Swaziland Newsletter No. 795 – 22
September 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.
We’ve lost hope – nurses
By Sifiso Nhlabatsi and Siboniso Nkambule, eSwatini Observer, 16 September 2023
The on-going problem with drug
shortages is rising to the level of ‘disaster’ as nurses have said they have
lost hope that the situation would be solved anytime soon.
The healthcare workers said
the drug shortages continue to take an enormous toll on them as they must deal
with the problem on a daily basis, and also on patients who are on the
receiving end of the shortages.
They said some of the
medication in short supply or lacking, were Endotracheal tubes which serve to
provide oxygen and inhaled gases to the lungs and protects the lungs from
contamination, such as gastric contents or blood. These are used in the
theatre.
Beside the Endotracheal tubes,
the healthcare workers said there was a serious shortage of diagnostic agents
and vaccines for below five years.
It was also revealed that the
theatre were among the most affected departments as they were working on tight
schedules.
The healthcare workers further
revealed that some patients were told to go and buy what is required before an
operation.
The situation, according to
the healthcare workers, got worse each day, accusing government of making
unfulfiled promises.
This comes as some patients
were yesterday turned back at the Mbabane Government Hospital and Raleigh
Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Manzini as a result of the drug shortages and
other medical equipment.
Further compounding the
situation for the patients is that their last place of hope, The Luke
Commission, has revealed that it was faced with financial challenges, which may
result in the facility closing its doors to patients.
With the high costs of
medication at pharmacies and also private hospitals, patients end up at The
Luke Commission where they are treated free of charge by trained specialists
and also get free medication.
However, The Luke Commission
due to the financial challenges may close its doors to patients as the numbers
continue to increase. Last year, the facility attended to 217 363 outpatient
visits and for this year, projections are 274 578 outpatients’ visits and for
next year, it is projected that the visits will shoot up to 337 420.
To read more of
this report, click here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=21125
Double celebration or double tragedy? Swaziland spends
big on 55/55 celebration
By Dr Jabulane Matsebula (PUDEMO representative in
Australia), Swati Newsweek, 17 September, 2023
On April 2023, I wrote an
essay in response to the government's decision to spend large sums of public
money on celebrating King Mswati’s 55th birthday and 55 years of Swaziland's
independence. I called this decision insensitive and the celebration senseless
for various reasons.
Firstly, the country has a
large external and public debt. It also has a high and persistent unemployment
rate. Instead of borrowing more money for meaningless celebrations, the
government priority should be on the things that matter, the healthcare sector,
poverty reduction, economic growth and job creation. Spending more public
monies on lavish celebrations can only increase the size of the current public
debt. Swaziland’s external debt is also exploding. It is forecast to
continuously increase between 2023 and 2028.
An International Monetary Fund
(IMF) report in 2023 shows that “public debt rose to an estimated 42.3 percent
of GDP by end FY22/23.” This level of debt is colossal and unacceptable.
Swaziland is in deep debt, but the country continues to spend like a drunken
sailor on activities with little or no economic value. The IMF report also
shows that the country is struggling to pay back loans. For example, “the ratio
of non-performing loans to total loans increased to 6.5 percent at end-June
2022, from 5.6 percent a year earlier.”
Secondly, the open display of
opulence during the “double celebration” is grotesque and insensitive to the
large section of the population living in poverty. According to a World Food
Programme report in 2022, "69 per cent of the rural population live below
the national poverty line and 25 percent are extremely poor".
When King Mswati hosted a
lavish banquet on 5 September 2023 for his family and cronies, tens of
thousands of families in rural areas went to bed hungry.
Thirdly, many people would
also find these lavish celebrations irresponsible and insensitive to the sick
who have limited or no access medical care. This government has presided over
the total collapse of the healthcare system. In the past few weeks, there has
been widespread media reports of acute shortages of medicines in hospitals.
One of the largest hospitals
in the country was declared technically insolvent because it is not adequately
funded. The images of lavish cerebration banquets are sickening and lack sense
of moral responsibility. While the king and his cronies were dinning on
lobsters and expensive wine, 69 per cent of the rural population was struggling
to put a meal on the table.
Fourthly, I see no reasons for
celebrations. What is there to celebrate? Mswati and the so-called independence
celebration are a double whammy for the country. It is a double tragedy that we
are celebrating the birth of a tyranny and an independence that never was.
Swaziland was granted independence by the British colonial empire on 6
September 1968. King Mswati was born in April that year to steal from the poor
and rule the country with an iron fist.
He is a curse to the Swazi
nation. Swaziland independence lasted for four years and seven months before it
was taken away by King Mswati’s father on 12 April 1973.
For many Swazis, the struggle
for freedom continues. It is not yet Uhuru!
Plot
to kidnap 3 persons with albinism amid elections
Sibusiso
Shange, Times of eSwatini, 15 September 2023
MBABANE: Beliefs around the harvesting of body parts of
people with albinism for good luck is still rife.
This is because the
organisation of persons with albinism recorded three cases of attempted
kidnappings since the beginning of the ongoing general elections in the
country. This was disclosed by the President of the Persons with Albinism
organisation in the country, Philemon Gama, in an interview yesterday.
Eswatini has been one of the
African countries where a belief that human body parts, in particular those of
persons with albinism, could help people win elections, has been a
concern. The concern has resulted in authorities and other sectors of society
in the African continent joining hands in warning people against the unfounded
belief. However, apart from navigating the threats that come with such a
belief, it was found that albinism does not affect an individual’s social
development.
It is a health condition that
does not get worse or aggravated over time and does not exhibit any changes to
life expectancy. In the case of the organisation, which falls under the
Deputy Prime Minister’s Office in the country, Gama said they had since
recommended to social workers that their affected members be relocated to
places of safety.
By places of safety, Gama said
he meant that their members be relocated to other relatives, where they would
be out of danger. “As you know that our organisation falls under the
Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, we recommended to the social workers that
families of the affected members be engaged so that our members could be
relocated to other relatives,” he said.
Gama stated that even though
the organisation did not have tangible evidence linking the kidnappings to the
ongoing elections, they could not turn a blind eye to the fact that some people
still had the notion that body parts of people with albinism could help them
win the elections. He said the belief was not only in Eswatini, but in other
African countries, which were also in the elections process.
Gama stated that the
organisation was of the idea that their affected members would remain in hiding
until the end of the ongoing general elections. This, Gama said, was
likely to deprive their members their constitutional right to participate in the
formation of the new government.
Worth noting is that when
dissolving the 11th Parliament, His Majesty King Mswati III came out clear and
warned the nation against the belief that human body parts could help anyone
win elections. The King warned that there should be no strange disappearances
of people during the course of the general elections.
To read more of this
report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/141871-plot-to-kidnap-3-persons-with-albinism-amid-elections.html
‘We’re
being abused even by male police officers’
By
Nkosingiphile Myeni, eSwatini Observer, 19 September 2023
Some male members of the Royal Eswatini
Police Service (REPS) are being accused by sex-workers of abusing them while
they go about their illegal business in the country’s streets.
This transpired at the National
Sex-workers indaba held this week where four sex workers extracted the files on
the police for human rights abuses.
However, the police, who were said to have
been invited, were not present during the meeting.
During the event, which was organised by
the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) known as Voice Of Our Voices (VOOV), it
was stated that there are 12 000 known sex workers in the country.
Part of the event also focused on the
dissemination of Integrated Bio-behavioural Surveillance Survey (IBBSS), which
states that globally, the Key Populations (KPs) which are subpopulations within
the general population, including sex workers are at higher risk of HIV
exposure because they engage in highly stigmatised behaviours and often are
marginalised in their communities.
The sex-workers are also said to be called
sex-workers because they admitted to be making an income from ‘selling sex.’
Sharing their testimonials where
information on HIV/AIDS programmes for Key Populations, including female sex
workers, three of the four sex workers shared gritty encounters with the
police.
Stakeholders studying sex-workers said
rape among sex-workers was still happening unabated.
Bee Dlamini (not her real name) from
Manzini said she was assaulted all over the body by the police.
“I was bed-ridden for days and failed to
go out to hustle for my children,” she said to the attentive audience of over
200 people in attendance.
She said she tried to report the matter
against the police officers, whom she did not disclose, but her efforts were
watered down by the officers she found at the police station, who called her
with offensive words.
She said officers at the police station
said she reeked and ordered her to get out of their sight.
She said she was part of the sex-workers plying their trade at the city
centres, however, each time they would see the police, they evade them.
She said the patrolling police would chase
after them, extract them from their hiding places and assault them.
After the question and answer session as
soon as the panel had shared their experiences, one of the sex-workers claimed
a police officer picked her from the road and diverted her to a forest, where
he drew a gun.
She said the officer placed the firearm on
his thigh and ordered her to perform acts which cannot be repeated for ethical
reasons.
To read more of this report, click
here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=21139
SNAT
Secretary General Lot Vilakati: Numbers at Extraordinary General Meeting, a
clear indication that members are ready to defend their President
By
Colani Khulekani Maseko, Swaziland News, 16 September, 2023
MANZINI: Lot Vilakati, the Secretary
General (SG) of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) says, the
hundreds of teachers who attended the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is a
clear indication that, they are ready to defend their President Mbongwa Dlamini
and the union.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on
Saturday morning, Vilakati further said,as the National Executive Committee
(NEC) they will continue to stand with their dismissed President.
Mbongwa Dlamini, the SNAT President, was
dismissed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) for alleged absenteeism, he
was persecuted for representing teachers.
“The hundreds of teachers who attended the
Extraordinary General Meeting is a clear indication that they are ready to
defend their President and Union. As the leadership as well, we will continue
to stand by our President all the way. We also applaud the media for always
covering our struggles as teachers,” said the SNAT Secretary General.
Hundreds of teachers convened at the SNAT
Centre in Manzini on Friday to deliberate on a way forward regarding the
dismissal of their President Mbongwa Ernest Dlamini, among other issues.
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