Swaziland Newsletter No. 878 – 23 May 2025

 

Swaziland Newsletter No. 878 – 23 May 2025

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. The newsletter and past editions are also available online on the Swazi Media Commentary blogsite.

 

Multi Stakeholder Forum (MSF) calls for urgent national political dialogue amid deepening health crisis in eSwatini

By Anele Dlamini, Swaziland Democratic News, 16 May 2025

SOURCE 

MBABANE: The Multi-Stakeholder Forum Swaziland (MSF) has issued a strong call for an urgent national political dialogue, warning that the escalating health crisis in the country is a stark reflection of systemic governance failures.

In a statement released, the MSF expressed “profound concern and alarm” over the deteriorating health system, describing it as a symptom of broader, deeply rooted problems — including political repression, economic mismanagement and a lack of accountability in public investment.

“This is not an isolated incident,” the Forum noted. “It is a tragic consequence of decades of marginalizing voices calling for democratic reform and inclusive governance.” Referencing the historical legacy of authoritarian rule dating back to the April 12, 1973 decree and the limitations imposed by the 2005 Constitution, the MSF emphasized that true representation and participatory governance remain elusive for ordinary Swazis.

The Forum strongly criticized those who continue to endorse or legitimize a system they say is devoid of real democratic accountability. “This is not a time for divisive rhetoric or self-congratulatory pronouncements,” the statement declared. “It is a critical juncture demanding collective introspection and decisive action.”

The MSF linked the collapsing health system to a chain of related national crises, including soaring unemployment, a deteriorating education sector, widespread food insecurity and mounting public safety concerns, all symptoms of what it called a “state investment framework that lacks accountability and transparency.”

Calling for immediate and inclusive political dialogue, the Forum warned that continued complacency would only deepen the crisis and further erode the gains and hopes of past generations. “We must demand a platform where all voices are heard, where genuine solutions can be forged and where governance serves the interests of all emaSwati,” the MSF urged.

The statement concluded with a rallying call: “Indzaba yetfu sonkhe” — this is everyone’s issue. The MSF called on government, traditional leaders, civil society, business, labor and citizens alike to unite in forging a new national path grounded in justice, equity and transparency.

The health of the nation, they warned, depends not just on medicine or facilities, but on the political will to serve the people.

 

Trump’s budget cuts jeopardize eSwatini's healthcare and HIV treatment efforts

By Hyun Jung-min, Chosunbiz, 19 May 2025

SOURCE

Healthcare in Eswatini faces a critical crisis as reliance on U.S. funding wanes.

The health system of Eswatini, the last monarchy in southern Africa, is on the verge of collapse as the United States scales back more than 20 years of large-scale aid related to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Local hospitals, which have been absolutely dependent on U.S. funding, are suspending major medical services and laying off large numbers of staff, leaving thousands of patients without appropriate treatment.

On the 17th (local time), The Washington Post (WP) focused on the situation at the Miracle Campus hospital near the capital of Eswatini, Mbabane, and reported on the local healthcare crisis. This hospital, operated by the Christian nonprofit organization Luke Commission, was once a key facility that treated about 25% of the nation's HIV patients.

According to WP, Eswatini is the only monarchy in Africa and one of the countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. It is estimated that about one-third of the total population of 1.2 million people is infected with HIV. Since 2003, the U.S. has played a key role in combating HIV in Eswatini through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) by supporting antiviral medications, testing facilities, and medical personnel.

However, as recent PEPFAR funding has sharply diminished, the functions of Miracle Campus have effectively ground to a halt. Major departments, including obstetrics and gynecology, chronic disease management, and preventive care, have been closed, and nearly half of the 700 employees have been laid off.

This reduction in aid is a result of U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign aid cut policies. However, some point out that the Eswatini government has exacerbated the shock by failing to establish an independent healthcare system. They argue that due to excessive reliance on U.S. support, the country did not create the infrastructure needed for healthcare independence in a timely manner.

Structural problems within Eswatini also appear to have worsened the crisis. According to an internal report obtained by WP, local authorities purchased unnecessary or soon-to-expire medications at high prices, and some pharmaceutical companies provided luxury vehicles, travel expenses, and cash to officials to secure contracts.

To read more of this report, click here

https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-international/2025/05/19/DEYH55WAQRGBXG2RIP576X6VSA/

 

Three-month paperwork delays worsen drugs shortages

By Mfanukhona Nkambule, Times of eSwatini, 18 May 2025

SOURCE 

MBABANE: The pharmacy counters at public hospitals are sometimes empty or with a few medications.

As frustrations reach boiling point, doctors and nurses have resorted to a protest aimed at calling upon government to prioritise the health sector through provision of sufficient medicals required by patients.

They have embarked on protests at Mbabane Government Hospital, Mankayane Government Hospital and Nhlangano Health Centre.

It must be said that drugs shortages, long a periodic concern, have escalated in recent months to become a national emergency.

Occasionally, as criticism rains down upon the country’s pharmaceutical suppliers, which have been accused in some quarters of negligence or profiteering, two leading industry players have broken their silence, describing a procurement and importation system paralysed by bureaucracy and counterproductive regulatory double-handling.

Speaking under strict anonymity, the suppliers—herein referred to as supplier one and supplier two —provided detailed and, at times, damning testimony that pins the blame for medicine supply delays firmly on cumbersome governmental procedures.

What emerges is a story in which supplier culpability, often assumed, is undercut by what they describe as an ‘ordeal by paperwork’, stifling efficiency and sapping the goodwill of the very organisations relied upon to supply life-saving drugs.

Supplier one begins their account on receipt of an order for drugs from the Ministry of Health.

What might appear, to the outsider, a straightforward process of dispatching goods becomes a quagmire of regulatory hurdles even at the first hurdle.

Each product—be it a blister of antibiotics or a vial of insulin—must be listed on the Medicines Regulatory Unit (MRU) database.

This requirement extends to ensuring all registration documents for those products are up-to-date.

If even a single certificate has lapsed since the last procurement, the supplier must begin the process of collecting and resubmitting documentation from the original manufacturer.

“If everything is current, we proceed to request a Proforma Invoice (PFI) from our overseas manufacturer,” explains supplier one.

“We then submit this invoice to the MRU. Following that, the MRU must convene and issue an authorisation letter for import. Depending on when papers are received and how often the committee sits, this process can be a matter of days or stretch up to a week or more.”

This initial waiting game is compounded by the inflexibility of the scheduling.

To read more of this report, click here

http://www.times.co.sz/news/150237-3-month-paperwork-delays-worsen-drugs-shortages.html

 

PUDEMO mourns death of Sive Siyinqaba Chairperson ex-Senate Deputy President Ngomyayona Gamedze

By Bongiwe Dlamini, Swaziland News, 16 May 2025

SOURCE 

MBABANE: Penuel Malinga, the Secretary General of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has released a statement on behalf of the political organization, mourning the death of former Senate Deputy President Ngomyayona Gamedze, the Chairperson of Sive Siyinqaba National Movement.

In a statement sent to this Swaziland News on Friday, the PUDEMO Secretary General noted that, Gamedze was also playing a significant role in promoting football in the country as a Mbabane Highlanders administrator.

“The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) joins the people of Swaziland and the broader democratic movement in mourning the passing of Comrade Ngomuyayona Gamedze, Chairperson of the Sive Siyincaba National Movement. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, comrades, and the organisation he so faithfully served. We also extend our sympathy to the football fraternity, particularly Mbabane Highlanders Football Club where he once served as Club Chairman, the broader business community in which he was an active figure, and to his beloved community of Siphofaneni, which he called home. Comrade Gamedze was also a former National Team Manager, a former boxer, and a man whose impact was felt far beyond political spaces. Comrade Ngomuyayona Gamedze’s journey was one of profound transformation.

“He became a symbol of political awakening, redemption, and courage. Once a trusted servant of King Mswati’s regime, he served as Senate President within the Tinkhundla system. Over time, he came to recognise the truth about the monarchy’s misrule, its systematic repression, and the suffering it continues to impose on our people. Breaking away from the chains of royal patronage, Comrade Gamedze made a principled decision to abandon the regime. This decision came at great personal cost,” reads the statement in part.

 

Sive Siyinqaba Chairperson ex-Senate Deputy President Ngomyayona Gamedze

eSwatini wants its land from South Africa

By Staff reporter, Bulawayo24 News (South Africa)

SOURCE 

The King of Eswatini, Mswati III, has revived his kingdom's longstanding territorial claims against South Africa by appointing a new Border Restoration Committee (BRC), tasked with negotiating the return of land stolen during the colonial era.

The newly announced 15-member committee, which includes several royal family members and loyal monarchists, was unveiled on Monday. It will serve a five-year term and is the latest in a series of similar committees formed by the kingdom over the past decades. Despite repeated appointments, no progress has been made in reclaiming the disputed land.

Chief Mgebiseni Dlamini, a distant relative of King Mswati III, has been named chairperson of the committee. Speaking during the announcement, the King said the committee's mandate is to engage with South African authorities to push for the return of territories Eswatini claims were unjustly taken during the colonial period, particularly by Afrikaner farmers who initially leased the land before allegedly securing ownership through skewed arrangements.

The Eswatini monarchy maintains that vast areas of present-day South Africa, especially Mpumalanga province - formerly known as the Eastern Transvaal - were historically part of the Swazi kingdom. The current borders, they claim, were not only a product of colonial conquest but were also further distorted in the 1970s and 1980s by South African authorities using disease control, particularly foot and mouth outbreaks, as a pretext to redraw boundaries.

The kingdom is also asserting claims over portions of Gauteng province, including the town of Springs near Johannesburg, as well as several towns in KwaZulu-Natal. Eswatini argues that the Pongola River was historically the natural boundary between the Swazi and Zulu kingdoms, meaning towns such as Pongola, Ingwavuma, and Kosi Bay lie within Eswatini's rightful territory. The kingdom also emphasizes the spiritual significance of the Indian Ocean coast, where it traditionally collected sea water for sacred rituals like Incwala.

In 1982, the apartheid government of South Africa entered into an agreement with Eswatini to cede portions of Ingwavuma. However, the deal was blocked in court after legal action by the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, then the leader of the KwaZulu homeland government. The agreement was nullified, and the land remained under South African jurisdiction. In a show of control over the area, the KwaZulu government later built the Machobeni Royal Palace and held Zulu cultural events on the contested land.

Despite the symbolism of the BRC's reformation, critics have expressed skepticism about its effectiveness. Similar committees have been established every five years with little tangible progress in resolving the land dispute. Nonetheless, the Eswatini monarchy remains committed to pursuing its claims and views the matter as part of a broader struggle to reverse colonial-era injustices.

There has been no official response from the South African government regarding the new BRC or Eswatini's latest push to revisit territorial boundaries. The situation adds to ongoing discussions in the region about colonial borders and the lingering legacy of imperial land arrangements in post-independence Africa.

 

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