Swaziland Newsletter No. 849– 18
October 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.
People survive on boiled leaves - MP Marwick
By Phephile Motau, eSwatini Observer, 11
October 2024
LOBAMBA: Lomdzala Member of
Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo says people are surviving on boiled leaves
because of hunger.
The MP was speaking at the
House of Assembly on Wednesday during the debate on a motion directed to the
Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thuli Dladla on when they would start food
distribution to the hungry Emaswati.
In her response, Dladla said
food would be availed to 13 of the most vulnerable constituencies. She added
that more rice would arrive in the country, and it would be distributed to 250
households per constituency.
The sentiments of the MP were
shared by the DPM. Khumalo said it was a fact that people were hungry. He
said in their constituencies, people were calling everyday asking for food.
He said the contents of the
DPM’s report were unacceptable as it was imperative that government
reviewed the issue because Emaswati would accuse them of being uncaring.
“Unemployment rates have
dramatically increased from 10 years ago and so have the poverty levels. People
have lost their jobs more than in the past. We cannot then say food relief
should be reduced,” he said.
Khumalo said the report was
unacceptable, but the DPM should work with what she had. She said the process
of distributing the food must be transparent and every MP should know what they
would get to feed those in their constituencies.
Khumalo said the DPM should
consider the matter when doing the supplementary budget.
“We are not being a welfare state, but it is our reality. People are boiling
leaves, just to eat. The little we get must go to the people, but we want more,
it is not enough,” Khumalo said.
He said he knew that the
response of the DPM was based on available resources, but it was not even
meeting half of the country’s requirements of food.
To read more of
this report, click here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=22738
Divert all funds to address health crisis - MPs
By Nonduduzo Kunene, Times of eSwatini, 10
October 2024
LOBAMBA: Members of Parliament
(MPs) have urged government to bring a loan Bill that will address the entire
health crisis.
The legislators further called
for the health crisis to be declared a disaster and that all funds should be
diverted to deal with the crisis in the health system. The MPs noted that
despite the E3 billion budget given to the Ministry of Health, there are still
financial gaps that have to be filled by the budget, dating back to 10 years
ago. Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said there have been a number of
loans that government has negotiated and approved by Parliament. He
stated that there was a point in time where government brought a loan Bill that
was meant to address the health crisis because it dated back years ago.
The MP said the entire health
system needs a revamp and a loan could address the challenges. The call
for a loan Bill to address the health crisis was also supported by LaMgabhi MP
Sicelo Jele. Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga noted that the minister said he
took some medical supplies that were out of stock at Mbabane Government
Hospital from lithocholic to continue with dialysis at the referral
hospital. He said the rob Peter to pay Paul system will not work in the
health sector, hence the need for lasting solutions.Zombodze Emuva MP Ntando
Mkhonta urged the ministry to also root out the corruption that engulfs the
sector. He said with the issues that have surfaced regarding the supply
of medical drugs and supplies, the loan could be depleted by the corruption
within the ministry. He said before Parliament could pass the loan Bill,
corruption in the ministry needed to be dealt with.
Meanwhile, there was tension
and emotions in Parliament yesterday as the Minister of Health, Mduduzi
Matsebula, gave an update on the renal dialysis, theatre services and CT scan
challenges. The MPs have urged government to take up a loan that will address
all the health issues and the minister to get rid of heads of department and
senior officials who are sabotaging the health system. During the sitting,
after the minister’s update, the MPs underlined some points of his update,
among them being that he had a busy night sorting out the situation after he
learnt through enquiries that were made by the media, the Times of Eswatini, in
particular, about the halted dialysis and theatre services.
To read more of
this report, click here
http://www.times.co.sz/news/147486-divert-all-funds-to-address-health-crisis-mps.html
See also
Health crisis:
nurses to march, petition PM, minister
http://www.times.co.sz/news/147557-health-crisis-nurses-to-march-petition-pm-minister.html
King Mswati’s Tinkhundla undemocratic regime in the
political Intensive Care Unit (ICU), now surviving from hand to month as health
crisis worsens
Opinion by Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News,
12 October 2024
With almost all the critical
institutions of the State in crisis, the Tinkhundla undemocratic regime is now
in the political Intensive Care Unit(ICU) and chances of survival or recovery
are very slim.
The education, health and fire
sectors have literally collapsed of course, with demotivated and financially
broke civil servants.
But on Thursday, Health
Minister Mduduzi Matsebula invited journalists to take him pictures while he
was off-loading a small truck with some equipment, in yet another systematic
staged political propaganda as the health crisis worsens.
Matsebula appeared to be
solving a life threatening situation after kidney failure patients approached
journalists of this Swaziland News raising an alarm and this, was after the
Ministry of Health told them that, they won’t receive medical treatment amid
shortage of drugs and working equipment.
That patients have started to
desperately contact journalists is a crisis on its own, patients must visit
health institutions with confidence that they will receive health-care but,
that is no-longer the case in this country.
Health Minister Mduduzi
Matsebula was merely playing politics by inviting journalists when off-loading
those few small boxes, very soon the dialysis shortage of equipment problem
will erupt again.
In fact, that was a desperate
move by the regime to blind and mislead the people as if enough working
equipment and drugs have arrived, the health crisis is deeper than we can
imagine and this regime in the political ICU.
In fact this regime has been
for years, surviving through the alleged ignorance of those who oppose it, some
of these Tinkhundla critics fight this autocratic government but, they normally
stagger whenever the political ground becomes fertile to enable them to
overthrow this undemocratic regime and take over the country.
Now, key State institutions
that are the pillars of any country being the health and education have collapsed,
not to mention the Fire Department.
This means if another
political unrest could erupt with protesters burning structures again, the
country is not well equipped to control that situation except to use guns in
killing innocent protesting civilians.
I sometimes see political
activists shouting “Viva” and ask myself if they understand that, what they
have been fighting for is already in their hands.
A majority of emaSwati are
financially broke, angry and frustrated and they know that King Mswati’s regime
is the source or their plight, all they need now is proper and reputable
leadership to usher them into a new democratic dispensation.
I am saying this because as
the editor,I interact with almost everyone including the State Intelligence
Unit where I normally monitor and source confidential State information, I am
privileged to know things that others don’t know, that’s the privilege of being
an investigative journalist.
This country is in serious
trouble because almost everyone is angry and frustrated against the same
Tinkhundla regime, others are working for the same Government but they are
against it hence the leaking of sensitive information.
But, let me once again appeal
for a political dialogue to resolve the ongoing political crisis, our country
is being destroyed because King Mswati is the only human being with a monopoly
to think in this country, Government exist to please him.
Before the health system
collapsed, Mswati constructed his own Manzana Royal Hospital and further
established a Fire Department within his Palaces ,emaSwati are on their own as
the socio-economic situation worsens.
King Mswati has literally
destroyed this country, the Tinkhundla regime will never announce that it has
collapsed, only the intelligent will analyze that based on the collapsed
critical State institutions.
Draconian laws contributing to GBV – women rights
activists
By Sifiso Dlamini, eSwatini Observer, 15
October 2024
Parliamentarians and women
rights activists say the country’s out-dated draconian laws are contributing
towards perpetuating gender-based violence (GBV).
They have called for the
speedy review of some of the country’s legislations such as the Marriage Act of
1964, Administration of Estate Act of 1902 and the Wills Act of 1955, among
other out-dated legislations.
The need for the speedy review
of the legislations was also raised during Sibaya, People’s Parliament, by the
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pholile Shakantu.
The former minister of Justice
and Constitutional Affairs said some of the country’s out-dated laws were no
longer constitutional as they did not align with the Constitution of 2005.
The minister called for the review of the legislations in order to afford women
equal rights to property.
Under the minister’s watch,
government through the ministry of justice, piloted two notable bills in
Parliament, being the Marriages Bill and Matrimonial Properties Bill, which
sought to address some of the inconsistencies.
The proposed bills included
provisions to abolish marital power held by husbands over their wives ability
to contract and to litigate, as well as provisions for the equitable
distribution and equal access of spouses to marital property.
The Marriages Act provides for
only two grounds for divorce being adultery and witchcraft. However in the
proposed Marriages Bill of 2022 which was piloted during the 11th Parliament,
six new grounds for divorce were provided for, among which is impotence.
The National Health Service
(NHS) defines impotence as erectile dysfunction, where a person becomes either
unable to get an erection or unable to keep an erection for long enough to have
sexual intercourse.
To read more of
this report, click here
http://new.observer.org.sz/details.php?id=22750
King Mswati’s trip with Zuma’s daughter costs
taxpayers R200m
Report Focus News, 15 October 2024
King Mswati and Jacob Zuma daughter
King Mswati III of eSwatini’s
upcoming overseas trip, including a visit to Italy, is estimated to cost
taxpayers more than R200 million (£8.5 million), according to local media
reports.
The king left the country on
Sunday accompanied by his new wife, 21-year-old Inkhosikati Nomcebo Zuma,
daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma.
The Swaziland News
reports that the costs include allowances for the royal delegation, private jet
expenses, and spending money for the king and his wife. The royal couple will
attend the World Food Forum in Italy before proceeding to other engagements.
When approached for comment,
the king’s spokesperson, Percy Simelane, told local media that his office was
not responsible for finances or allowances for the king and his delegation. He
referred inquiries to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
King Mswati III married
Nomcebo Zuma in July 2023, just months after first seeing her at a celebration
last year. The marriage has drawn attention due to the connection with former
South African President Jacob Zuma.
The cost of this trip is
likely to reignite debate about royal expenses in eSwatini, where about 60% of
the 1.2 million population lives below the poverty line. King Mswati III, 55,
who is Africa’s last absolute monarch, has faced criticism in the past for his
lavish lifestyle amid widespread poverty in the country.
Local sources suggest that
members of Zuma’s family have been included in the delegation, allegedly to
ensure the young wife doesn’t feel lonely during the trip. However, this has
not been officially confirmed.
The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Pholile Dlamini-Shakantu, who is part
of the king’s delegation, were unavailable for comment at the time of
reporting.
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