Striking Swaziland students win victory in dispute with government

University and college students in Swaziland / eSwatini won a victory over government, forcing it to double their personal allowances.

All tertiary institutions in the kingdom where King Mswati III rules as an absolute monarch were closed after students protests, including strikes, local media reported.

The dispute had been going on for a number of years. Students are also campaigning for scholarships to be made available for all who qualify and want them. There are also concerns about resources. These issues have not been resolved.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported government would raise the E800 personal allowance per month to E1,690. This covers accommodation, food, transport and other personal allowances. The government had said it was broke and could not afford to pay. 

Public services across the kingdom, including health, education and policing are crumbling. The government owes its suppliers about E3 billion (US$215 million). Public servants are due to hold a national strike in a long-running campaign to get cost-of-living salary adjustments. 

Ministry of Labour and Social Security Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi said this year government supported about 13,000 students through the Students Study Loan Scheme.

See also

Swaziland university closed indefinitely as student protests continue

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/swaziland-university-closed.html

Limkokwing University, Swaziland, asks High Court to force end to class boycott

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/limkokwing-university-swaziland-asks.html

Swaziland police hold and ‘torture’ students after protest march on Govt ministry

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/swaziland-police-hold-and-torture.html

Oxfam names Swaziland most unequal country in Africa on personal income

Oxfam, the international anti-poverty charity, has named Swaziland / eSwatini as the country with most income inequality in Africa.

In a report called A Tale of Two Continents: Fighting Inequality in Africa it measured people with top incomes and compared them with those with the least.

Oxfam reported, ‘The most unequal country in the region, Swaziland, is home to one billionaire, Nathan Kirsh, who is estimated to have US$4.9bn.  If he worked in one of the restaurants that his wholesale company supplies on a worker’s minimum wage, it would take him 5.7 million years to earn his current level of wealth.’ The annual minimum wage in Swaziland is US$848 (or about E12,000 in the local Swazi currency), Oxfam reported.

The new report is one of many about poverty in Swaziland in recent years. In August 2018 a report published by the World Bank stated, ‘Poverty, inequality and unemployment are the primary development challenges which have remained stubborn and difficult to address.’

It said, ‘Based on the international poverty lines of US$1.9 and US$3.2 a day, it is estimated that 38 percent of the Swazi population [estimated at 1.2 million] lives in extreme poverty and a total of 60.3 percent is poor overall. These estimates represent a relatively small improvement from the 2009 finding that 42.0 percent were subsisting below the US$1.9 a day line and 64.4 percent were below the US$3.2 a day line. 

‘In general, children, the elderly, the unemployed as well as female-headed and single-headed households are disproportionately represented among the poor.’

In December 2018 a report published by Afrobarometer suggested poverty in Swaziland got worse over the previous three years.

More than half the people interviewed reported going without enough food and without the medical care they needed.

The numbers going without food was 56 percent (up from 51 percent from a similar survey taken in 2015). Those going without medical care was 53 percent (up from 33 percent).

In 2017, Oxfam itself published a report called Starting With People, a human economy approach to inclusive growth in Africa which also detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and those at the bottom. It stated the Swazi government, which is handpicked by King Mswati, who rules as an absolute monarch, ‘failed to put measures in place to tackle inequality, with poor scores for social spending and progressive taxation, and a poor record on labour rights’.

King Mswati III has a reputation for lavish spending. He has at least 13 palaces, two private jets 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. 

In 2017 the international website Business Insider reported he had a net worth of US$200 million (about E2.8 billion).

See also

No let up on poverty in Swaziland as absolute King makes public display of his vast wealth

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/03/no-let-up-on-poverty-in-swaziland-as.html

 

Lavish spending leads to food aid cut

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/lavish-spending-leads-to-food-aid-cut.html

Up to 200 Swaziland teachers ‘die of stress’ as schools meltdown due to economic crisis

Close to 200 teachers died of stress-related illness in Swaziland / eSwatini over two years. Four teachers a week were being buried and another 100 were said to presently suffering. This was because of the pressure teachers were forced to work under because of the economic meltdown in the kingdom.

The Swaziland News, an online publication, revealed the statistics after an investigation. It said close to 200 teachers died in the two years up March 2019. The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) said it buried four teachers a week who died of stress-related illness. SNAT also said more than 100 teachers that it knew of were seeking psychological help because of stress. The newspaper reported that the cause of the stress was mainly the working conditions teachers faced. They were poorly paid and overworked because there were so many unfilled teacher vacancies and they lacked resources.

A source told the newspaper, ‘We are the most frustrated professionals in the country yet parents and government expect good results. Another thing, the government wants all children in primary schools to pass, even those who fail, we are told to promote them to the next class, it’s a huge crisis. When a teacher dies, those who remained behind are loaded with extra duties as government has frozen hiring.’

Themba Masuku, the Swazi Deputy Prime Minister, said, ‘The economic situation is really bad.’ He said teachers’ leaders and the Ministry of Education and Training should meet to prioritise spending.

Sikelela Dlamini, Secretary-General of SNAT, said, ‘The DPM is talking “nonsense” by saying we must consult the Education Ministry to find solutions on these issues, he knows that the Ministry has no capacity to resolve these challenges. We can engage the Education Ministry, but nothing will change, it is the central government that should prioritize 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). Protests from teachers and civil servants have taken place across the kingdom because government has refused to fund cost-of-living salary adjustments. It says it does not have the money. 

Sikelela Dlamini told the Swaziland News, ‘When it’s time to address issues affecting civil servants, government always claim there is no money but it’s always available for royalty.’

The King and his extended family live lavish lifestyles. 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 of Swaziland live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

This week, Welcome Mhlanga, President of the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA), told the Times of eSwatini (formerly Times of Swaziland), ‘Most schools have not been paid their grants – free primary education (FPE) and orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) – which are funded by government.’ He warned teaching materials would not be available ahead of examinations.

In July 2019, Minister of Education and Training Lady Howard-Mabuza met school principals. The government had not paid schools fees and support staff were sacked as a result. Teaching supplies ran out and in some schools pupils had 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 did not have enough teachers because of government financial cutbacks, Welcome Mhlanga had previously said.

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

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 democracy activist finally able to vote

Kenworthy News Media, 9 September 9 2019

SOURCE

Bheki Dlamini had to flee his native Swaziland because he fought for democracy. Monday he voted for the first time – in Norway, where he lives in exile, writes Kenworthy News Media.

– Casting my vote got me thinking. This is my first ever vote and it is happening in a foreign land. In my homeland, Swaziland, I’ve never voted – simply because we don’t have multiparty elections. The elections in Norway serve as a source of strength in pursuit of freedom and democracy at home, says Swazi political activist, Bheki Dlaimini.

Political parties have been banned in Swaziland since 1973, and Dlamini had to flee the country after having been tortured and imprisoned by the regime for his role as a leading activist in Swaziland’s democratic movement.

– I have engaged myself in the fight for a free and democratic political space in Swaziland. A struggle that has been marked by permanent scars in my body, inflicted by Swaziland’s security forces, hence my vote here in Norway, Bheki Dlamini says.

Dlamini is humbled by the opportunity to influence the politics of the municipality in Bergen, where he has spent the last four years, he adds.

The election laws of Norway allow foreigners who have lived in the country for three years to vote in local elections, even though they have not attained Norwegian citizenship.

The largest political party in the Norwegian parliament, the Norwegian Labour Party, Arbeiderpartiet, criticised the absolute monarchy of Swaziland in a resolution presented at its national congress in April.

– Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is one of the world’s last absolute monarchies. King Mswati has almost absolute power. While the population of Eswatini suffers from partial extreme poverty, the king lives an extravagant life of luxury.  Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV-Aids-infection per capita. But treating those who are infected or preventing further spread of the disease is not a priority, a statement from the congress read.

Royal selections

Swaziland held national elections in September of last year.  Voters in Swaziland elected 59 of Swaziland’s 69 members of the country’s House of Assembly at national elections. Absolute monarch King Mswati III picks the remaining ten, as well as most of the Senate, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Political parties were barred from participating in the elections.

In its annual Freedom in the World-report, independent watchdog organisation Freedom House gives Swaziland its lowest score of seven in regard to political rights. The report concludes that “Political dissent and civic and labor activism are subject to harsh punishment under sedition and other laws. any criticism of Swazi culture and traditions or defacement of national symbols—including the king’s image—can draw fines and up to two years in prison”.

In a poll conducted in 2015 by pan-African independent research institute Afrobarometer, only a third of the population saw Swaziland’s political system as democratic and only 28 percent were fairly or very satisfied with how democracy works in Swaziland (down from 36 percent in 2013).

Human Rights Watch concluded in their 2017 report that “Swaziland continued to repress political dissent and disregard human rights and rule of law in 2017”.

Bheki Dlamini has a degree in Public Administration at the University of Bergen. He is a former President of the Swaziland Youth Congress and former Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. The Swazi police’s torture of him by way of “severe beatings and suffocation torture” was mentioned in Amnesty International’s 2011 Annual Report.

See also

Land is Power in Swaziland: Amnesty International Report Highlights Forced Evictions

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/09/land-is-power-in-swaziland-amnesty.html

New research on Swazi democracy

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/09/new-research-on-swazi-democracy.html