Swaziland Newsletter No.
845 – 20 September 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.
Shocker: 28.6% girls
below 13yrs sexually abused – report
By Sithembile Hlatshwayo, Times of eSwatini, 13
September 2024
MBABANE: There is an increase
in the number of girls below 13 years, who are sexually abused.
According to the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) 2022 Final
Report, 28.6 per cent of the girls were found to be sexually abused in the
country. The report was presented to the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thuli
Dladla at Mountain View Hotel, yesterday. This is the second and most
recent study to be conducted following another one in 2007.
Presenting the statistics, Senior Children Coordination Officer Sibongile
Dlamini said this is very much shocking, adding that this is also reflected in recent
newspaper headlines, where a 13-year-old was found raped in Matsapha and
pregnant. This, she said, needs the DPM’s Office to work harder in addressing
the issues of violence against children in the country. Dlamini stated
that four forms of sexual violence are experienced by children, including
unwanted sexual touching, unwanted attempted sex, pressured sex and physically
forced sex.
She added that one in four
females experiences sexual violence and most common perpetrators of the first
incident of sexual violence are known to the families and sometimes neighbours.
“Two out of three female
survivors of sexual violence, about 66.3 per cent and one out of two male
survivors of sexual violence, about 48.4 per cent told someone about their
experience,” Dlamini said. Among females, about 4.6 per cent experienced
unwanted sexual touching, 3.7 per cent experienced unwanted attempted sex, 1.7
per cent experienced pressured sex and 2.2 per cent experienced physically
forced sex. There were 2.9 per cent who experienced pressured or
physically forced sex. Among females aged 13 to 24 years, who had sex were 16.7
per cent and 1.3 per cent of males had pressured or physically forced sex at
first sexual debut. There were 1.5 per cent of males who experienced unwanted
sexual touching and 1.6 per cent who experienced unwanted attempted sex.
To read more of
this report, click here
After ‘verbal
attack’ by journalist, eSwatini plans ‘redesign’ in how citizens are to be
informed
By Lenin Ndebele, News 24 (South Africa), 16
September2024
The Eswatini government is
contemplating shutting down the country’s Editors Forum after a senior
journalist had a verbal showdown with Prime Minister Russell Dlamini on Friday.
In a statement, government
spokesperson Alpheus Nxumalo said the editor of The Nation magazine, Bheki
Makhubu, “meted a verbal attack” and, in the process, brought the name of King
Mswati III into a discussion that had nothing to do with him during the Editors
Forum breakfast meeting.
Nxumalo added that it was not
the first time Makhubu had behaved in such a manner towards Dlamini.
“To protect the office of the
prime minister, the government has taken a decision to redesign how the public
will be informed about government business and issues of national importance
going forward,” Nxumalo said.
In an interview with News24,
Makhubu said the government was at loggerheads with the media, and that the
vindictiveness towards journalists extended to the courts.
“There’s an ongoing fight
between the state and the media over freedom of speech. It’s a battle that’s
been going on for a while now and it includes the courts, which are extremely
hostile towards the media. The authorities want the media to operate on their
terms, so some of us are resisting that,” he said.
Makhubu said that, during the
Friday meeting, Dlamini told journalists to “be patriotic and report only
positively on the government”, said Makhubu.
“This was our third
interaction with him on this forum since he was appointed to office and we have
realised that not only is he very hostile to the media, he is contemptuous of
journalists.
“My outburst was a reaction to
his very patronising attitude.”
Makhubu also drew parallels
with King Mswati III’s 38-year rule.
“I said to him, even King
Mswati III, who has ruled this country for 38 years, has never treated us the
way the prime minister does. That is why I asked him who he thinks he is,” he
said.
In 2014, Makhubu and the late
human rights defender, Thulani Maseko, were jailed in connection with separate articles each had
written that criticised the late Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi.
They were sentenced to two
years each, in what the courts said was a deterrent sentence for would-be
offenders.
Makhubu spent 447 days in
jail.
In February this year, Dlamini
began his term of office with a threat to
regulate the media. He
vowed to enact the Media Commission Bill to maintain a tight grip on the media
space.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Eswatini, as an absolute monarchy, prevents
journalists from working freely and independently.
See also
Eswatini King Mswati accused
of muzzling the media
Collaborative
efforts in eSwatini set to transform education with strategic plan for ODL
initiatives
Commonwealth of Learning, 17 September 2024
In a significant advancement
for education in Eswatini, the Emlalatini Development Centre (EDC) is taking
meaningful strides to enhance its Open Schooling (OS) and Open and Distance
Learning (ODL) programmes. This progress is the result of a successful collaboration
with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), EDC, and the Eswatini Ministry of
Education and Training (MoET). The partnership has proven instrumental in the
development and implementation of open educational resources (OERs) that have
notably improved educational outcomes during challenging times, particularly
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the lockdown periods
imposed by the pandemic, EDC, through this partnership, adeptly transitioned to
online learning. The collaboration led to the creation of over 1,500 OERs for
nine Junior Secondary subjects housed on a centralised learning management
system (LMS). This robust repository enabled EDC learners to continue their
education uninterrupted. Building on this success, the partnership expanded in
2021, developing over 1,800 additional OERs for 12 senior secondary subjects.
These resources supported EDC’s students and contributed to a remarkable
performance in the national Eswatini General Certificate for Secondary
Education examinations.
Encouraged by these results,
EDC recognised the need to scale up its ODL and blended learning initiatives.
To address this, a strategic
workshop was conducted from 9 – 13 September 2024. This one-week workshop,
organised by COL in collaboration with MoET, focused on developing a
comprehensive, costed strategic plan to expand EDC’s educational offerings and
make these advancements accessible to conventional schools
across Eswatini.
To read more of this report, click here
eSwatini activists
say park rangers shoot suspected poachers with impunity
By Nokukhanya Musi, Voice of America, 16 September
2024
MBABANE: Some Eswatini
legislators, backed by human rights activists, are calling for an urgent review
of the Game Act of 1991, a law they say allows wildlife park rangers to shoot
and kill suspected poachers with little or no accountability.
Game park owners have defended
these shootings for years as necessary to protect animals. But critics contend
that the Game Act instead jeopardizes human life.
Human rights lawyer Thabiso
Mavuso of the Law Society of Swaziland, who has represented the families of
shooting victims, says the law not only allows game rangers to use lethal force
with impunity but also shields them from legal accountability.
“We have seen here in Eswatini
the killing, injury and torture of people, some as young as 13 years and some
in their 60s, but nothing has been done against the perpetrators ... ,” Mavuso
said. “This law needs reform. It must be aligned with human rights and general
principles of constitutionalism such as accountability and responsibility.”
No one has exact numbers for
how many suspected poachers have been killed in Eswatini’s game parks, but the
Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs estimates dozens are slain each
year.
Game ranger Mandla Motsa told
VOA that it is rangers who need protection and that the Game Law should not be
altered.
“We have lost a lot of rangers
- some have been killed and others injured,” Motsa said. “Almost all the time,
the poachers shoot at rangers first. There has been a wrong narrative that we
value the lives of animals more than that of humans. What people are forgetting
is that there are two sides of lives involved in this issue and that is that of
the ranger and the poacher. So, amending the Game Act would be to make it seem
that our lives as rangers are also not important.”
However, political analyst
Mandla Hlatshwayo said the killings in the parks are a consequence of the
government’s abuse of power under the guise of environmental protection.
“What’s happening in the
country in my view has nothing to do with environmental protection,” Hlatshwayo
said. “The killing of so-called poachers in the manner that it’s actually
taking place is wrong and must be condemned in the strongest of terms. We are
witnessing the cold-blooded execution of suspects under circumstances that are
very questionable. This is simple murder that is being condoned by the
authorities, mainly because the victims are poor people with no power to fight
back.”
Former Senator Ngomayayona
Gamedze, whose family has suffered losses at the hands of game rangers, says
the act must be amended to prioritize the sanctity of human life.
“Wildlife in Eswatini is now
accorded higher status and greater protection than human beings,” Gamedze said.
“This must be addressed by our legislators before human lives are further
disregarded. Game rangers hold immense power over ordinary Swazis who love
hunting, yet are penalized to the extent of death without trial. It is an
injustice that the people of Eswatini are treated as less than animals, and a
review of the Game Act is needed to prevent further loss of life.”
Government spokesperson
Alpheous Nxumalo said a motion from senators to amend the Gaming Act was being
debated and that a vote was pending.
See also
Mlawula,Mbuluzi
Game Rangers shoot and kill Mfanzile Sigwane, another for walking next to Game
Reserves.
https://swazilandnews.co.za/fundza.php?nguyiphi=7380
Ties with eSwatini
‘stable’: Taiwan’s foreign minister
By Teng Pei-ju, Focus Taiwan, 13 September 2024
Taipei: (CNA) Taiwan’s
diplomatic relations with Eswatini remain “stable,” Foreign Minister Lin
Chia-lung said Friday in response to reports that the country’s only African
ally is pivoting toward China.
Taiwan’s relations with
Eswatini are “stable” and “solid,” Lin told local media at a ceremony in
Taipei, noting that the situation portrayed in media reports does not exist.
Lin said Eswatini’s king
Mswati III visited Taiwan in May to attend President Lai Ching-te’s inauguration,
which was followed by the signing of a joint statement reaffirming bilateral
ties between Taiwan and Eswatini.
In addition, the two countries
have developed “wide” and “multi-faceted” collaborations over the last 56 years
in areas such as medicine, agriculture and communications, Lin added.
Lin’s comments came a few days
after African media, Semafor Africa, cited the Eswatini business community as
reporting that the kingdom’s authorities were thawing relations with Beijing,
in line with the increasing presence of Chinese businesses in the country.
The report also quoted Taiwan’s
ambassador to Eswatini, Jeremy Liang, as expressing concern that an influx of
Chinese nationals into Eswatini would “undermine” Taiwan’s ties with Africa’s
small landlocked country.
Eswatini is one of only 12
states worldwide and the last in Africa to maintain diplomatic relations with
the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name.
The two countries established
formal diplomatic ties in 1968.
See also
Chinese roots
deepen in Africa’s last Taiwan holdout
https://www.semafor.com/article/09/10/2024/china-ramps-up-ties-in-eswatini-africas-last-taiwan-ally
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