Swazi Media Commentary

Friday, 9 August 2019

Swaziland public servants set new strike date in long-running pay dispute

Public service unions in Swaziland / eSwatini are set to strike on 16 September 2019, if they can get permission of the courts to do so.

Swaziland is ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III and is not a democracy and industrial action can be stopped by the Industrial Court.

The unions are in a long-running dispute about pay increases to cover the rise in the cost of living. They had planned the strike last year and again in January 2019 but the Industrial Court ruled that it was ‘political’ because the strike-call referred to the government’s bad handling of the economy.

The government says it cannot afford to pay increases. Last month the Industrial Court confirmed the strike was illegal but also noted in its judgement that a strike that was called only for the purposes of gaining increased wages was not.

At a meeting on Tuesday (6 August 2019), four unions united as the Public Sector Associations (PSA), decided on the date. They were the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA) and the Swaziland Government Accountants Personnel (SNAGAP).

After the meeting SNAT Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini, told the Times of Swaziland the PSA would be guided by the Industrial Court ruling and prepare and issue new notices for the strike action slated for September 16, 2019.

The unions are also planning a series of other actions in the lead up to the strike.

The newspaper added, ‘Dlamini then highlighted why they resolved to engage in the proposed industrial action. He said seemingly, government was not willing to reimburse them the 14.5 percent which had been eroded by inflation rate from their salaries during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years. He said in 2017/18 financial year, the erosion, was 7.85 percent while in the 2018/19 year it stood at 6.55 percent.’

Thursday, 8 August 2019

LGBTI discrimination in Swaziland leads to big mental health issues, report finds

LGBTI people in Swaziland / eSwatini suffer mental health issues and many have attempted suicide because of the way they are discriminated against in the kingdom.

This has prompted the authors of the first study of its kind to call for same-sex activity to be decriminalised in Swaziland. They also call for legal reform to abolish laws which contribute to stigma, prejudice and discrimination against sexual and gender minority people living in the kingdom, including men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women.

The report written by two academics and the Southern and East African Research Collective on Health was based on interviews with 104 LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people in Swaziland. The Rock of Hope, a community based organization that supports the needs and advocates for the rights of LGBTI people in Swaziland, helped in compiling the report.

Swaziland is a deeply conservative kingdom ruled by the absolute monarch King Mswati III. The King has in the past described homosexuality as ‘satanic’ In May 2016 four organisations jointly reported to the United Nations about LGBTI discrimination in Swaziland. Part of their report stated, ‘LGBT[I]s are discriminated and condemned openly by society. This is manifest in negative statements uttered by influential people in society e.g., religious, traditional and political leaders. Traditionalists and conservative Christians view LGBT[I]s as against Swazi tradition and religion. There have been several incidents where traditionalists and religious leaders have issued negative statements about lesbians.’

The new study found evidence of serious human rights violations against Swazi people who are LGBTI. The report concluded they suffer ‘social exclusion, marginalisation and stigma’ because they are seen as being different from the rest of the population.

This ‘has a negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex’.

The report stated its findings ‘demonstrate the urgent need for mental health services that are affirming of sexual and gender diversity and are provided without sexual orientation and gender identity-related stigma, prejudice and discrimination. It is clear that affirming and non-judgmental mental healthcare services for sexual and gender minority people are at least as important as HIV-related health services. This is not just to improve mental health and wellbeing, but also to support efforts to decrease the vulnerability to HIV.’

Researchers looked separately at the experience of lesbians, gay men and bi-sexuals in Swaziland.

Lesbian participants in the study had some of the poorest health outcomes. More than half the sample were classified as depressed (63 percent), and one in four (24 percent) showed signs of moderate or severe anxiety. Lesbian participants had high use of drugs (27 percent) and alcohol (67 percent), much higher than available data on women in the general Swazi population. Four out of five (83 percent) said that they had been verbally harassed for their sexual orientation or gender identity, and over half had experienced physical violence and sexual violence (51 percent each). More than one in four had experienced sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner (29 percent and 29 percent respectively).

With gay men in the sample, more than half were classified as depressed (51 percent), and one in eight showed signs of moderate or severe anxiety (13 percent). Two in five (39 percent) had attempted suicide in their lifetime, and one in eight (12 percent) in the past year. Half used alcohol in a harmful way (50 percent), and 13 percent used other drugs in a harmful way. Four out of five (84 percent) said that they had been verbally harassed for their sexual orientation or gender identity, over half (64 percent) had experienced physical violence, and almost half (49 percent) had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Almost half had experienced physical violence by an intimate partner, and one in four had experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime (46 percent and 26 percent, respectively).

Overall, bisexual participants in the study tended to have better health outcomes than lesbian and gay participants. One in seven bisexual participants had signs of depression (14 percent), and 5 percent showed signs of moderate or severe anxiety. One in five (19 percent) had attempted suicide in their lifetime. More than half (59 percent) used alcohol at a level that might be harmful to their health, and one in seven (14 percent) used other drugs in a harmful way. One third (32 percent) used tobacco. Two in three (64 percent) said that they had been verbally harassed for their sexual orientation or gender identity, more than half (55 percent) had experienced physical violence, and half (50 percent) had experienced sexual violence. One in four had experienced sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner (24 percent and 24 percent respectively).

Wednesday, 7 August 2019

Six children die as diarrhoea once again strikes Swaziland

Six children died from diarrhoea in four days in Swaziland / eSwatini and about another 1,000 others have been treated for the infection caused by the rota virus, a senior official said on Monday.

Deaths from this preventable disease occur in the kingdom every year. But the government, ruled by King Mswati III as the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa, is broke and continually fails to tackle to problem.

The latest round of deaths was announced by Director of Health Services Vusi Magagula on Monday (5 August 2019), the APA news agency reported.

‘These fatal cases are a result of delayed treatment,’ he said. The deaths occurred at two health centres in the south of the kingdom.

Out of the 1,000 children aged five years and below, most were admitted to hospital.

In Swaziland diarrhoea is rated among the top three causes of mortality especially amongst children under five years of age. In the worst case in recent years in 2014 at least 40 children died during an outbreak. Hundreds were hospitalised and more than 3,000 cases were recorded.

In 2014 the World Bank estimated 17.6 percent of children aged under five suffered from diarrhoea in a two week period it surveyed.

Diarrhoea is a preventable disease. It is a bowel infection often caused by contaminated water or food. According to the website of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a 25-pack of one dose vials of rotavirus vaccine to immunise against diarrhoea costs US70.49 (E1,050) at commercial rates. Typically a child needs two doses to be immunised.

APA reported the Swaziland Ministry of Health was downplaying the latest cases claiming it did not amount to an ‘outbreak’.

Swaziland is broke and public services are grinding to a halt. All kinds of medicines are in short supply in public hospitals and clinics because the government has failed to pay suppliers. Nursing posts and other vacancies remain unfilled as part of a government policy to cut its wages bill. At least 400 qualified nurses are unemployed, Dr Vusi Magagula recently told a meeting of pensioners in Mbabane.

Seven in ten of Swaziland’s estimated 1.3 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day. The King has 13 palaces. He also owns fleets of top-of-the range Mercedes and BMW cars. His family regularly travel the world on shopping trips spending millions of dollars each time.

The King wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50^th birthday party. Days earlier he took delivery of his second private jet, a A340 Airbus, that after VIP upgrades reportedly cost US$30 million. He received E15 million (US$1.2 million) in cheques, a gold dining room suite and a gold lounge suite among his birthday gifts.

Search This Blog