Only one in ten people in Swaziland will get coronavirus vaccine in coming year

Nine out of ten people in Swaziland (eSwatini) will not be able to get a coronavirus vaccine in 2021, according to a new report.

This is because the kingdom is poor and richer nations have made deals with manufacturers and will get vaccines ahead of others. The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of global and national organizations, is calling for a global agreement under the World Health Assembly to share information and technology and distribute COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccines, diagnostics, tests and treatments free of charge to every person in the world.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s health policy manager said, ‘No one should be blocked from getting a life-saving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket.’

Mohga Kamal Yanni, from the People’s Vaccine Alliance said in a statement, ‘Rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, whilst poor countries don’t even have enough to even reach health workers and people at risk.’

Swaziland is one of 67 lower-middle income countries that will only have access to a vaccine through the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment. The global initiative works directly with vaccine manufacturers to ‘provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines,’ according to the World Health Organisation, but its success depends upon the participation of other countries.

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice said, ‘By buying up the vast majority of the world’s vaccine supply, rich countries are in breach of their human rights obligations. Instead, by working with others to share knowledge and scale up supply, they could help bring an end to the global COVID-19 crisis.’

As of 9 December 2020 6,612 people had tested positive for coronavirus and 125 had died in Swaziland, according to the Swazi Ministry of Health.

See also

More than 50 pupils test positive for coronavirus at Swaziland school

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/12/more-than-50-pupils-test-positive-for.html

Anger as Swaziland PM gets special medical treatment for coronavirus https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/12/anger-as-swaziland-pm-gets-special.html

 

Controversial business deal set to benefit Swaziland absolute monarch

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland (eSwatini) is reportedly set to grab more than 90 percent of the shares in some of the kingdom’s prestigious hotels.

He will in effect own the Royal Swazi Spa Resort at Ezulwini by taking it into the Tibiyo Taka Ngwane conglomerate that he controls ‘on behalf of the Swazi nation’.

Existing shareholders are set to lose their shares, the Swati Newsweek, an online news site, reported. It published a statement from Swazi Spa Holdings Limited confirming this. If successful the King would control 90.3 percent of the shares, at present he holds 39.7 percent.

Newsweek quoted an inside saying, ‘Because the company is no longer independent, people who had shares will be removed and another fear is that when Royalty takes over salaries might be reduced. This means that there might be retrenchment.’

The Royal Swazi Spa Resort includes the Lugogo Sun and the Royal Swazi Spa hotels, a convention centre, restaurants bars, and a country club.

The Swazi King’s shareholdings are controversial because although he holds the wealth on behalf of the people of Swaziland in practice he uses much of the money to finance his and his family’s lavish lifestyles.

In November 2019 he purchased between 13 and 15 luxury Rolls-Royce cars at an estimated cost of up to US$4 million. He also has two private airplanes, at least 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range cars. At his 50th 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.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the 1.1 million population live in abject poverty.

The extent of the King’s wealth is a closely-guarded secret. However, in 2009 Forbes magazine estimated that the King himself had a personal net fortune worth US$200 million. Forbes has also said King Mswati was the beneficiary of two funds created by his father Sobhuza II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute discretion over use of the income. The trust has been estimated to be worth US$10 billion.  

In August 2014 the Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa reported King Mswati personally received millions of dollars from international companies such as phone giant MTN; sugar conglomerates Illovo and Remgro; Sun International hotels and beverages firm SAB Millerto. He continues to receive money from these sources.

The King receives income each year from Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, which is a an investment fund with extensive shares in a number of businesses, industries, property developments and tourism facilities in Swaziland.

The King is the sole trustee of Tibiyo. Neither the King nor Tibiyo pay tax. The annual accounts for 2018 showed total assets were valued at E2.13 billion (US$140 million).

Money generated by Tibiyo is meant to be used for the benefit of the nation, Tibiyo in fact channels money directly to the Royal Family. A report from the United States State Department in 2016 said, ‘Tibiyo is run as a private equity investment fund for the benefit of the King and the royal family.

It added, ‘This fund is not subject to government or parliamentary oversight.’ 

See also

Lavish lifestyles of Swaziland Royal Family back in spotlight after party video goes viral

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/12/lavish-lifestyles-of-swaziland-royal.html

Swaziland absolute king calls for stiff public spending cuts but is not making personal sacrifice https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/02/swaziland-absolute-king-calls-for-stiff.html

EU money pays for lavish Swazi King https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/05/eu-money-pays-for-lavish-swazi-king.html

More than 50 pupils test positive for coronavirus at Swaziland school

More than 50 pupils at an industrial school in Swaziland (eSwatini) have tested positive for coronavirus in what might be the largest single outbreak in the kingdom.

The exact number of cases at the Vulamasango High School, Malkerns, a juvenile detention facility, was unclear because not all test results were reported on the same day. Pupils at the correctional facility were tested after an officer tested positive on 24 November 2020.

The eSwatini Observer reported that as of 3 December 53 pupils who lived at Mawelawela Correctional Facility tested positive. It reported the figure was only for female pupils and the number of males who tested positive was unknown.

The Ministry of Health and the Correctional Services declined to comment on the outbreak.

The number of positive cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) reported each day by the Swazi Ministry of Health is relatively low. There were 28 positive cases reported on 7 December and six on 6 December. In total there have been 6,529 positive cases and 123 deaths reported by the Ministry since the crisis began.

Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi confirmed there had been a spike in cases in late November at the time of the school’s outbreak but gave no further details.

Vulamasango was until August 2015 known as Malkerns Industrial School. It was the subject of a damning report in March 2014 called Malkerns Industrial School Students Violence Probe.

The report said warders at the juvenile jail stripped naked, handcuffed and beat children in their care. They inserted fingers into girls’ private parts and forced one boy to drink his own urine. The revelations followed reports in 2013 that warders at the same juvenile jail assaulted children systematically for more than five hours.

The Swazi News newspaper reported at the time that 15 officers were involved and more than two thirds of the 430 pupils at the school were assaulted from 8.30 am until after 2.00 pm, during one day. 

 See also

Juvenile centre ‘hell on earth’ http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/juvenile-centre-hell-on-earth.html

 Innocent kids locked in juvie jail  https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/05/innocent-kids-locked-in-juvie-jail.html

 Kids who commit no crime locked up  http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/kids-who-commit-no-crime-locked-up.html 

 

Boy, 12, jailed for insulting granny  http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/08/boy-12-jailed-for-insulting-granny.html

Swaziland community police illegally whip rape suspect on private parts

Community police officers in Swaziland (eSwatini) illegally stripped a suspected rapist naked and whipped him with a cane on his private parts.

This, the latest in a long line of abuses of power by the community police, happened at Lushikishini, outside Mankayane.

The man who was suspected of raping a child aged 11 is thought to be a South African cannabis dealer.

The eSwatini News reported, ‘No amount of wailing could deter the enraged community members from using brutal tactics to squeeze information from the suspect, in the presence of his young survivor.’

He was later handed over to the Mankayane police who charged him with rape.

The community police operate in rural Swaziland and are supervised by traditional chiefs who are local representatives of the absolute monarch, King Mswati III. They have the authority to arrest suspects concerning minor offences for trial by an inner council within the chiefdom. For serious offences suspects should be handed over to the official police for further investigations.

There have been a number of reports of community police brutality in Swaziland. In October 2020, a 17-year-old man was whipped on the back by community police at Fairview, Manzini. He had allegedly tried to defraud the owner of a shebeen (informal drinking place).

Other cases of brutality include community police at KaMasuku who paraded naked five suspected thieves and severely beat them on their buttocks. At least two needed hospital treatment.

Community police at Mahwalala allegedly beat a teenager to death to make him confess to a crime he had not committed. He was one of six people accused by the police of robbing an elderly man. It said he was interrogated through the night and died of his injuries.

Community police at Gundvwini in the Manzini region illegally forced a six-year-old boy to strip and then thrashed him on the naked buttocks after he was accused of stealing a cellphone from a schoolteacher.  

 

 See also

Swaziland community police illegally whip teenager, in latest brutality report

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/10/swaziland-community-police-illegally.html

 

Swaziland police ‘beat teenager to death to make him confess to crime he did not commit’  

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/swaziland-police-beat-teenager-to-death.html

 

Swaziland community police strip theft suspects naked and beat their buttocks in latest illegal action  

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/11/swaziland-community-police-strip-theft.html

Swaziland psychiatric patients escape hospital after ‘riot over food’

Dozens of psychiatric patients at a hospital in Swaziland (eSwatini) escaped the institution after a ‘riot’ over food.

The Times of eSwatini reported on Friday (4 December 2020) it happened at the National Psychiatric Referral Hospital at Two Sticks, Manzini.

The newspaper said patients had not been receiving regular meals since 1 November. Sources told the newspaper sometimes patients got their meals late or not at all. The problem started after the Ministry of Health ordered the caterer of the institution to stop serving medical staff with meals because of the cost involved. Staff therefore went off premises to get food for themselves during meal times.

The Times reported, ‘According to the insiders, yesterday afternoon, the hungry patients who had not been served meals for lunch, regrouped and charged towards the security guards and there was a scuffle.

‘Eventually, the sources said the patients overpowered the security guards, broke down the gate and got out of their demarcated area. They said some of the patients then used that chance to escape from the facility.’ The newspaper estimated ‘dozens’ of patients may have escaped.

The Times reported about 30 patients had previously escaped from the centre in 2017 after they were banned from smoking. 

In June 2019 nurses at the National Psychiatric Centre said they were considering releasing patients because there were no drugs to subdue them after supplies ran out and they feared for their own safety.

The drug shortage was part of a nationwide health crisis that continues today after the government failed to pay suppliers.

One nurse reported at the time, ‘The wards have become battle rings because the patients are fighting more than usual since there are those who need to be kept in check through medication. It’s hard for us because our patients can’t reason due to their ailment.’

 

See also

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

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

 

New report of Swaziland hospital crisis as Govt fails to pay suppliers, patients left unfed https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/06/new-report-of-swaziland-hospital-crisis.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

Lavish lifestyles of Swaziland Royal Family back in spotlight after party video goes viral

The lavish lifestyles of members of the Swaziland (eSwatini) Royal Family are once again under the spotlight after video was posted online showing King Mswati III’s son Prince Majaha being showered with cash at his 30^th birthday party.

King Mswati rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch. In November 2019 he purchased between 13 and 15 luxury Rolls-Royce cars at an estimated cost of up to US$4 million. He also has two private airplanes, at least 13 palaces and fleets of top-of-the-range cars. At his 50th 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.

A Facebook page called Swazi Royal Leeches Lifestyle has monitored the lavish spending of the King and numerous of his children. Among other photographs it shows King Mswati’s daughters Siba, Tiyandza and Sikhanyiso with a friend on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Tiyandza, daughter to King Mswati and Queen LaNgangaza, is wearing a 47 mm 18K Pink Gold Ballon Bleu De Cartier watch worth US$58,500 (E760,500).

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the Swazi population of 1.1 million people live in abject poverty.

The new video shows Prince Majaha smiling and laughing while another prince splashes cash in his direction.

The Economic Freedom Fighters of Swaziland President Ncamiso Ngcamphalala told the Swati Newsweek, a news website, ‘It is embarrassing to see members of the royal family showing off luxurious lifestyle at the expense of more than 60 percent of hungry people of Swaziland. They are showing high levels of arrogance.’

In July 2020, Lisa Peterson, the United States Ambassador to Swaziland called for the kingdom’s constitution to be changed to stop King Mswati’s lavish spending.

She said the US had given more than half a billion dollars in assistance to eSwatini over the past 15 years. ‘It does reach a point where you ask yourself why are we putting this money in. Why are my taxpayer’s dollars going to this, my children’s tax dollars, heaven forbid, my grandchildren’s tax dollars go to pay for healthcare in this country when someone [the King] clearly has a lot of money and doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with it all.’

The Ambassador said people needed to send a message to the King, ‘We expect you to behave the way the rest of us have to behave.’

 

 

See also

U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland wants constitutional change to stop King’s lavish spending 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/07/us-ambassador-to-swaziland-wants.html

 

World Food Program falls short in fundraising as hunger grips Swaziland and King spends lavishly on himself 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/world-food-program-falls-short-in.html

 

Swazi King and queens of bling 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-King-and-queens-of-bling.html
 

King wears watch worth US$1.6-million

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/King-wears-watch-worth-us16-million.html

 

King wears suit beaded with diamonds

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/swazi-King-wears-suit-of-diamonds.html 

 

Swazi royals spend, spend, spend

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

Anger as Swaziland PM gets special medical treatment for coronavirus

Swaziland (eSwatini) Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini who tested positive for coronavirus has been airlifted to neighbouring South Africa for treatment prompting anger from prodemocracy activists in the kingdom.

Dlamini announced he had tested positive on 16 November 2020 and the government downplayed the seriousness of his condition. A local newspaper later reported he had been put into the intensive care unit at Mbabane Government Hospital.

On Tuesday (1 December 2020) Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku released a statement saying Dlamini had been transferred to an unnamed hospital in South Africa ‘to guide and fast track his recovery’. No other details about his condition were given.

The announcement prompted the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SNN), a group campaigning for democracy in the kingdom ruled by absolute monarch King Mswati III, to call on South Africa not to accept Dlamini into the country.

In a statement SSN said, ‘The Swazi Prime Minister is part of a government that has collapsed the country’s health system, turning it into a death waiting room for ordinary Swazis who cannot afford to go to South Africa or overseas for medical attention. He too should go to a hospital in Swaziland so that he can fully understand what Swazis go through every time they go to hospital.’

Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis started in March heath care workers in Swaziland have been calling for protective equipment. They have threatened to take the government to court saying there is also an acute shortage of drugs in the kingdom.

 

See also

Swaziland ambulances grounded by lack of fuel as coronavirus death toll rises

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/07/swaziland-ambulances-grounded-by-lack.html

New report of Swaziland hospital crisis as Govt fails to pay suppliers, patients left unfed

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/06/new-report-of-swaziland-hospital-crisis.html

No let up on hunger in Swaziland – World Food Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) helped feed 109,449 people in a month, about one in ten of the population, in Swaziland (eSwatini) as hunger continues to grip the kingdom.

The report from the United Nations group for October 2020, just published, revealed WFP provided social safety nets for 55,000 orphans and vulnerable children under five years at 1,700 Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) through access to food and basic social services.

Hunger is sweeping across Swaziland. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in a report published in August 2020 said about 366,000 people of the 1.1 million population faced ‘high acute food insecurity’ in the coming months.

The IPC analysis was undertaken for rural and urban areas in Swaziland; comprising four rural districts: (Manzini, Shiselweni, Lubombo and Hhohho); and two urban districts; (Hhohho urban and Manzini urban). It showed 32 percent of the rural population (292,794 people) and 17 percent of the urban population (37,424 people) were in crisis.

Compared with 2019, the kingdom’s food insecurity situation had deteriorated.

In its report WFP stated, ‘Despite its status as a lower middle-income country, 69 percent of the rural population in eSwatini live below the national poverty line and 25 percent are extremely poor. eSwatini has a very high HIV prevalence, affecting 26 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 49. Life expectancy is 49 years, and 45 percent of children are orphaned or vulnerable.

‘Chronic malnutrition is a main concern in eSwatini; stunting affects 26 percent of children under the age of five. eSwatini is vulnerable to drought in the south-east. Smallholder agriculture remains the backbone of rural livelihoods in the country, with over 70 percent of the country’s total population (60 percent of whom are women) relying on subsistence farming.’

See also

Vast amounts of money ‘looted’ from Swaziland independence celebrations as hunger swept kingdom

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/09/vast-amounts-of-cash-looted-from.html

Hunger continues to sweep across Swaziland, one third of population badly hit https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/09/hunger-continues-to-sweep-across.html

 

Hunger sweeping across Swaziland and is going to get worse, new report suggests https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/08/hunger-sweeping-across-swaziland-and-is.html

EU steps up to feed destitute during coronavirus crisis as Swaziland Govt. stumbles to deliver aid https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/07/eu-steps-up-to-feed-destitute-during.html

 

 

Swaziland sex workers want to become legal and pay taxes

Sex workers in Swaziland (eSwatini) want to be formally registered so they can work legally and pay taxes.

At present sex workers face fines of up to E100,000 (US$6,500) or up to 20 years’ jail time.

They also want the government to provide them with shelters where they can work safely.

They voiced their concerns at the launch of the16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence in Pigg’s Peak. This is an annual event.

Jabu Wayne, representing sex workers, called on the Swazi Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku to consider their trade as vital to helping their families and provide them with structures where they could conduct their business.

She said they were also being harassed by the police. ‘Even if we go to report about being robbed to these police officers, they don’t take us serious, instead they tell us that we should go back without helping us,’ local media reported her saying.

United Nations Resident Coordinator Ms. Nathalie Ndongo-Seh, told the launch meeting, ‘In eSwatini, one in three girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18, while, reportedly, nearly half of Swazi women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime. 87 of every 1,000 teenage girls fall pregnant. Early teenage pregnancy is the leading cause of girl teens dropping out of school and brings many health risks such as birth complications.’

Masuku said, ‘The majority of violence incidences go unreported as a result of family secrets, fear of victimization and coercion on the part of the family or close relatives against reporting or even withdrawing reported violence cases, as well as lack of trust in the justice system, among others.’

See also

Swaziland teenage pregnancies, gender violence high during coronavirus lockdown

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/11/swaziland-teenage-pregnancies-gender.html

 Four in ten sex workers in Swaziland ‘raped by uniformed police officers’ https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/four-in-ten-sex-workers-in-swaziland.html

Poverty forces girls into sex work

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/09/poverty-forces-girls-into-sex-work.html