March 2023
MBABANE: Shocking revelation.
The issue of ambulances being
not available in stadiums during MTN Premier League games was explained during
the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Team Doctors Workshop organised by the
Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Medical Committee at Sigwaca House
yesterday. Emergency Medical Services’ (EMS) Sibusiso ‘Soso’ Kunene, when
addressing the doctors, revealed that they were faced with a number of
challenges as a wing responsible for sports. He made the startling
revelation that they only had one ambulance for all sporting codes in the
country.
“Our job during games is to
offer advanced life support not to attend to minor incidents such as knocks.
This is the duty for the teams’ medics. The challenge as you have noticed that
we were not attending games of late is that we have one vehicle designated for
all the sporting codes in the country, not just for soccer,” Kunene
said. He said since there was one ambulance for sports in the country,
they had now come up with a new strategy called zoning, whereby they would
contact all their offices around the country to inform them that they should
attend to games around their vicinity. “I must highlight that the
ambulances that will be deployed in games will leave should there be an
emergency, as in actual fact they will be on standby,” he said.
On another note, Kunene said
they were faced with a number of challenges when executing their jobs during
games as they received strong words from fans, teams as well as the medics
themselves, which he said was not good for local football. “We receive
life-threatening utterances from some of these medics here when we are
attending to players in the field. The referees also put us in the spotlight
during games which attracts insults from supporters towards us,” he
said. Kunene encouraged clubs’ owners to purchase the first aid kits
needed by the medics for games as it was a shame that they were sometimes
requested by the teams’ doctors for basic things such as bandages.
He finally revealed the reason
behind EMS shunning PLE games, as he said supporters once damaged an ambulance,
but the implicated team, whose supporter damaged the vehicle, distanced himself
from repairing it, as a result he (Kunene) had to fork out his money to repair
it. Meanwhile, the PLE was faced with challenges of having ambulances for
games; as a result they issued a statement directed to teams that they should
take the responsibility to organise for themselves before reneging on it
recently. Some games were delayed as they waited for ambulances and one
was forced to be called off to the unavailability of this special vehicle. This
was the MTN Premier League match between Madlenya and Manzini Sea Birds, which
replayed but as a continuation from the time it was stopped. It played for
the second half’s 45 minutes as it had reached half-time when it was abandoned
due to a lack of an ambulance at the stadium.
Exiled
union leader: workers ‘demanding democracy’ in eSwatini
By
Tula Connell,
Solidarity Center, 16 March 2023
In Eswatini, a landlocked country in
southern Africa, union workers are routinely harassed, attacked and even killed
for going on strike or holding rallies. In 2021, dozens of workers were killed
by security forces in what Amnesty International called “a full-frontal assault on human rights” by the government in response to
ongoing pro-democracy protests. In January, prominent human rights lawyer
Thulani Maseko was shot dead,
hours after a speech by the king warning those calling for democratic reforms
that mercenaries would deal with them.
Most recently, Sticks Nkambule, general
secretary of the Swaziland Transport, Communication and Allied Workers Union
(SWATCAWU), was targeted by the government for leading a strike to
improve working conditions. Forced to flee Eswatini, formerly called Swaziland,
Nkambule described the interconnected struggle for worker rights, human rights
and democracy on the latest Solidarity Center Podcast.
“We are just demanding the basics of what
could be defined as democracy. A government that is formed by the people and
serving their interests,” Nkambule told Podcast host and Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna
Bader-Blau.
“By bringing together the collective voice
of all workers, unions fight for decent working conditions but also for the
freedoms fundamental to all democratic societies,” Bader-Blau told Nkambule.
Despite the brutality and repression,
Nkambule finds hope in the support from labor and human rights organizations
around the world—and in workers themselves.
“What is quite inspiring is that the
people of Swaziland are determined to be part of the conversation that is going
to change their discourse. It is a reality, activists and, not just labor,
beyond labor.”
Listen to this episode and all
Solidarity Center episodes here or at Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, or wherever you subscribe to your favorite podcasts.
Election time. Gawuzela urges Swazis to remove silent
Mangololo MPs
By Eugene Dube, Swazti Newsweek, 19 March 2023
MBABANE: As the tinkhundla
corrupt elections gets closer, Mduduzi Eric Gawuzela Simelane has urged Swazis
to be vigilant and vote out Swazi lawmakers who have been silent and siding
with oppressive Mswati regime.
He said, “Ride on great
nation. We are now at the real test of character. We must not sell our future
and our lives. We know the MPs who sold us to the enemy by not standing with
us. We cannot commit this blunder again only to wail when they are again back
in power.
Educate Mobilise Liberate…!”
Simelane revealed that some
might be arrested as the elections beings.
“The ability to keep our eyes
on the ball is an art that those who are truly dedicated to see change in our
lifetime must discipline themselves to uphold no matter the distractions from
whether inside or outside the MDM. The below declaration by the state-propaganda-machine
gives us an insight into the mindset of the regime in spite of our calls for
dialogue before elections. Whether we like that fact or not but this is the
kind of animal we are dealing with.”
He said, “It is sad to be led
by a government that does not listen to citizens for national solutions. During
2018, elections registration started around mid-May 2018 but this time around
under serious tensions of the political unrest it is said to start in April
(next month), against the will of the people.
“We can from now until
nominations day expect arbitrary arrests of many pro-democracy individuals who
would be presumed to be candidates in their communities by the state. This ploy
will be played in a way that the detained individuals will be freed after nominations.
The ultimate plan is to make sure they are not available in the nominations
centres on the nominations day. I am raising this alarm not for lament, but to
assist leaders and communities to plan and organise ahead.”
He said, “To us and those who
believe in upscaling this battle into the chambers, battle lines have been
drawn, no more time for wishful thinking but reality must quickly tick-in. No
time for empty slogans now but time for aggressive work in covering space and
preparing our people for any eventuality.”
He added, “Please ignore the
distractors on Facebook and other platforms whose only prayer and wish is to
see you failing in securing space in the chamber for advancement of the course
of freedom. These distractors are just sadly assisting the enemy and they will
not give you any options at the end. The evil regime has blown the whistle.
Stand up, create units and activate the ground aggressively. Endless debates
will bring us no positive fruits but disunity and back to square one disorganization.”
He said, “The distorted facts
and pure lies spread are a set up for failure at such critical and defining
moments of our struggle.”
Acting
Natural Resources Minister: Water becoming scarce in eSwatini.
By
Nokwanda Mamba, Swaziland News, 22 March, 2023
MAGUGA: Jabulani Mabuza,the Acting
Minister of Natural Resources and Energy says water is becoming scarce in the
Kingdom of eSwatini hence the need to identify strategies to resolve the
water crisis.
The Minister was speaking during the
commemoration of the World Water Day on Wednesday at Maguga Dam under the
theme; “Accelerating change to solve water and sanitation crisis".
"This day is also giving us an
opportunity to intentionally look into our water situation and then determine
new ways and approaches on how to improve issues on water supply, water
management and on how to live with the impacts of climate change," said
the Minister as quoted by Government online platforms.
UNESWA’s indefinite closure irks students
By Phiwase Phungwayo, Times of Eswatini,
17 March 2023
MANZINI: The
University of Eswatini (UNESWA) has closed indefinitely, following the non-stop
(waya-waya) strike by employees.
The employees are
making a hue and cry over award performances (notching). The closure of the
university happened amid the ongoing strike by members of the Association of
Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP), which began last
Wednesday. The strike was initiated after a deadlock had been reached on the
dispute between UNESWA and its employees, where a certificate of unresolved
dispute was issued in February this year.
The university had
been taken to the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC),
following grievances by the employees on the issue of salary adjustments.
Management had offered employees three per cent cost-of-living adjustments
(CoLA) but reportedly refused to allow staff to notch, yet in previous years,
each CoLA award came with notching. The employees have not been receiving their
notching since 2018, due to that the university had decried a shortage of
funds.
To
read more of this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/139361-uneswa%E2%80%99s-indefinite-closure-irks-students.html
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