Swaziland Newsletter No. 830 – 7 June 2024
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.
Persecution of SNAT
President, Public Transport Union boss Sticks Nkambule landed eSwatini on
International Labour Organization (ILO) Special Agenda
By Bongiwe
Dlamini, Swaziland News, 4 June 2024
MBABANE: Mduduzi Gina, the Secretary General of the Trade Union
Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) says, the ongoing persecution of Mbongwa
Dlamini, the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT)
and Public Transport Union Secretary General Sticks Nkambule landed eSwatini on
the International Labour Organization (ILO)Special Paragraph Agenda.
Eswatini, a tiny Kingdom situated in Southern Africa is
violating workers’ rights, trade union leaders are arrested, tortured or
dismissed for representing the interests of workers.
Speaking to this Swaziland News Current Affairs program on
Tuesday morning, the TUCOSWA Secretary General said, the banning of protests in
the country by the Government was also reported to ILO as this, affected the
work of unions.
“We have seen Government persecuting Mbongwa Dlamini and Sticks
Nkambule for representing workers. The banning of protests by Government
through an order directed to Town Councils not to grant permission to those who
want to protest, affected the work of unions and these issues will be discussed
by ILO this week”, said the TUCOSWA Secretary General.
During the discussions of the complaints filed by the workers
with ILO, Government will be represented by Labour Minister Phila Buthelezi, Principal
Secretary Makhosini Mndzawe, Labour Commissioner Mthunzi Shabangu while Nathie
Dlamini, the Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will be
representing the interests of employers.
Gina said, being on the ILO Special Paragraph places eSwatini at
the risk of being avoided by foreign investors or international partners.
“Foreign investors consider such issues before investing in any
country because they don’t want to invest in countries that violate workers’
rights because, such countries are at the risk of being sanctioned or isolated
by the world. It is for these reasons government takes the issue of being
placed on the Special Paragraph seriously”, said the TUCOSWA Secretary General.
Torture for suspected
criminals
Andile
Nsibande, Times of eSwatini, 4 June 2024
LAVUMISA - Imbongolo or
mjikeni has become the new language or rather another brutal way to counter
rampant crime in Lavumisa and surrounding areas.
Imbongolo
or mjikeni is the new form of punishment or torture adopted by Lavumisa folks,
which involves tying a suspected criminal to a log suspended between two
Y-shaped poles on each end or stripping the suspect naked and making them lie
flat over a drum before administering a beating and even torching the suspect
in the event they delay confessing to committing a crime.
Imbongolo
is a donkey in vernacular, while mjikeni refers to a game of see-saw, and the
terms may have been chosen by the residents for the resemblance of the
punishment to the acts of riding the domestic animal and playing the game of
see-saw.
It
is alleged that a number of people have lost their lives through this brutal
way of punishing suspects or method of extracting a confession from criminal
elements, according to a member of a community policing forum from Mpalane, at
Qomintaba.
This
is the same area which is currently engulfed by tensions and the threat of more
open violence following the recent torching of two young lads after they were
suspected of stealing dagga and cash from a certain homestead.
“Yes,
people decided it was enough after crime became rampant. Criminal elements were
stealing valuables like cellphones from homes, some taking away the little that
people had harvested as a way of earning an income. So, it was decided that the
best way to curb the scourge was dealing with the criminal elements straight
away. We lost one boy who was torched with an accomplice last week, then
another one was killed in a neighbouring area, apart from the four who died around
Nkonka (also situated around Lavumisa),” narrated a man who spoke under the
condition of anonymity.
To
read more of this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/145443-imbongolo-mjikeni-torture-for-suspected-criminals.html
EU Bushfire Schools
Festival 2024 in eSwatini brings together 600 learners for art expression
European Union, 3 June
2024
 |
| Photo copyright EU |
On 30 May 2024, in the context of Europe month,
the European
Union in Eswatini, in partnership with
Bushfire, organised the 13th edition of the EU Bushfire Schools
Festival which brought together more than 600 learners from high schools and
out-of-school youth clubs from around Eswatini for a day of self-expression in
the many languages of art.
Organised under the theme: “Art Effect:
The Transformative Power of Artistic Expression in the Creative Economy”, the
festival provided a platform for the young people to experience the magic of
art and learning through performances and workshops whilst also discovering
career possibilities in the creative art industry in Eswatini.
At the end of the festival, the learners
composed and performed a song titled 'United in Diversity' which is
the motto of the European Union. The students composed the song as part of
their creative activities during the festival.
For the first time this year, teenagers
from the refugee reception centre at Malindza, east of Eswatini, also
participated in the festival along with students with special needs from
institutions such as the school for the deaf in Siteki, also in the east.
The programme featured, amongst other
things, drama, gumboot dancing, story-telling, poetry and orchestra
performances.
The festival has been organised since 2010
and takes place ahead of the world-acclaimed MTN Bushfire music festival and
uses the same infrastructure.
To read more of this report, click
here
Doctors’
12 demands to medical aid schemes
By
Sibusiso Dlamini, eSwatini Observer, 3 June 2024
Doctors have listed 12 demands to medical
aid schemes, threatening to reject medical aid starting on July 1st if their
conditions aren’t met.
The doctors, who run practices, issued the
ultimatum on Friday when they sent a letter of demand to all medical aid
schemes in the country through their association; the Eswatini Private Doctors
Association (EPDA) following an extraordinary general meeting held the previous
week.
Among the demands was that payments of
claims be made within one week, as timely payments are crucial for the survival
of their practices, saying they found it unacceptable for service providers to
wait a month for claims to be settled given the introduction of electronic
claims submissions.
They also want fair pricing policies,
stating that medical aid schemes should not dictate prices for professional
services in a free market as this undermined, the autonomy of healthcare
providers.
“By 1st July, medical aid schemes must
meet these 12 demands, or doctors will begin rejecting medical aid cards,
compelling patients to pay cash for consultations and minor procedures,” reads
a part of the letter endorsed by the association’s President Dr. Muyabala Muna.
The move by the doctors comes after
reports of frustration and financial strain due to delayed payments and alleged
opaque practices by the medical aid schemes.
To read more of this report, click
here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=22521
King Mswati to fly to
Singapore for medical checkup, no drugs in eSwatini public hospitals
By
Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 30 May, 2024
MBABANE: King Mswati is highly expected to
fly to Singapore for medical checkups at the time when the eSwatini public
hospitals face shortage of drugs, hundreds have died since the health crisis
erupted.
The King who is fresh from a Taiwan visit,
indicated that he will travel this week when addressing members of the Shembe
Nazareth Church at Ludzidzini Royal Palace last week, however, he did not
mention the countries he might visit.
“I was told that your prayer service event
was supposed to be held next week.But as I won’t be available, I decided to see
you before I go”, said the King.
This journalist then contacted royal
sources close to Mswati who confirmed to this Swaziland News that, the King
will be traveling to Singapore allegedly,f or medical checkups and then South
Korea.
Eswatini authorities receive quality
healthcare in other countries amid the collapsed health system in this tiny
Kingdom.
eSwatini faces maize shortage, spike
in food prices
ByMthunzi Mdluli, Times of eSwatini, 30
May 2024
MBABANE: Seemingly, Eswatini
is far from attaining its desired food security status, as it has recorded an
acute decline in its maize yield for 2024.
According to the final
post-harvest assessment report issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, the
country recorded 75 000 metric tonnes this year, which is a far cry from the
140 000 metric tonnes annual target. The ministry said the maize yield was
lower than that of last year, when the country recorded 85 000 metric tonnes. This
means that Eswatini is expected to import 65 000 metric tonnes, almost half of
the maize needed by the country.
Following such a decline,
consumers must brace themselves for a sharp increase in food prices in the
upcoming months. Meanwhile, Nelson Mavuso, the Director of Agriculture,
said this was an unfortunate situation for the country as the National Maize
Corporation (NMC) would have to look for alternative markets outside the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) to buy maize, because all the
major producing countries are faced with the same predicament. Mavuso said
countries like Zambia, Malawi and South Africa indicated that they would not be
selling their maize this year to countries like Eswatini, since they also had
insufficient produce.
To read more of this
report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/145352-eswatini-faces-maize-shortage-spike-in-food-prices.html
Belarus and eSwatini establish diplomatic relations
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, 5 June 2024
On June 4, 2024 a Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of
Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Kingdom of
Eswatini was signed in Pretoria [South Africa] by the Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of South Africa,
Igor Bely, and the High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Eswatini to the Republic
of South Africa, Lindiwe Kunene.
This event paves way to opportunities for the development of
the entire range of relations between both nations in political dialogue,
promotion of trade and economic cooperation, creating ties in the fields of
education, healthcare, science and technologies, cultural exchange.
In certain areas of cooperation work between two countries is
already underway. There is a mutual interest in providing a legal framework for
the relations between Belarus and Eswatini.
To read more of this report, click here
https://mfa.gov.by/en/press/news_mfa/c5580a3b57e6fbfa.html
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