SWAZILAND’S SILENT HIV EPIDEMIC

Foreign Policy

12 July 2011

SOURCE

The first shock for visitors to Swaziland is how beautiful it is. Most of the year, the high-veld areas sport endless green mountains with scattered homesteads and roaming cows and goats. There is no such thing as a bad view in Swaziland. Nearly every home, outside the few small bustling areas, is the beginning and end to a private hike that can go on for hours. Watering holes and waterfalls tend to be hidden, rather than pointed to by arrows and neon signs, and provide a perfect place to have a romantic picnic or quiet game of Scrabble.

The second shock is the quietness of its HIV epidemic. Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with nearly a fifth of the population infected. The per capita numbers dwarf even other highly affected sub-Saharan countries such as South Africa and Botswana. One might expect HIV to slap you in the face. But there are no buildings collapsed by an HIV earthquake, no towns flooded by an HIV tsunami. No zombie-sick people dripping HIV from their eyeballs. You don't see obvious signs of it outside of the clinics and hospitals or the privacy of homesteads.

And though it is a subtle emergency, everyone in Swaziland is aware of HIV, and those who were born with the virus have to prepare for a lifetime of being positive. At mass HIV-testing sessions run by the charity Young Heroes and held throughout Swaziland, children stand in a tight formation, shoulder to shoulder in two parallel lines facing one another. A game leader hands a tennis ball to one side, and the children pass it hand to hand behind their backs. Once time is called, the opposite line must guess where the ball is. Only rarely does a smirk or dropped ball give its location away. The ball represents HIV. Anyone can have it, but you will rarely know for certain even with a deep stare at the surface.

To read the full article in Foreign Policy, click here.

See also

MONEY RUNS OUT FOR AIDS DRUGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/06/cash-runs-out-for-aids-drugs.html

KING AND P.M. DON’T AGREE ON PEACE

They can’t both be right. This week we had King Mswati III writing that Swaziland is a peace loving kingdom and just a few days later Barnabas Dlamini, the man he illegally appointed Prime Minister, says there is a continuous terrorist threat.

The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) pointed this out in a response to Dlamini’s much publicised statement on the future direction of Swaziland.

SCCCO says in a statement, ‘The Government continues to hold on to the myth that there is a terrorist threat in Swaziland. We would like to remind them that terrorism is of a scale and degree far beyond the low levels of politically based violence that Swaziland has encountered in the last few years.

‘His Majesty, King Mswati III wrote in an international article this week that Swaziland is a peaceful and happy country. He actually says ‘As a peace loving nation, the Kingdom of Swaziland strongly believes in promoting dialogue to address national issues and challenges. It is for that reason that our country is known all over the world to be the oasis of peace.’

‘His Prime Minister singles out Terrorism as a “continuous threat”. All of the actions under the Suppression of Terrorism Act are against Swazis not foreigners – can both be true? Or is the reality that the Suppression of Terrorism Act is merely a vehicle for silencing legitimate dissent?’

SCCCO is also concerned that there is no structure in place for the Prime Minister’s statement to be questioned or debated.

The analysis covers a wide range of policy topics including law enforcement, political objectives, economic objectives, foreign policy objectives, independence of the judiciary and the duties of the citizen.

To read the statement in full, click here.

SWAZI KING CAUSES TRAIN WRECK

Swaziland’s King Mswati III is the fifth youngest national leader in the world, according to a report just released.

The Times Sunday reported yesterday (4 January 2009) that King Mswati, aged 40, was among a list released by what the newspaper called an ‘internationally renowned’ group in the US called Foreign Policy.

I assume the Times Sunday decided to call the group ‘internationally renowned’ because this would add an extra bit of gloss to the news.

King Mswati, who assumed power at the age of 18, isn’t included in the list on merit. He was never elected to the position and there is no way of getting rid of him if his subjects don’t like the way he rules. He is, as we know, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa and he rules with an iron fist as his current war against his own people testifies.

I’m not sure why the Times Sunday chose to publicise the Foreign Policy report but it has been dishonest with its readers. Foreign Policy does not praise the king. In its report it says, ‘Mswati was crowned king a mere six days after his 18th birthday, and the country has been a train wreck ever since.’

It goes on to say, ‘An estimated 26 percent of Swazis between ages 15 and 49 are HIV positive, one of the highest rates in the world. Mswati’s brilliant solution: a sex ban. In 2001, he instated the uncwasho rite, which put a five-year ban on sex for females under 18. The move proved unpopular, especially after Mswati - who at last count had 13 wives and at least 23 children - married a 17-year-old. The ban was lifted a year early.’