Protest at Swaziland border calls for isolation of absolute monarch

 

Members of a dozen organisations picketed the South African side of the Swaziland border to call for the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III to be isolated.

They want democracy in Swaziland where political parties cannot contest elections and groups that campaign for freedom are banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. The King chooses the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers as well as top judges and civil servants.

The picket on Friday (26 July 2019) was led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in KwaZulu-Natal. In a statement it called on all progressive forces to agitate for the economic and political isolation of the Mswati government. It said, ‘This campaign needs to be strengthened and intensified so that the exploited and oppressed people of Swaziland can be freed from the shackles of the Mswati regime.

‘Contrary to its false claims of peace and order in Swaziland, the regime is continuing to expose the people of Swaziland to serious sufferings and exploitation. The State is paralysed and the country is on the verge of collapse. 

‘The people are dying because of the failing health system, children and women are raped, workers are striking and protesting for wage increases, taxes have escalated exorbitantly; university students are targeted and the judiciary is centralised by the individuals. 

‘There is no quality healthcare programme, the education system remains untransformed, and the media freedom is non-existent.’

Among those participating in the picket at the Golela / Lavumisa Border were the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and two groups banned in Swaziland: the People’s United Democratic Movement (TUCOSWA) and the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN).

Picture sourced from Facebook

See also

COSATU to help evicted Swaziland sugar cane farmers regain control of land from King

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/12/cosatu-to-help-evicted-swaziland-sugar.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 MP calls for action against women wearing ‘skimpy clothes’ to church

A member of parliament in Swaziland / eSwatini called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to speak out against women who wear ‘skimpy clothes’ to church. He said they sometimes disturbed pastors when they preached the Word of God.

Vulimpompi Nhleko, the MP for Nkwene, in the conservative kingdom ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, said the women would sexually arouse males in churches.

He was speaking during a debate in the House of Assembly. The Swazi Observer reported, ‘He said some women were commended for having beautiful bodies and then decide to show off those bodies, which would then cause mayhem in the church. Nhleko urged the home affairs ministry to guard against that.’

The newspaper added, ‘The ladies’ tendencies, according to MP Nhleko, would sometimes disturb pastors when they preached the Word of God.’

The Observer reported, ‘Minister of Home Affairs Princess Lindiwe stated that it was important for people to wear decently in churches.’

Women across Swaziland constantly face verbal and physical attacks over the clothes they wear. In late 2012 Swaziland Police announced that women found wearing a mini-skirt in public would be arrested and face a fine or imprisonment. Swazi Police official spokesperson Wendy Hleta told the Times Sunday newspaper that it would only take one complaint for a woman in a mini-skirt to be arrested. She said police would use a law dating from 1889.

She was commenting after police stopped a march by women protesting at the harassment they received from men when they wore mini-skirts or other clothes such as low-cut jeans or crop tops that displayed their stomachs. The men wanted them to wear clothes they considered more appropriate to Swazi tradition. 

In the course of the interview Hleta said that men might be tempted to rape women who wore skimpy clothes.

By coincidence around the same date the Times of Swaziland published a letter from a woman who recounted a trip she and her female friend made to Manzini police station to report a crime. She was wearing a miniskirt and her friend shorts. 

She said five male officers verbally attacked them. Among the comments made by the police officers were, ‘You b******, go and get dressed or remove yourselves from our presence. 

‘Can’t you hear that we are telling you to go and dress appropriately first? Or have you come to solicit here? This is not a prostitution site.’ And , ‘Go before we do you harm.’

In a separate case, at the national election in 2013 Mana Mavimbela, aged 18, drew international attention when she tried to have herself nominated to stand in the primary election for the House of Assembly. The official presiding officer, employed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, refused to allow her to do so because she was dressed in jeans.

Mavimbela was not the only woman discriminated against at the nominations because she was wearing pants. Fakazile Luhlanga of Ndvwabangeni in the Mhlangatane constituency was also not allowed permission to nominate a candidate as she was wearing cargo pants. 

Local media reported Luhlanga saying she was told that she was dressed like a man and would be a bad influence to the community members as they would want to emulate her.

Some chiefs across Swaziland imposed a ban on women wearing trousers, shorts or mini-skirts at nomination centres. Chief Petros Dvuba of Mpolonjeni in Mbabane, the kingdom’s capital, said people who would be going to the nominations should dress properly and show respect as it was King Mswati’s exercise.  He told local media, ‘Even those who have relaxed hair should cover their heads when going to that place.’ 

In a separate incident away from the election, Nhlonipho Nkamane Mkhatswa, chief of Lwandle in Manzini, the main commercial city in Swaziland, reportedly stripped a woman of her clothing in the middle of a street in full view of the public because she was wearing trousers.

Also, three women in Dvokolwako in Swaziland were summoned by ‘traditional authorities’ for wearing trousers after elders in the area had banned them. One woman said someone reported her after she was spotted wearing jeans as she was walking to the shops. Another woman was said to be wearing pants at her home when she was charged.

See also

Woman in pants banned from election

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/08/woman-in-pants-banned-from-election.html

Chief makes woman in pants strip

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/chief-makes-woman-in-pants-strip.html

Swaziland Constitutional Court to rule on marriage law that gives husband total control over wife

The High Court in Swaziland / eSwatini has been asked to rule that the Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it discriminates against women.

The Act allows that if the marriage is under civil law a husband has the decisive say in all matters and the wife has no legal rights and cannot independently administer property, sign contracts or conduct legal proceedings.

The case was brought by Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA). The High Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, was told the Marriage Act dated from 1964 but the Swaziland Constitution of 2005 included a Bill of Rights. WLSA said the Marriage Act was now unconstitutional.

WLSA also said the Swazi Government had signed treaties advocating for gender equality and women’s rights but had failed to implement them. Swaziland agreed in 2004 to be bound by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – the key international treaty on women’s human rights.

The court will announce a judgment at a date to be set.

Discrimination against women in Swaziland has been reported for many years. Amnesty International in a submission to the United Nations Periodic Review of Human Rights in 2011 stated the Constitution guaranteed women the right to equal treatment with men, a right that ‘shall include equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities’ (Section 28 (1)). 

However other provisions of the Constitution fell short of international human rights standards. For example, Section 15(1) that prohibited discrimination on various grounds did not include marital status.

Amnesty said women’s right to equality in the cultural sphere was also inadequately protected by the provision guaranteeing that ‘a woman shall not be compelled to undergo or uphold any custom to which she is in conscience opposed’(Section 28(3)). Amnesty said, ‘This formulation places an undue burden on the individual woman, whereas international human rights law stipulates that it is the responsibility of the state to prohibit and condemn all forms of harmful practices which negatively affect women. Furthermore, girls and young women are not sufficiently protected under the law from forced or early marriages.

‘As a consequence of the slow pace of law reform, women remain unprotected by the law and continue to face forms of discrimination permitted by domestic law. The delays cannot be blamed on a lack of resources since the government has been provided with various forms of practical support for this process as it pertains to women’s rights by the European Union and United Nations agencies.’ 

Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch, is a deeply conservative kingdom. In 2016 ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) reported that despite claims that Swaziland was a modern country, ‘the reality is, despite pledges and commitments, women continue to suffer discrimination, are treated as inferior to men, and are denied rights.’

ACTSA added, ‘The King has demonstrated he is unwilling to change the status quo and promotes multiple aspects of the patriarchal society.’

In a briefing paper called Women’s Rights in Swaziland ACTSA said, ‘Swaziland has a deeply patriarchal society, where polygamy and violence against women are normalised, deeply unequal cultural and religious norms, and a male monarch who is unwilling to make any change. All this contributes towards the daily discrimination faced by women.’

See also

Woman, 36, in Swaziland beaten and ordered to leave home because she is not married

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/woman-36-in-swaziland-beaten-and.html

 

Protest Swazi law reform delay

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/protest-swazi-law-reform-delay.html

Schools across Swaziland in chaos as failing Govt runs out of cash

Swaziland / eSwatini Minister of Education and Training Lady Howard-Mabuza met school principals as education in the kingdom crumbles through lack of funding.

The Swazi Government has not paid schools fees and support staff have been sacked as a result. Teaching supplies have run out and in some school pupils have been without a teacher for more than a year.

The Minister said that plans for building new schools had been put on hold and hiring of teaching staff was frozen.

More than six in ten schools in Swaziland do not have enough teachers because of government financial cutbacks, the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome Mhlanga had previously said.

Howard-Mabuza said the government was broke and could not afford to finance education.

The problem is not new as the government, appointed  by King Mswati III the absolute monarch in Swaziland, has run the economy into the ground over many years. Public services across the kingdom, including health, education and policing are crumbling. The government owes its suppliers about E3 billion (US$215 million).

On Thursday (18 July 2019) teachers and school principals marched on government to present a petition calling for urgent action.

Despite the financial crisis, King Mswati continues to live lavishly. He has two private airplanes, at least 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range cars. At his 50^th birthday in 2018 he wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds that weighed 6 kg. Days earlier he had taken delivery of his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but with VIP upgrades was estimated to have cost US$30 million.

In 2017 King Mswati was named the third wealthiest King in Africa by the international website Business Insider. It reported he had a net worth of US$200 million (about E2.8 billion in local Swazi currency).

About seven in ten of the estimated 1.2 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

See also

Swaziland schools run out supplies, exams threatened, as govt financial meltdown bites

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-schools-run-out-supplies.html

 

Swaziland children forced to work as groundsmen as Govt delays funding their school

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-children-forced-to-work-as.html

Chaos and confusion across Swaziland as new school year starts

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/chaos-and-confusion-across-swaziland-as.html

Swaziland schools run out supplies, exams threatened, as govt financial meltdown bites

The writing of examinations across Swaziland / eSwatini is under threat because the government has not handed over grants to schools and they cannot pay for simple supplies such as paper. Electricity has been cut because of unpaid bills. There is also a long-running shortages of teachers.

Teachers and school principals marched on the Ministry of Education and Training and Cabinet offices to deliver a petition calling for funding to be paid.

The Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators (SASA), the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) with  the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and National Public Services and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) took part on Thursday (18 July 2019).

SASA’s Chairperson Samkelo Dlamini said government had not paid money to schools and there were no resources to run them. The Swazi Observer reported, ‘He said the Examination Council had released the examination timetable and pupils were expected to go for exams, yet there are no teachers or teaching material. “We wish to put it on record that, your failure to finance education at primary school level and paying for those learners who are orphaned and vulnerable at high schools have rendered the schools becoming day care centres as opposed to institutions that should offer formal education,” Dlamini said.’

Public services across Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as an absolute monarch, are in meltdown. The Swazi Government, which is not elected but handpicked by the King is broke and owes suppliers about E3 billion (US$215 million).

More than six in ten schools in Swaziland do not have enough teachers because of government financial cutbacks, the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome Mhlanga has said.

See also

Swaziland children forced to work as groundsmen as Govt delays funding their school

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-children-forced-to-work-as.html

 

Chaos and confusion across Swaziland as new school year starts

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/chaos-and-confusion-across-swaziland-as.html

Human Rights Watch adds to criticism of Swaziland’s freedom abuses

Another human rights group has criticised the Swaziland / eSwatini state for restricting freedom of association and assembly. Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch.

Human Rights Watch in a report detailing events during 2018 stated, ‘Restrictions on freedom of association and assembly continued in 2018. Although Eswatini signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in January, the government has not taken steps to ratify and implement the charter.

‘A few days before the September elections, public sector workers, including teachers and nurses under the umbrella of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), embarked on protests over salaries across the country.  Police responded in a heavy-handed manner, beating and injuring protesters in Manzini. 

‘Earlier in June, police injured at least four workers protesting alleged corruption in government. These incidents occurred despite the new Police Service Act of 2018 that provides that “the police shall respect and protect human dignity and human rights,” and that “police officers are prohibited from inflicting or tolerating any act of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”’

Human Rights Watch also reported, ‘King Mswati holds supreme executive power over the parliament and judiciary by virtue of a 1973 state of emergency decree. The country’s courts have upheld the legality of the decree. This is contrary to the 2005 constitution, which in accordance with the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, provides for three separate organs of government—the executive, legislature, and judiciary.  The prime minister theoretically holds executive authority, but in reality, King Mswati exercises supreme executive power and also controls the judiciary.

‘The 2005 constitution provides for equality before the law, but also elevates the king above the law. In 2018, in an apparent exercise of his absolute executive powers, the king renamed the country without parliamentary approval or the requisite constitutional change.

‘The Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, which restricts freedom of expression through criminalizing alleged seditious publications and the use of alleged seditious words, such as those which “may excite disaffection” against the king, remained in force in 2018.  In February, then-Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini said that a newspaper, Swaziland Shopping, was shut because it criticized the government. Its editor, Zweli Martin Dlamini fled the country in January after allegedly receiving death threats for implicating King Mswati in a corruption case.’

Human rights violations in Swaziland have been well documented. Recently, the United States Department of State in its annual review of the kingdom, highlighted ‘human rights issues’ across a wide range of areas which included, ‘restrictions on political participation, corruption, rape and violence against women linked in part to government inaction, criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct, although rarely enforced, and child labor’. 

Amnesty International in a review of Swaziland for 2017 / 2018 stated, ‘The Public Order Act and the Suppression of Terrorism Act severely limited the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.’ 

It added, The Public Order Act, ‘curtailed the rights to freedom of assembly and association, imposing far-reaching restrictions on organizers of public gatherings. The Act also failed to provide mechanisms to hold law enforcement officials accountable for using excessive force against protesters or public gatherings.’

Freedom House scored Swaziland 16 out of a possible 100 points in its Freedom in the World 2019 report. It concluded that Swaziland was ‘not free’.

See also

No appetite by Swaziland to investigate human rights abuses, corruption: U.S. report

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/no-appetite-by-swaziland-to-investigate.html

Swaziland public services in meltdown and corruption goes unchecked: new report surveys the kingdom

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-public-services-in-meltdown.html

Swaziland children forced to work as groundsmen as Govt delays funding their school

Pupils in Swaziland / eSwatini are being forced to work as groundsmen at their primary school because the government has not paid grants it owes.

The children at Vulamehlo pick up paper, cut grass and sweep the school yard. The work used to be down by a groundsman but he lost his job because the school could not pay him. This is because like other schools across the kingdom it has not received free primary education (FPE) grants from the government.

Vulamehlo is also not serving meals to the pupils as the school did not have funds to pay school staff, deputy headteacher Cynthia Dlamini told the Times of Swaziland.

She said, ‘We have not received FPE grants yet and this has resulted in our groundsman leaving the school as we have failed to pay him. In the meantime, pupils perform the duties of the groundsman.’

Public services across Swaziland, where King Mswati III rules as an absolute monarch, are in meltdown. The Swazi Government, which is not elected but handpicked by the King is broke and owes suppliers about E3 billion (US$215 million).

More than six in ten schools in Swaziland do not have enough teachers because of government financial cutbacks, the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome Mhlanga has said.

Government needs to find E151.9 million for the primary schools across the kingdom to fund FPE. There are about 650 primary schools in Swaziland. The Swazi Constitution requires that all children in the kingdom receive free primary education. There are about 330,000 pupils at school in Swaziland, including about 240,000 at primary schools.

Schoolchildren across Swaziland have been going hungry because the government has not paid suppliers for food under the zondle programme feeding scheme. This has been the case for more than a year. In the past schools have been forced to close because of the shortages.

See also

Chaos and confusion across Swaziland as new school year starts

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/chaos-and-confusion-across-swaziland-as.html

Armed police deployed in schools across Swaziland to ensure exams take place during teacher pay dispute

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/armed-police-deployed-in-schools-across.html

Swaziland police fire live ammunition as children protest about witchcraft at their school

Police in Swaziland / eSwatini fired live ammunition as school pupils protested against a staff member they accused of using witchcraft.
 

They also used water cannon and fired stun grenades and rubber bullets during the protest that lasted about four hours. The pupils had pelted police officers with stones and blocked the road with burning car tyres and broken school furniture.

It happened at Dvokolwako High School on Monday (15 July 2019). The Times of Swaziland reported, ‘The pupils were baying for the staff member’s blood on allegations of witchcraft.’ 

The Swazi Observer reported the accused staff member was said to be responsible for the death of four pupils and three teachers since 2013. 

The Times reported, ‘The Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU) officers came armed to the teeth and they brought along a water cannon, which was used to disperse the rioting pupils.

‘Amid all that tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, stun grenades and live rounds of ammunition flew in the air while the pupils who were rioting ran helter-skelter.’

It added Pupils had boycotted morning assembly and the school authorities called the police who came ‘to ensure peace and order, to drive the pupils out of the school’.

The Observer reported, ‘The situation went out of hand when police officers arrived at the school. Witnesses said after the pupils were sent home, the police arrived and chased after some pupils who were singing and dancing outside the school premises. After the police chased after them, it is said others were left behind and they started to hurl stones and pelted the windows.’

This was not the first time that police in Swaziland attacked children at their school. In May 2019 police fired rubber bullets and teargas at pupils at Mhubhe High School at Ngculwini when they protested about sexual abuse on them by a teacher.

In March 2014 police armed with batons attacked pupils at Mbabane Central High School and detained about 100 of them when they boycotted classes after they were denied the opportunity to take part in sporting activities by their school. The school said they suspended sporting activities because too many students were failing exams and needed to focus more on their studies.

In June 2013 police fired live bullets when children boycotted classes in protest against alleged corruption at Mhubhe High School in Ngculwini. Gunshots were fired at the pupils after police drove them away from the school, but they tried to return.

In March 2011 police reportedly assaulted pupils of Mbukwane High School after the children took part in a demonstration. The Observer reported at the time police went to the homes of the pupils, took them to the police station where they were interrogated ‘before being beaten up’.

In the same year, 12 schoolchildren at Kubongeni High School, accused of being leaders in a class boycott, were beaten up by police officers with batons, in their own school, in front of the school’s principal. The pupils were called individually into the school’s staffroom where the police officers and their principal were. Pupils said they were then assaulted with batons and fists.

Local media reported the school became suspicious that the pupils were about to organise another boycott, so the police were called.

See also

Swaziland police fire rubber bullets at schoolchildren protesting sexual abuse by teacher

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/05/swaziland-police-fire-rubber-bullets-at.html

Another police attack on children

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/03/another-police-attack-on-children.html

Police shoot as children protest

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/police-shoot-as-children-protest.html
 

Swazi police assault school kids

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/swazi-police-assault-schoolkids.html
 

Pupil leaders beaten by police

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupil-leaders-beaten-by-police.html