U.S. BLASTS SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS

The main human rights problem in Swaziland is that the Swazi people are not allowed to choose their government, a report just publish revealed.

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa. He controls the government, parliament and the judges.

The United States Department of State in its annual report on human rights in Swaziland stated, ‘There is a parliament consisting of appointed and elected members and a Prime Minister appointed by the King, but political power remained largely with the King and his traditional advisors.   International observers concluded the 2013 parliamentary elections did not meet international standards.’

The United States has been reviewing human rights issues in Swaziland for many years. In 2015 it scrapped a lucrative trade deal with Swaziland called AGOA because King Mswati would not allow democratic reform in his kingdom. 

The 33-page report stated, ‘The principal human rights concerns are that citizens do not have the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot; police use of excessive force, including torture, beatings, and unlawful killings; restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and association; and discrimination against and abuse of women and children. 

‘Other human rights problems included arbitrary killings; arbitrary arrests and lengthy pretrial detention; arbitrary interference with privacy and home; prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political activists; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex community and persons with albinism; mob violence; harassment of labour leaders; child labour; and restrictions on worker rights.  

‘The government took few or no steps to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses.  In general perpetrators acted with impunity.’

The report added, ‘Civil and political rights were severely restricted.  Citizens did not have the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot, and political parties remained unable to register, contest elections, or otherwise participate in formation of a government.’

The report determined King Mswat ruled as ‘an absolute monarch’ with ultimate decision-making authority.  

It added, ‘Some prodemocracy organizations were banned.  There is no legal mechanism by which political parties may compete in elections.  The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) did not permit candidates of political parties to register under the names of their parties.’ 

It went on, ‘Under the constitution the King selects the Prime Minister, the cabinet, two-thirds of the senate, 10 of 65 members of the house, many senior civil servants, the chief justice and other justices of the superior courts, members of commissions established by the constitution, and the heads of government offices.’

See also

SWAZILAND’S POOR RIGHTS RECORD

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/01/swazilands-poor-human-rights-record.html

SWAZI TRIALS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: AMNESTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/03/trials-politically-motivated-amnesty.html

KING EXPLOITS FORCED CHILD LABOUR

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/11/king-exploits-forced-child-labour.html

MPs WANT CANE BACK IN SCHOOLS

Members of the Swaziland Parliament want corporal punishment brought back to schools. Some said teachers were unable to cope with children without caning them.

Beating was banned in Swazi schools in 2015 and the Ministry of Education and Training adopted an approach it called ‘positive discipline’ which did not include beating children. 

MPs debated the cane at the Ministry of Education and Training portfolio committee on Wednesday (15 March 2017).

According to a report in the Swazi Observer, ‘The MPs said they didn’t understand why the ministry had decided to do away with corporal punishment as they (MPs) were a result of it.’

The MPs said the positive discipline adopted in schools was causing problems for teachers because they no longer knew how to deal with wayward pupils. 

MP Thuli Dladla, a former teacher, said, ‘Corporal punishment, if done properly, is positive. There are situations that need one to use this type of punishment to drive the message home.’

The newspaper added, ‘She said children needed to be beaten from time to time to keep them in check.’

Another former teacher, MP Mabulala Maseko, said the violence in schools was at its all-time high because the pupils were being positively disciplined. 

MP Mthokozisi Kunene said children needed, ‘to be beaten from time to time’.

Responding, Dr Phineas Magagula, Minister of Education and Training, said the abolition of corporal punishment conformed with international conventions the kingdom had signed to.

The cane was abolished after numerous cases of brutality were reported in schools across the kingdom.

In 2011, Swaziland was told by the United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva it should stop using corporal punishment in schools, because it violated the rights of children. 

But the practice of whippings and floggings was so ingrained in Swazi schools at the time that the top teachers’ union official said he was surprised that inflicting corporal punishment was against a child’s rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review received a report jointly written by Save The Children and other groups that corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. The report highlighted Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the name of punishment. 

The report stated, ‘Students at this school are also subjected to all forms of inhumane treatment in the name of punishment. The State has known about the torture of students that go on at Mhlatane High School for a long time, but has not done anything to address this violation of fundamental rights.’

Sibongile Mazibuko, President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), was quoted in the Times of Swaziland saying as teachers they had been underestimating the impact corporal punishment had on children rights.

‘It came as a surprise what impact corporal punishment has in terms of violating children’s rights. In fact, we were not aware we are violating children’s rights. The submissions by the countries and the criticism received by the country during the meeting was an eye-opener that corporal punishment should be abolished,’ the Times quoted Mazibuko saying.

See also

CANE BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/10/beating-banned-in-swazi-school.html

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/swazi-school-tortures-students.html

 

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

 

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

 

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html

CONFIRMED: KING WILL GET PRIVATE JET

Swaziland is to buy King Mswati III a private jet plane despite the dire financial plight the kingdom is currently enduring.

This was confirmed on Tuesday (14 March 2017) after reports that the King, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and already has one jet, had decided not to have the second jet because the kingdom could not afford it.

Edgar Hillary, acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told members of a Swazi parliamentary committee a jet had been purchased and was currently undergoing refurbishments.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported that Hillary told the MPs that the aircraft there. ‘It was still undergoing refurbishments to conform to standards where it could be seen as being fit for the King.’  

In 2015, the Ministry was given E296 million (about US$20 million) to buy a 375-seater Airbus A340-300 built in 2001 from China Airlines in Taiwan. E96 million was used to pay a deposit.

There was some confusion over the current state of the purchase as last week Lindiwe Dlamini, Minister for Public Works and Transport, told Parliament the government had dropped plans to buy the jet. The Observer reported, ‘She further stated this was done by His Majesty King Mswati III upon seeing that the country was in a dire economic situation.’

King Mswati rules over a population of 1.3 million people. Seven in ten live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day. The King lives a lavish lifestyle with 13 palaces, a private jet, fleets of top-of-the range Mercedes and BMW cars and at least one Rolls-Royce.

In April 2016, Members of the Swaziland Parliament blocked the move to pay the E96 million deposit for the plane. The money had been allocated in the kingdom’s annual budget announced in February 2016.

The money was set aside for a jet for the King after members of the parliament, many of them appointed by the King, urged the Swazi Government to consider buying the King a plane to replace the DC-9 jet (also known as an MD-87) which he already has. It had been the subject of legal disputes in both Canada and the British Virgin Islands. 

Once news of the intended spending was made public outside of Swaziland the King came in for heavy criticism. Swaziland was in the grip of a drought crisis and in February the Swazi Government declared a national emergency and said the kingdom would need E248 million (US$16 million) before the end of April 2016.

Within days, the MPs overturned their earlier decision. Unconfirmed reports circulating on the Internet said that King Mswati had refused to sign-off Swaziland’s budget unless he got his jet.

See also

KING ‘STEALS FROM CHILDREN’ TO BUY JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/04/king-steals-from-children-to-buy-jet.html
 

SWAZI MPs ABOUT-TURN ON KING’S JET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/04/swazi-mps-about-turn-on-kings-jet.html

MONEY FOR KING’S JET, BUT NOT DROUGHT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/03/money-for-kings-jet-but-not-drought.html

$12m SPEND ON ROYAL DECOR AT AIRPORT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/03/12m-spend-on-royal-decor-at-airport.html

CHILD VICTIMS IN HALF OF ABUSE CASES

Nearly a half of all abuse cases reported to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office in Swaziland involved children, And, most abusers were parents or someone well-known to the victim.

A total of 357 cases were reported in the financial year 2016 / 2017.

A report tabled at the Swazi Senate revealed 71 percent of the victims were females.

The most common abuse with 90 cases was described as ‘emotional / verbal’. There were also 76 cases of physical abuse and 69 of neglect.

A total of 47 percent of the cases involved children aged up to 11.

The Swazi Observer newspaper said that the report, ‘showed that children were at a greater risk of being violated as the same individuals who had an obligation to protect were the ones who were in most cases the perpetrators. 

‘The most commonly reported survivor/perpetrator relationship was that of parent (mother/father).’

The abuse of children in Swaziland is not new. Swazi culture condones sex abuse of children, especially young girls. Child rapists often blame women for their action.

The State of the Swaziland Population report revealed that women who ‘sexually starve’ their husbands were blamed for the growing sexual abuse of children.

Men who were interviewed during the making of the report said they ‘salivate’ over children wearing skimpy clothes because their wives refused them sexual intercourse.

In Swaziland rape is against the law but Swazi Law and Custom allows a husband to rape his wife. This is contained in the 317-page document The Indigenous Law and Custom of the Kingdom of Swaziland (2013). 

The United States Department of State report on human rights in Swaziland looking at 2016 stated, ‘The law criminalizes rape, but no law specifically addresses spousal rape. Rape was common, and the government rarely enforced the law effectively. 

‘According to the Swaziland Action Group against Abuse (SWAGAA), one in three girls and women between ages 13 and 24 had been a victim of sexual violence. Although rape is legally defined as a crime, many men regarded it as a minor offense. 

‘The number of reported cases was likely far lower than the actual number of cases, as many cases were dealt with at the family level. A sense of shame and helplessness often inhibited women from reporting such crimes, particularly when incest was involved. 

‘The maximum sentence for conviction of rape is 15 years in prison, but the acquittal rate for rape was high, and sentences were generally lenient. Prosecutors reported difficulty obtaining the evidence required to try rape and domestic violence cases because witnesses feared testifying against accused rapists. There were few social workers or other intermediaries to work with victims and witnesses in order to obtain evidence.’

In 2015, a report from A US organisation ABCNewspoint stated that Swaziland had the fourth highest rate of rape in the world. It said there were 77.5 registered cases of rape among 100,000 people.

See also

CUSTOM LAW LETS HUSBANDS RAPE WIVES

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/08/custom-law-lets-husbands-rape-wives.html

 

SWAZI CHILD RAPE IS NOT UNUSUAL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/swazi-child-rape-is-not-unusual.html

 

‘INVESTIGATE PRINCE FOR CHILD SEX’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/investigate-prince-for-child-sex.html

‘SWAZI POLICE TORTURE MAN FOR 11 DAYS’

A man accused of multiple murders in Swaziland told a court he was tortured by police for 11 days to force him to confess.

He said he was suffocated with a tube and assaulted all over his body, resulting in many serious injuries. The alleged attack was said to have taken place at Lobamba Police Station, the Manzini Magistrates’ Court was told.

The hearing continues.

There are numerous reports of police torture in Swaziland. In January 2017, local media reported police forced a 13-year-old boy to remove his trousers and flogged him with a sjambok, to make him confess to stealing a mobile phone.

In September 2016, women were reportedly ambushed by armed police and ‘brutally attacked’ by police during a strike at the Plantation Forest Company, near Pigg’s Peak. 

In June 2016, a United Nations review panel looking into human rights in Swaziland was told in a joint report by four organisations, ‘In Mbabane [the Swazi capital], police tortured a 15-year-old boy after his mother had reported him for stealing E85.00 (US$6). The boy alleges that he was beaten with a slasher (metal blade tool for cutting grass) and knobkerrie (club) for five hours. While enduring the pain, he alleges that he was made to count the strokes aloud for the police to hear. Instead of being charged, the boy was physically assaulted and made to sit in a chair for thirty minutes before he was sent back home.’

The report was submitted to the United Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland by the Swaziland Multi-Media Community Network, Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations and Constituent Assembly – Swaziland.

They also reported the case of Phumelela Mkhweli, a political activist who died after an alleged assault by police after they arrested him. 

The report also stated, ‘In April 2011, a 66-year-old woman was confronted by three police officers regarding the wording on her t-shirt and headscarf. The police allegedly pulled off her T-shirt, throttled her, banged her head against the wall, sexually molested her, kicked her and threw her against a police truck.  

‘The US Department of State reported on many allegations of torture and ill-treatment by police; including beatings and temporary suffocation using rubber tube tied around the face, nose, and mouth, or plastic bags over the head,’ the report stated.  

See also

‘HORROR TALE OF SWAZI POLICE TORTURE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/09/horror-tale-of-swazi-police-torture.html

POLICE ‘BRUTALLY ASSUALT’ WORKERS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/09/police-brutally-assualt-workers.html

KING’S PAPER SUPPORTS POLICE TORTURE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/kings-paper-supports-police-torture.html

 

MORE POLICE TORTURE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/01/more-police-torture-in-swaziland.html

SCHOOL HEAD FINES KIDS FOR THEFT

A school principal in Swaziland has been accused of demanding money from pupils to stop him expelling them for theft.

He said he did this because schools were no longer allowed to ‘lash’ misbehaving pupils.

Three boys were accused of stealing two maize cobs at Nkiliji High School, which they then shared among themselves.

The principal was reported to the Regional Education Office for allegedly demanding E1,000 from each of them, before they would be allowed back in class. The boys’ parents were unable to pay. In Swaziland, seven in ten of the 1.3 million population have incomes less than E26 a day. US$2 a day.

The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Monday (5 March 2017) that the principal was infuriated with the parents for reporting him. He reportedly ‘asked that he be allowed to give the learners lashes as [a] form of punishment’. 

See also

BOYCOTT OF SCHOOL AFTER BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/boycott-of-school-after-beatings.html

BOYCOTT OF SCHOOL AFTER BEATINGS

Children at a primary school in Swaziland have boycotted classes because they live in fear of the illegal corporal punishment they are made to suffer.

Local media report that children are hit with a stick, which in at least one case is said to have left a child ‘bleeding from the head’.

After years of physical abuse of children, corporal punishment in schools was abolished, but teachers across the kingdom still use it. 

The Swazi Observer reported on Monday (6 March 2017) that students boycotted classes at Masundvwini Primary School because they were scared of their teacher.

It reported that some parents, ‘have had their children come back from school with blood after being hit’ by the teacher. 

One parent was reported saying, ‘My daughter always comes home complaining of a headache. She finally told me that her teacher normally hits her in the head with a stick.’

The school said it would investigate the complaints.

There is a long history in Swaziland of the use by teachers of unusual forms of punishment in Swazi schools.

In August 2016, it was reported an eight-year-old schoolboy was thrashed so hard in class he vomited and it was feared he might have had internal bleeding as a result. His teacher at Siyendle Primary School, near Gege forced classmates to hold the boy down while he whipped him with a stick. 

In June 2016, a school principal was reported to police after allegedly giving a 20-year-old female student nine strokes of the cane on the buttocks at the Herefords High School. 

In September 2015, the Times of Swaziland reported a 17-year-old school pupil died after allegedly being beaten at school. The pupil reportedly had a seizure.

In March 2015, a primary school teacher at the Florence Christian Academy was charged with causing grievous bodily harm after allegedly giving 200 strokes of the cane to a 12-year-old pupil on her buttocks and all over her body.

In February 2015, the headteacher of Mayiwane High School Anderson Mkhonta reportedly admitted giving 15 strokes to a form 1 pupil for not wearing a neck tie properly.

In April 2015, parents reportedly complained to the Ndlalane Primary School after a teacher beat pupils for not following his instruction and shaving their hair. 

In October 2014, 20 pupils were thrashed before they sat an examination because they had been absent from school studying for the exam the previous day.

In October 2011, Save the Children told the United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva that corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. It highlighted Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the name of punishment. It said, ‘Teachers can administer as many strokes [of the cane] as they desire, much against the limit stipulated in the regulations from the Ministry of Education.’ 

In a separate case, girls at Mpofu High School were flogged by teachers on their bare flesh and if they resisted they were chained down so the beating could continue. They said they got up to 40 strokes at a time.  

In another case, a 10-year-old girl at kaLanga Nazarene Primary school was blinded for life in her left eye after a splinter from a teacher’s stick flew and struck it during punishment. And, she was not the child being punished. She was injured when her teacher was hitting another pupil, with a stick which broke.  

Another pupil in Swaziland was thrashed so hard that he later collapsed unconscious and had to be rushed to a clinic. Six pupils at Mafucula High school were thrashed with 20 strokes of a ‘small log’ because they were singing in class. It was reported that the boy who became unconscious was not one of those misbehaving, but he was flogged nonetheless. 

See also

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/swazi-school-tortures-students.html

 

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

 

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

 

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html

SWAZI PM OVERTURNS BUDGET VOTE

Swaziland’s unelected Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini has forced members of the Swazi Parliament to overturn their decision to reject the national budget.

He has also forced them to abandon a debate on the contents of the budget in the House of Assembly and instead move discussions straight to committee sittings.

Members of the House had on 1 March 2017 rejected the budget, saying it did not do enough for ordinary people. More than 12 percent of the budget is for defence and security. Additional money is to be spent on the police for ‘crowd management services’. 

On Tuesday (7 March 2017) they reversed their decision.

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the Prime Minister and senior ministers are selected by the King.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported on Wednesday (8 March 2017) that the Prime Minister ‘minced no words’ then he told Parliament ‘that nothing would be changed in the budget’.

The newspaper, described by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in a report on media freedom in the kingdom, as a  ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ reported the MPs ‘came back to their senses’ and allowed passage to the Budget Bill.

There are ongoing concerns about the ways national budgets are made in Swaziland. In a review of the 2016 Swaziland budget, the US State Department found details were missing about how money given to the Royal Family was spent. Also hidden was detailed information about spending on the military, police and correctional services.

The United States undertakes annual reports on ‘fiscal transparency’ of governments that receive US assistance to ‘help ensure US taxpayer money is used appropriately’.

About seven in ten of Swaziland’s 1.3 million population live in abject poverty with incomes leas than US$2 a day.

MPs had called for a revised budget to be tabled that addressed the needs for potable clean water; feeder roads networks; community projects; an increase in grants for the elderly and people living with disability; food security and the construction of new health clinics. 

The Finance Sessional Committee of the House of Assembly will now ask Government if a supplementary budget to address members of parliament’s concerns can be made.  

See also

SWAZI MPs REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/swazi-mps-reject-national-budget.html

 

SWAZILAND: MASSIVE ‘SECURITY’ SPENDING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/swaziland-massive-security-spending.html

 

U.S. SAYS BUDGET LACKS TRANSPARENCY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/us-says-budget-lacks-transparency.html

U.S. SAYS BUDGET LACKS TRANSPARENCY

King Mswati III’s Government has fallen foul of one of its most important aid donors, the United States, because it hides information about how its spends taxpayers’ money from the people.

In a review of the 2016 Swaziland budget, the US State Department found details about how money given to the Royal Family was spent was missing. Also hidden was detailed information about spending on the military, police and correctional services.

The Fiscal Transparency Report said some information about these expenditures were given, ‘but lacked detail and were not subject to the same oversight as the rest of the budget’.

The United States undertakes annual reports on ‘fiscal transparency’ of governments that receive U.S. assistance to ‘help ensure U.S. taxpayer money is used appropriately’.

The report noted that, ‘revenues from natural resources and land leases were not included in the budget’. 

In Swaziland, King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, takes 25 percent of all income generated from mining and mineral extraction. He holds this ‘in trust for the Swazi nation,’ but in fact uses the money to finance his own lavish lifestyle. He has at least 13 palaces, a private jet plane (with another on the way), fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars and at least one Rolls Royce.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the King’s subjects live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 per day.

Regarding, contracts for mining and mineral extraction, the report stated, ‘Basic information on awards was not always publicly available. The process actually used to award licenses and contracts has apparently been broadly consistent with the law or regulation, though the process has consisted of submitting applications for licenses directly to the King.’

The report concluded, ‘Fiscal transparency in Swaziland would be improved by: providing more detail on expenditures and revenues in the budget, particularly natural resource revenues and expenditures of the Royal Family; subjecting the entire budget to audit and oversight; and making basic information on natural resource extraction awards publicly available.’

See also

SWAZILAND: MASSIVE SECURITY SPENDING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/swaziland-massive-security-spending.html

 

SWAZI MPs REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/swazi-mps-reject-national-budget.html