Swaziland closes informal border crossings as coronavirus strikes South Africa

The Prime Minister of Swaziland (eSwatini) has announced all informal border crossings with South Africa will be closed in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The crossings are used every day by people who live in Swaziland and go to South Africa for schooling, work, trading or to shop.

PM Ambrose Dlamini made the announcement after the first case of coronavirus was reported in South Africa. As of Tuesday 10 March 2020 no cases had been reported in Swaziland itself.

The Times of eSwatini reported the closure of the borders would affect thousands of people who regularly crossed. It said many people who lived in the area did not know that Swaziland and South Africa were two separate countries.

Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch, was left out of the list of countries the World Health Organisation to benefit from personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves being distributed to poor countries.

The Swazi Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi told media the exclusion was because eSwatini was not considered to be a poor country.

In Swaziland nearly seven in ten of the estimated 1.3 million people live in abject poverty. 

Meanwhile, the King and the royal family live in luxury. The King has 13 palaces and two private jet aircraft. In November 2019 he purchased between 13 and 15 Rolls Royce cars for himself and members of his family at an estimated cost of US$4 million.

Swaziland also bought him 126 BMW cars and motorbikes to escort the Royal family around the kingdom.

These purchases prompted Lisa Peterson, the United States Ambassador to Swaziland to speculate that in future the US might not be keen to give Swaziland development aid.

On Monday (9 March 2020) the Swazi House of Assembly approved a budget of E48 million towards the cost of tackling the coronavirus. The Ministry of Finance had asked for E100 million. Swaziland is broke and cannot pay its suppliers. Recently a number of government offices had electricity disconnected because bills were unpaid.

The government also owes millions of emalangeni to medical suppliers and medicines of all types have run out or are in short supply in public hospitals.  

The President of the Swaziland Nurses Association Bheki Mamba has advised health workers not to deal with patients who have the coronavirus. The Saturday Observer newspaper in Swaziland reported Mamba said government had not identified quarantine centres and had no strategy in place to deal with the virus. He added that health workers had not been trained to deal with the virus.

He added this posed a great danger to the lives of health workers.

See also

Swaziland King buys himself fleet of 15 Rolls-Royce cars but there’s no money for public ambulances

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/11/swaziland-king-buys-himself-fleet-of-15.html
 

Swaziland cancer patients refused treatment because Govt. has not paid hospital bills

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-cancer-patients-refused.html
 

More deaths in Swaziland as govt fails to pay medicine suppliers

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/more-deaths-in-swaziland-as-government.html 

Swazi Royals spend, spend, spend

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/swazi-royals-spend-spend-spend.html

Nurses angry as Swaziland Govt ignores health crisis

Nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini are angry that the government has ignored their petition calling for urgent action to fix the kingdom’s broke health system.

One of their leaders, Swaziland Nurses Association President Bheki Mamba, said conditions were getting worse and ‘patients were now dying before their very eyes’.

Patients in hospitals are being left unfed, medicines of all descriptions have run out, broken equipment is not repaired and nurses and other public servants have not been paid cost-of-living salary increases.

The Swazi Government which is not elected but handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III is broke and owes suppliers E3 billion (US$215 million). Many have refused to do further business until bills are paid.

Workers marched on government on 21 June 2019 to deliver a petition calling for it to prioritise the hiring of nurses and for the health service to be adequately funded. It gave the government one month to act and threatened to ‘render the health sector unworkable’ if it did not act.

Mamba told the Swazi Observer “Up to now, we have not received any invite to discuss the situation as the PS [Principal Secretary] promised when we gave him the petition. Similarly the prime minister’s office has not responded, which is a clear indication that they don’t take the health situation seriously.’

He added, ‘Patients simply starve to death from lack of food. They can’t take any medication without having eaten.’

Local media reported in the past that many people, including children, have died as a result of medicine shortages.

The Observer added, ‘Nurses sent a strong warning, promising to do all they can within their power to expose the real situation to the world; to report government’s failure to address a problem of crippling drug shortages.

‘The nurses have vowed to come all out and beg the international community for assistance, including with money, just to save the health system.’

The Observer reported, ‘The nurses said the ministry lied to the nation, saying it was sending drugs and supplies yet it was only sending  allegedly expired nevirapine drugs for new-borns and Panados. 

Ministry of Health Communications Officer Nomfundo Dlamini said the ministry had now scheduled a meeting with the nurses’ association.

The health crisis has been getting worse over recent years. Patients in public hospitals across the kingdom are not being fed properly because suppliers refuse to deliver food until they are paid by government. Points have been set up across Mbabane, the Swaziland capital, to collect food donations from the public to feed hospital patients.

The food problem is one of many facing the health service. There are shortages of many drugs across the kingdom. Last month (June 2019) it was reported drugs to treat HIV infection were not available in most hospitals and clinics across Swaziland which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. As of 2017, 27 percent of the population, or 210,000 people, were infected. 

Other drugs in short supply include those for sexual transmitted infections, epilepsy, hypertension and diabetes. Cancer patients are also being left untreated.

It is not only a problem of drugs. Hospital equipment, including at intensive-care units at Mbabane Government Hospital, has also not been maintained and cannot be used. 

In June 2018 it was revealed there were only 12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no new ambulances since 2013.

See also

Swaziland cancer patients refused treatment because Govt. has not paid hospital bills

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-cancer-patients-refused.html

 

HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/06/hiv-drugs-not-available-across.html

Swaziland health crisis getting worse as budgets cut. Rural areas most affected

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/02/swaziland-health-crisis-getting-worse.html

Food collection points set up in Swaziland as hospital patients unfed after Govt fails to pay suppliers

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/food-collection-points-set-up-in.html

Swaziland nurses give govt one month to solve drugs shortage or they strike

Nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini have given government four weeks to solve the drugs shortage crisis in the kingdom or they will call a nationwide strike.

This was stated at a protest march where petitions were handed into the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday (21 June 2019).

Swaziland, ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has been short of medicines in public hospitals for more than a year. The government, which is not elected but handpicked by the King, is broke and has not paid suppliers. Media in Swaziland reported people, including children, have died because of the shortages.

President of the Eswatini Nurses Association Bhekie Mamba told the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland that government had lied in the past when it said medical supplies were being sent to hospitals and clinics.

Nurses also want government to prioritise hiring of nurses and for health care to be adequately financed.

The Observer quoted the nurses association’s Second Deputy Secretary Neliso Matsenjwa saying, ‘if this is not done in the next four weeks, we shall render the health sector unworkable’.

Last week psychiatric nurses in Swaziland said say they might release patients from their clinic because there were no drugs to subdue them after supplies ran out and they feared for their own safety.

See also

Swaziland health crisis: fearful psychiatric nurses say they might release patients

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/06/swaziland-health-crisis-fearful.html

 

Swaziland hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/06/swaziland-hospital-crisis-govt-not-paid.html

 

HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/06/hiv-drugs-not-available-across.html

Industrial Court stops Swaziland public servants strike at last minute

The Industrial Court in Swaziland / eSwatini stopped the national strike by public servants hours before it was due to start.

At an urgent hearing on Sunday (27 January 2019) Court President Sifiso Nsibande ruled the strike could not go ahead because there was still a case to be heard before the court.

The strike over a pay claim had been called by four unions: the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT); Swaziland National Association of Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP); Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA) and the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU). All are affiliated to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).

 

Ahead of the strike Swaziland Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini threatened workers they would be sacked from their jobs if they went ahead and each could face a fine of up to E10,000. In Swaziland six in ten people have income less than E25 per day.

Following the Industrial Court ruling, SNAT said it would hold a meeting of members on Monday (28 January 2019) to discuss the way forward.

See also 

Swaziland public servants prepare for pay strike amid fears of renewed police violence against them

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/swaziland-public-servants-prepare-for.html

Swaziland public servants prepare for pay strike amid fears of renewed police violence against them

Public servants in Swaziland / eSwatini are due to start a national strike on Monday (28 January 2019) in a dispute over pay. State police have been put on alert and there are fears they might use violence to disrupt protests as they have done in the past.

Government offices, ministries, departments, schools, clinics, transport departments, healthcare centres and hospitals, are among areas that could be affected. The strike is expected to last for five days. It could be repeated each month after that.

Four unions are involved: the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT); Swaziland National Association of Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP); Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA) and the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU). All are affiliated to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).

Workers have been campaigning for the past two years for cost of living salary increases of 6.5 percent. The government says it is broke and has offered zero percent. Unions say inflation in Swaziland has risen by 14.5 percent over the past two years. In a statement ahead of the strike the government said, ‘The taxpayers of Eswatini cannot pay cost of living adjustments (COLA) to Government employees for 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 while other stakeholders remain unpaid, while there are unfunded deficits and while Government salaries are already at unsustainable levels.’

Unions dispute this and say the government wastes money on ‘lavish’ spending on ‘non-priority and capital projects such as the construction of the International Convention Centre [ICC], funding of festivities such as the Umhlanga Reed Dance, 50/50 celebrations for the King’s birthday and Independence Day celebrations and catering for huge delegations to international trips.’

There are fears of police violence during the strike. In the past police fired live bullets, rubber bullets and teargas at workers and demonstrators who had been legally protesting. In September 2018 during a three-day strike the streets of Manzini, the kingdom’s main commercial city, were turned into a ‘battlefield’, according to local media. The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, the kingdom’s absolute monarch, said the bus rank in Swaziland’s major commercial city was ‘turned into a warzone as stun grenades, teargas, teasers and rubber bullets became the order of the day’.

The Times of Swaziland , the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, called it an ‘open battlefield’.

 

Armed police had been deployed across Swaziland. Videos and photographs of brutal police attacks were uploaded on social media. The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) in a statement said the videos showed ‘unlawful police actions’.

It added, ‘Several workers were wounded after police fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd in Manzini. These police officers then unleashed a wave of assaults against striking workers in an effort to quell the protests.’ 

See also

Police Turn Swaziland City Into ‘Warzone’ as National Strike Enters Second Day

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/09/police-turn-swaziland-city-into-warzone.html

Widespread Condemnation of Swaziland Police Brutal Attacks on Workers

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/09/widespread-condemnation-of-swaziland.html

NURSES WIN HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

Two nurses from Swaziland have won an international award for their outstanding commitment to human rights and nursing in the kingdom.

A joint award went to Masitsela Mhlanga and Thabsile Dlamini. It was given by the International Centre for Nursing Ethics.

Mhlanga and Dlamini are leading members of the Swaziland Nurses Association and have worked to support the welfare and working conditions of nurses in Swaziland which has one of the world’s highest levels of HIV/AIDS.

Their award was announced at the 10th Human Rights and Nursing Awards on 8 September 2011 at the International Centre for Nursing Ethics conference, held at the University of Surrey, UK.

Organisers of the award say Mhlanga and Dlamini have worked together for many years in the Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA). Swaziland has the world’s largest proportion of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. It also has an extremely low ratio of nurses to population (35 nurses per 100,000 of population).

As president of the SNA, Mhlanga led the kingdom’s first-ever nurses’ strike in 1999. The strike improved the status of the SNA and allowed nurses to sit in collective bargaining chambers and negotiate conditions of service, including salaries. Mhlanga’s ongoing political work has helped to secure a near 50 percent rise in nurses’ salaries and other benefits for all civil servants.

Mhlanga has also established a Wellness Centre for health care workers affected by HIV/AIDS. The Centre is funded by a combination of organisations (including the International Council of Nurses and the Danish Nurses Association). It has since been replicated in a number of southern African countries.

As the general secretary of the SNA, Dlamini spearheaded the revision and drafting of the Association’s new constitution. In 1992, the new draft established the SNA as an independent, democratic and professional organisation with bargaining and lobbying powers. Dlamini pioneered the composition of the patient rights charter and she led negotiations to ensure that nurses get protective clothing in certain situations.

Dlamini also inspired the creation of the Girl Child Education Trust. The GCEF supports the primary and secondary schooling of girls under the age of 18 in developing countries whose nurse parent or parents have died. According to the latest data (February 2011), the trust supported 226 girls in Zambia, Kenya, Swaziland and Uganda.

The International Centre for Nursing Ethics director Dr Ann Gallagher said, ‘The awards recognise the achievements of exemplary nurses who contribute to the flourishing of vulnerable patients and marginalised groups.

‘Nurses are often the unsung heroes of healthcare and are too rarely recognised as they go quietly about their work, often in very challenging circumstances. The awards represent a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the contribution of nursing in a global context and of a few outstanding individuals.’

SWAZI KING, WORLD IS WATCHING YOU

The world will be watching Swaziland today (18 March 2011) to see if the state forces of King Mswati III brutally attack prodemocracy campaigners as they try to peacefully march in Mbabane.

The protestors are so scared that they will be attacked and beaten by police and paramilitaries that yesterday they issued a plea to the world’s media to be present to witness what happens.

Labour unions and student groups hope to deliver a petition to the office of Barnabas Dlamini, who, though unelected to the kingdom’s sham parliament, was appointed prime minister by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

They want a number of reforms, including the unbanning of political parties and the restructuring of the whole system of government. The students are demanding an end to King Mswati’s ‘misrule’.

Since February, the political temperature has soared in Swaziland. It is now generally believed among ordinary people that the government is broke and is stealing workers’ pension funds to pay daily bills. Public sector workers believe they soon won’t get paid at all.

King Mswati continues to ignore the plight of his subjects. To rub salt into their wounds, in last month’s national budget while public spending in most departments was slashed by 20 percent, he took a 23 percent INCREASE on last year (and 63 percent increase on the 2009/2010 budget) for himself and his royal family.

Nurses have been on strike against the government, demanding and winning payment of allowances the Ministry of Health owed them, but had not paid. Teachers are threatening to bring down the government if they are made to take wage cuts. Students forced a climb-down over a new policy that would have seen scholarships replaced by loans and food and accommodation allowances scrapped.

A Facebook site has been gathering support for an ‘uprising’ to start on12 April to ‘topple’ the king.

There is reason to be fearful.The Swazi Police have a long, inglorious history of intimidation. The torturing of dissidents and even ordinary crime suspects is routine and often goes unremarked by magistrates and judges when victims of police brutality are paraded before them.

But the police, who are badly trained and ill-disciplined, are even worst when protestors take to the streets. They have no idea how to control a crowd without resource to teargas. Whereas police in a civilised country would simply move the crowd along, in Swaziland the canisters fly – and so do the batons.

Then come the rubber bullets: and before long the live ammunition.

Time and again we have seen Swazi police over-reacting when they have to deal with a mass of people. They break up student protests, labour union gatherings and even legally held strikes.

When students marched in Mbabane in February, teargas filled the air. And all the youngsters were trying to do was to deliver a petition.

But this time it will be different. There is evidence from activities over the past few days that police and paramilitaries are preparing to attack the demonstrators. Some of the protestors’ demands are so specific in their calls for the overthrow of the government and the monarchy that they pose a threat to the very existence of the state.

The king and his hangers-on will not allow change: at least not without a battle.

Many Swazi people have been encouraged by the wave of protests for democracy across the Middle East and North Africa that has seen tyrants overthrown. They believe something similar could be achieved in Swaziland.

But beware. It hasn’t all gone well for pro-democracy supporters. In Libya, ruled with an iron fist by Col Muammar Gaddafi, troops (many of them mercenaries) have brutally put down dissent.

King Mswati is a great friend of Gaddafi. He likes him so much he sent his eldest son Prince Sicalo to Libya for intensive training as a military pilot. In 2001, when King Mswati was struck down with a mystery illness, Gaddafi flew a team of doctors to Swaziland to treat the king. In 2009, Gaddafi sent the king six camels as a token of friendship.

If the king follows Gaddafi’s example, there might well be the blood of innocent Swazi protestors on the streets of Mbabane today.

After the protestors’ plea, we can expect representatives of the world’s largest news agencies to be in town: along with the BBC and many journalists from South Africa. Also, there will be the growing posse of Swaziland’s ‘social networkers’ who blog, tweet and Facebook to readers across the globe.

The world is watching you King Mswati.

See also

SWAZI STUDENTS: ‘END ROYAL MISRULE’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/swazi-students-end-royal-misrule.html

POLICE ‘PLAN TO ATTACK PROTESTORS’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/police-plan-to-attack-protestors.html

PROTEST ‘WILL HALT SWAZILAND’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/protest-will-halt-swaziland.html

S AFRICA THREAT TO SWAZILAND KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/s-africa-threat-to-swaziland-king.html

POLICE 'PLAN TO ATTACK PROTESTORS'

The Swaziland police and state paramilitary forces are preparing to brutally attack the labour unions demonstration due in Mbabane tomorrow (Friday 18 March 2011).

The Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) says there are signals ‘that the regime is preparing to brutally crush the peaceful demonstrations’.

It says in a statement that the Manzini Regional Police Commander, ‘has twice this week alone led a battalion of his paramilitary troops to menacingly disrupt civil society meetings aimed at preparing for the marches’.

SUDF says, ‘The streets of Manzini have also since Monday been littered with police officers and prison warders. Leaders of labour unions and the SUDF have been stalked and their mobile phones bugged.’

The SUDF has asked for the international media to publicise the threat and to be present during tomorrow’s protest to witness the anger felt by Swazi people who are demanding multi-party democracy in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

‘We invite you to come and see for yourselves so that you can alert the rest of the international community to the scale of human rights violations inside Swaziland. All evidence to this claim will be on display for you on Friday,’ SUDF says.

SUDF is also appealing to the international community to impose targeted sanctions on the collective leadership of the Tinkhundla regime that controls Swaziland.

See also

PROTEST ‘WILL HALT SWAZILAND’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/protest-will-halt-swaziland.html

SWAZI KING’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/swazi-kings-days-are-numbered.html