Swaziland Newsletter No. 866 – 28 February 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.
Justice
delayed as courts backlog at 29 690 cases
By
Kwanele Dlamini, Times of eSwatini, 25 February 2025
MBABANE: “Delayed justice is worthless.” In the country, a collage of challenges is contributing to the delay in serving the public justice; resulting in some accused persons returning to the societies where they are accused of inflicting pain through a variety of criminal acts. As such, this has led to a huge backlog of cases, tipping the scales at 29 690 in all the courts.
Aside from the backlog of cases and shortage of human resources, among other
challenges, the infrastructure assigned to the Judiciary is said to be
insufficient as judicial officers share courtrooms and are also in a
dilapidated state.
These inefficiencies, according to the
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Annual Performance Report for
the financial year 2024/25, are the genesis of the backlog of cases in the
courts. The veracity of these findings is still to be tested, as the
report is yet to be debated in Parliament. The report was tabled in Parliament
by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Prince Simelane.
There has been a significant shortage of
personnel in the courts and Master’s Office due to the non-appointment of the
Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which was last in office around August 2024.
To date, a new JSC is still to be appointed. Ever since the expiry of the
term of Office of the JSC last year, contracts of employment of acting judges,
magistrates and assistant masters, could not be renewed. The appointment and
renewal of employment contracts for these officers is the responsibility of the
JSC. Section 159 of the Constitution provides that there shall be an
independent Judicial Service Commission for Eswatini, which shall consist of
the following; the chief justice, who is its chairman, two legal practitioners
of not less than seven years of practice and in good professional standing to
be appointed by the King as well as two persons appointed by the King.
According to the annual report, many posts
in the Judiciary for judges, magistrates, assistant registrars, assistant
masters, clerks, secretaries, typists and estate examiners need to be filled.
The report contains a comprehensive overview of the status of court cases
across various jurisdictions within the reporting period. A recurring
theme is the presence of pending or backlog cases. Many courts show a
significant number of cases carried over from previous quarters, indicating
potential delays in the judicial process.
To
read more of this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/149610-justice-delayed-as-courts-backlog-at-29-690-cases.html
eSwatini
absolute Monarchy Government defying all court orders delivered in favour of
dismissed Teachers Union President
By
Bongiwe Dlamini, Swaziland News, 25 February 2025
MBABANE: Mbongwa Dlamini, the dismissed
President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) is currently
sitting at home despite the existence of three (3) court orders reinstating
him, including the payment of his outstanding salaries.
Eswatini is an absolute Monarchy, court
orders that do not favour the Government are vigorously defied with impunity.
The police are normally unleashed to
enforce court orders that promote the persecution of political activists and
human rights defenders, citizens are also persecuted for demanding adherence to
court orders.
As a result, police led by Assistant
Superintendent Nuro Ntibane allegedly assaulted Lot Vilakati, the SNAT
Secretary General and other Executive members merely for visiting the Offices
of the Ministry of Education-Teaching Service Commission (TSC) to demand the
reinstatement of the SNAT President including the payment of his outstanding
salaries.
Education Minister Owen Nxumalo promised
to work on the matter when addressing the SNAT Executive members on Monday but
on the other hand, the State “has filed an application for leave to appeal the
decision as a systematic way to delay the matter further and, defy the court
orders”.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala when
addressing the Annual Judicial Conference in Rwanda last week, confirmed that,
court orders are not respected in some African countries, Maphalala is
currently under political pressure to reverse a court order awarding junior
police officers their salary increment.
Country
runs out of dialysis treatment
By
Sithembile Hlatshwayo, eSwatini Observer, 27 February 2025
OVER 230 dialysis patients receiving
treatment at Mbabane Government and Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospitals
have pressed the panic button as they have been advised that there is only a
week’s supply of medication.
This follows the suspension of the
dialysis services at the RFM Hospital about a week ago, after running short of
the supplies. Such has resulted in an influx at the Mbabane Government
Hospital.
Currently, over 300 patients receive
dialysis treatment in the country. Mbabane Government Hospital assists around
190 patients, RFM over 45 while the Hlatikulu Government Hospital assists over
40.
Dialysis is provided by two companies;
Nipro and Fresenius which are South African (SA) based. Nipro is servicing the
Hlatikulu Government and Fresenius supports the RFM and Mbabane Government
Hospitals.
Information gathered by this publication
from a reliable source is that the country ordered supplies provided by the SA
company which is currently undergoing major changes within their management and
these are now affecting supplies locally.
A source close to the matter stated that
some of the supplies paid for under the existing contract remain with the
supplier and had left the country in this situation.
The source stated that when the ministry
requested the supplies, they were informed that the transition did not allow
for them to release anything but to hold on until everything is sorted.
supplies
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry
of Health Khanya Mabuza confirmed that the country had been having challenges
with supplies lately.
To
read more of this report, click here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=23520
eSwatini’s success against snakebite under
threat after USAID funding freeze
By Paul
Eccles, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 21 February 2025
Country that ‘achieved the impossible’
in reducing deaths to zero now faces closure of key treatment centre
In Eswatini, remarkable progress has been
made against snakebite, one of the world’s most deadly neglected diseases. Yet
this success is now under urgent threat from funding cuts, intensified by
Donald Trump’s recent freeze on US foreign aid.
Snakebite is a major killer in many
African countries, where effective treatment has been plagued with issues for
years. In 2023 it killed an estimated 20,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa
alone. A major investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
this month revealed an
antivenom market in sub-Saharan Africa blighted by ineffective medicines, bad
regulation and fraudulent research.
Eswatini, however, stands in marked
contrast to many of its neighbours as an extraordinary success story – and
recorded zero snakebite deaths for the first time in its recent summer season,
when rates are typically high. At its peak the disease is estimated to have
caused more than 60 deaths a year in the country.
Central to this progress has been the Luke
Commission, a hospital that has come to act as the country’s go-to referral
destination for people with serious snakebites. Earlier this month it closed
its doors to most patients following sudden cuts to its funding from USAID, the
US government’s main overseas aid agency.
The hospital told TBIJ that the US funding
cut was one of a number of factors that led to the closure.
“We’re at risk of going back to the dark
ages,” said Thea Litschka-Koen, a leading snakebite expert in the country. “Now
we’ve got nowhere to send [snakebite patients]. We’ll go back to losing more
than 60 lives a year.”
Eswatini’s success in tackling snakebites
has been described by the World Health Organization’s leading expert on
snakebite, Dr David Williams, as “an example to the rest of Africa, and to the
world”.
He put it down to a “holistic approach”
that incorporates educating people on how to respond to a snakebite alongside
access to good-quality medicine and care.
Much of Eswatini’s healthcare for
snakebite has come via the Luke Commission, which Litschka-Koen says has
treated more than 1,000 snakebite patients over the past six years.
However on 6 February, the hospital closed
its doors. At the end of January, management had received written notice from
the US government of an immediate pause in its support. In a
statement posted on its website on
15 February, the hospital said: “Due to the [USAID] funding pause and a written
stop order requiring immediate compliance, we have temporarily closed the
campus to most patients.”
A sign outside the Luke Commission this month
It is among the many health facilities
around the world whose futures have been thrown into uncertainty in the wake of
Donald Trump’s move to shut down USAID altogether.
The Luke Commission told TBIJ that it had
received money from USAID for more than 15 years and the support accounted for
about a quarter of its total funding. The money allowed the hospital to
allocate unrestricted funding to its snakebite programme.
The hospital told TBIJ its closure is
temporary. It also said cuts from USAID followed the long-term financial strain
of Covid and issues with other funding allocations.
It said it is “doing everything in its
power” to keep its snakebite programme running but admitted that
“sustainability remains a serious concern … Without sustained resources, this
progress is at risk”.
“I am broken,” said Litschka-Koen, who
founded and runs the Eswatini Antivenom Foundation.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Philip
Price, scientific director of antivenom company EchiTAb-Plus-ICP. “Eswatini had
achieved the impossible.”
EchiTAb-Plus-ICP is the global distributor
in an antivenom project that has played a central role in the turnaround in
Eswatini. Along with the Eswatini Antivenom Foundation, the Luke Commission is
one of the main buyers of the Echitab antivenom for Eswatini, buying hundreds
of vials per year in order to maintain a steady supply for the country.
Eswatini underwent “three years of hell”
with unreliable antivenom supply, according Litschka-Koen, until her
not-for-profit Eswatini Antivenom Foundation (EAF) began working with the
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, a research centre in Costa Rica, to create
an antivenom tailored to work
against snakes found in Eswatini. Litschka-Koen said the new antivenom has been
“life-changing.” The collaboration benefited from international funding, which
is often scarce for snakebite.
To read more of this report, click
here
and to read the full investigation,
click here
Opinion
by Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 24th February, 2025
The Judiciary in this country is fast
becoming a Spaza shop just like the captured media, judgments that do not
favour the Government are systematically defied through consistent reviews.
But before I blame the ruling Tinkhundla
undemocratic system of Governance, let me hasten to state or highlight that,
the regime has what is known as “enablers” being individuals who surrendered
themselves to do the ‘dirty work’ on its behalf.
Indeed, Tinkhundla is not a human being
with a “chief code” or identification documents but, an undemocratic regime
that needs “enablers” so that it’s political machinery could function smoothly
and, effectively.
Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala recently
addressed the Annual Judicial Conference in Rwanda where he expressed serious
concerns that, the Judiciary is not respected in African countries.
Perhaps, the Chief Justice was literally
afraid to single-out eSwatini and opted to generalize, this is a Judge who
wants his judgments to be taken seriously.
The CJ is currently under political
pressure to reverse a judgement awarding junior police officers a salary
increment under Phase two(2) and worth-noting, in that judgement, Chief Justice
Bheki Maphalala tried to systematically explain to the Tinkhundla regime that,
the judgement was in the interest of state security.
But unfortunately, his explanation fell on
deaf ears, the regime is now after him and even if can survive the current
political storm, he will be expected to behave and be an unapologetic defender
of the Tinkhundla regime.
The Chief Justice is literally under
pressure to resign, in the eyes of the regime Maphalala is a used “political
condom” that belongs to the dustbin and, the regime now wants fresh ‘durex
condoms’.
In politics, ‘political condoms’ are
often changed to renew strength and inspire public confidence as the masses are
easily tricked, by the appointment or introduction of new faces hoping things
will change.
Well, in my career as a journalist I once
had an opportunity to be invited for lunch in Mbabane by Judge Thomas Masuku,
one of the most respected Judges in eSwatini and the entire continent.
About fifteen (15) years ago, I asked
Judge Masuku to advise me what I must do in order to become a respected and
credible journalist and, this is what he said;
“Being a journalist is almost similar to
being a Judge. You are the ‘Judge’ in the court of public opinion, people
conclude that some individuals are corrupt or credible based on the information
you provide to them. Therefore, you must remain independent, fair and
impartial at all times and avoid being captured”.
To read more of this commentary,
click here
https://swazilandnews.co.za/fundza.php?nguyiphi=8469
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