Swaziland top dogs get their coronavirus vaccines ahead of frontline health staff

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Acting Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, the chief of police, and top judiciary have been first to receive coronavirus vaccines although there are only enough doses in the kingdom to fully protect 16,000 people.

The Swazi Government had announced front-line health workers would be first in line to receive jabs. About 32,000 doses recently arrived in the kingdom which is ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch. A person needs two doses to be fully protected.

Announcing what he called the ‘launch of the national COVID19 Vaccine programme’, Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in a speech at the Men’s Wellness Centre, Mbabane, ‘This launch and the vaccination rollout that will follow mark a step up in our fight against COVID-19, underpinned by His Majesty’s Government’s immovable commitment to protecting Emaswati [the people of Swaziland].’

In the past few days the Swazi Government has been publicising on Twitter the vaccination of top politicians and judiciary.

Masuku said, ‘As we have been told by health experts countless times before, these vaccines will save lives. The vaccines will help prevent us from falling seriously ill and in the process, they will greatly lower death rates while also relieving the pressure exerted on our health system.’

Despite the evidence that prominent people were getting priority treatment with the vaccine, the Acting Prime Minister said, ‘As has been said before, the vaccination program will be administered in a phased approach.’ He said Phase 1 Stage A would cover all healthcare workers.

Phase 1 Stage B would cover the elderly and those with pre-existing serious illnesses.

Separately, Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health Dr Vusi Magagula warned Swaziland could get a third wave of the virus at the end of April / beginning of May 2021. He said this was the time of year when cases of flu usually increased in the kingdom.

The eSwatini Observer reported Dr Magagula stated that once the number of infections recorded daily reached 40 the ministry would take that as a sign of the wave having started to increase.

The number of daily new cases has been fewer than 10 in recent days.

Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku receives his coronavirus jab, ahead of frontline health workers

 

Richard Rooney

 

See also

Teachers’ leaders fear Swaziland schools not ready to reopen as Govt. eases coronavirus lockdown

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/teachers-leaders-fear-swaziland-schools.html

 

Swaziland relaxes coronavirus lockdown amid confusion over vaccines and fear of third wave

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-relaxes-coronavirus-lockdown.html

 

Swaziland extends coronavirus lockdown and prepares for third wave to strike

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-extends-coronavirus-lockdown.html

 

Teachers’ leaders fear Swaziland schools not ready to reopen as Govt. eases coronavirus lockdown

The Swaziland National Association of Teachers wants at least 5,000 permanent new teacher posts to be created before schools can reopen safely following the coronavirus crisis.

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Minister of Education and Training Lady Howard Mabuza has ordered schools to reopen on 29 March 2021.

Sikelela Dlamini, SNAT Secretary General, said the Swazi Government must also provide materials, including adequate water supplies and personal protective equipment in all the 933 public schools in the kingdom.

In a statement Dlamini said, ‘The Government must employ at least 5,000 teachers (on a permanent basis) to ensure full compliance regarding the number of learners that each teacher should handle at a particular time (teacher-pupil ratio).

Dlamini said teachers should handle a maximum of 20 pupils in a class.

SNAT is also calling for the urgent vaccination of teachers.

The Education Minister said that not all pupils would attend schools full-time when they reopened.

In a statement, Mabuza said schools had ‘not experienced any effective learning since March 2020’.

She added, ‘Government’s decision to re-open schools is not because the virus has been contained but this is done in consideration of the socioeconomic impact of prolonged school closure. The rate of teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse, child labour and early child marriages has notably increased since the closure of schools.’

She called on schools to develop plans for safe reopening that included ‘the thermo scanning of learners, demarcating floors in classrooms for social distancing, cleaning schedules, monitoring of COVID-19 (coronavirus) guidelines, ensuring hand washing stations are operational and ensuring learners do not mix during breaks.’

Separately, Minister of Education and Training principal secretary Bertram Stewart told a press conference that parents should pay school fees for the past year even though schools had been closed.

The Saturday Observer reported Stewart said, ‘We cannot as government give a directive but the position is that parents have an obligation to pay for their children’s education.’

 

See also

Swaziland relaxes coronavirus lockdown amid confusion over vaccines and fear of third wave

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-relaxes-coronavirus-lockdown.html

 

Swaziland extends coronavirus lockdown and prepares for third wave to strike

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-extends-coronavirus-lockdown.html

Swaziland relaxes coronavirus lockdown amid confusion over vaccines and fear of third wave

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government has announced the reopening of schools and a relaxation of coronavirus restrictions, even though vaccinations have been delayed and there continues to be a threat of a third wave of the virus in the kingdom.

Themba Masuku, the Swazi Acting Prime Minister, on Thursday (18 March 2021) announced the reopening of schools; reopening of religious gatherings; resumption of community gatherings; reopening of low-contact sports and the resumption of the sale of alcohol.

Schools would start to reopen on 29 March, but Masuku did not announce details of how this would happen. But he did say testing, treating and isolation centres had been set up in all regions of the kingdom to be accessed by pupils and teachers.

Religious gatherings can restart on 19 March. Weddings of up to 100 people under coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols would also be allowed from the same date.

In a statement he said, ‘Sporting codes being allowed to resume operations are: angling, athletics, cricket, cue sports, cycling, darts, equestrian, golf, shooting, tennis, teqball, chess, gymnastics, swimming as well as Premier League and National First Division football. The reopening of football also covers the operations of all junior and senior football national teams.’

The sale of alcohol would be allowed from 22 March 2021. Liquor outlets would be allowed to operate from Monday to Thursday between 9am and 5pm. Alcohol consumption remained strictly for home consumption.

Public transport would be allowed at 100 percent seating capacity with no passengers standing with effect from Friday 19 March 2020.

The Swaziland Government had issued mixed messages in recent days about the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. Countries across the world had suspended its use after fears it could cause blood clots.  At first Swaziland said it would continue to use it and then quickly changed its mind and suspended use.

Now, Masuku has changed the decision again. In his statement he said, ‘Let me take the opportunity to inform the nation that government has consulted widely with scientists and health experts who have all spoken with one voice that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for use.’

He added, ‘The vaccination exercise is completely voluntary. Health workers will be inoculated in the first phase followed by the elderly, those living with co-morbidities and essential workers. Government continues to source more vaccine candidates such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V and Mordena to cover all Emaswati above the age of 18.’

The relaxation comes less than two weeks after they were extended amid fears that a third wave was about to hit Swaziland. On 6 March 2021 Masuku had said the 17,000 people testing positive and the 652 deaths in the previous year were ‘nothing short of alarming’.

He added Swaziland expected a third wave of coronavirus (COVID-19) to strike. He called the situation ‘simply unimaginable and heart-breaking’.

 

See also

Swaziland U-turn on use of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-u-turn-on-use-of-astrazeneca.html

 

Swaziland continues to use AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite global health scare 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-continues-to-use-astrazeneca.html

 

Swaziland extends coronavirus lockdown and prepares for third wave to strike

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-extends-coronavirus-lockdown.html

Swaziland U-turn on use of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government has done an about turn and decided to halt purchases of the controversial AstraZeneca coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Many counties across the world have suspended use of the vaccine after reports that it could cause blood clots.

The Swazi Government had said it would continue to use AstraZeneca. Now, according to a media report in Swaziland, it will not use the AstraZeneca vaccine for now.

The Times of eSwatini reported, ‘Following the latest findings that the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was less effective against the South African COVID-19 variant, South Africa stopped the enrolment of the vaccine. 

‘The eSwatini Ministry of Health also decided to halt buying the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because of the close proximity between eSwatini and South Africa while still doing studies to determine how much of the variant is in local shores.’

Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi said Swaziland was turning to the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines.

The Times quoted Nkosi saying, ‘The country did not totally depend on the Oxford AstraZeneca.’

World Health Organisation Health Promotion Officer Dr Kevin Makadzange said it also advised the delay of securing the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine until a risk benefit assessment was completed.

‘A country should make tests, to assess the probability of the South African variants against the COVID-19 known strains. If the probability of having the South African variant is low, then they could consider using the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines,’ Dr Makadzange said.

On Wednesday (17 March 2021) the Swazi Government released photographs of Nkosi being vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

See also

Swaziland continues to use AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite global health scare 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-continues-to-use-astrazeneca.html

 

Swaziland continues to use AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, despite global health scare

Swaziland (eSwatini) is to continue distributing the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine even though its use has been suspended in countries across the world after a health scare.

About 32,000 doses of the vaccine were thought to be available in the kingdom with donations received from India and the COVAX facility, which is partly funded by the European Union.

Meanwhile, countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Bulgaria, Thailand and Indonesia temporarily suspended distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports that it might have caused blood clots in some users.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said that as of 8 March there had been 15 events of deep-vein thrombosis and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported among the 17 million people given its vaccine in the EU and UK, which it said ‘is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size’.

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization both said that there was no evidence the drug was causing clots.

The Swaziland Ministry of Health Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Simon Zwane said the vaccine was safe and it would continue to be used. He added test would be undertaken if a person who had been injected with the vaccine shows unhealthy symptoms.

As of 15 March 2021 – one year after the pandemic began – there had been 663 deaths from coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the Swazi Ministry of Health.

 

See also

Swaziland extends coronavirus lockdown and prepares for third wave to strike

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-extends-coronavirus-lockdown.html

Swaziland absolute monarch sets lawyers on critical online newspaper

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland (eSwatini) has engaged lawyers in an attempt to get an online newspaper to stop publishing critical articles about him.

The Swaziland News, is published on a website hosted in South Africa. In the past the King has simply ordered the closure of newspapers and the arrest of journalists that criticise him.

The Swaziland News reported it had received a letter from South African law-firm Brian Kahn Inc Attorneys on behalf of the King, Swazi Government ministers and other public officials.

The Swaziland News reported, ‘The articles cited in the letter include among others: “King Mswati, Stem Holdings and the multi-billion dagga cold war”, “King Mswati defrauded the Swazi Nation in a multi-billion shareholding deal, to take over Sun International Hotels”, “How King Mswati grabbed multi-billion Pension Fund after seizing Tibiyo TakaNgwane and Provident Fund”’.

The newspaper reported, ‘The King through his lawyers demanded that this publication should at least give him three (3) days to respond before publishing anything about him, he said this should be done through the office of the Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini.’

Swaziland News editor Zweli Martin Dlamini told the newspaper, ‘This is just a desperate attempt by the King to try and undermine access to information and freedom of the media but he won't succeed.’

Ziphozonke Ngubeni, a South African national whose company Avulekhamazulu provides website hosting services to the Swaziland News and was also cited in the letter said he would not be told by the King how to provide services.

‘The King is a dictator and thinks he can just come here, hire lawyers and intimidate us, this is South Africa and he is just exposing himself. We provide services to the Swaziland News and we cannot dictate to the editor what to publish, we just provide hosting,’ the Swaziland news reported him saying.

In August 2020 the Swazi Government said it would pursue Dlamini using ‘legal channels’ after he wrote and published several articles stating that the King had entered into a multi-billion cannabis deal with a foreign company for his own benefit.

This was not the first time Zweli Martin Dlamini has been in trouble with the absolute monarch. In April 2020 he wrote and published reports that King Mswati had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and had been taken to hospital with breathing problems.

He had reportedly fled to neighbouring South Africa in March 2020 for the second time. He said he had been arrested and tortured by Swazi police who accused him of sedition.

Also, on 7 February 2020, The Swaziland News reported Dlamini was being harassed and receiving death threats from King Mswati’s first born daughter Princess Sikhanyiso, who is the Minister of Information Communication and Technology.

Dlamini had previously fled to South Africa in fear of his life in 2017. He had received death threats from a local businessman before his newspaper Swaziland Shopping was shut down by the Swazi government when the newspaper’s registration under the Books and Newspapers Act 1963 was declined by the Swazi Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.

See also

‘No media freedom’ in Swaziland, Reporters Without Borders annual report states

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/no-media-freedom-in-swaziland-reporters.html 

 

Swaziland journalist critical of King flees, hides in forest five days

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/05/swaziland-journalist-critical-of-king.html

Swaziland people face forced eviction from homes in middle of coronavirus pandemic

More than 100 people in Swaziland (eSwatini) face forced eviction from their homes with nowhere to go in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Amnesty International reported.

In Madonsa town more than 100 people have been living under the threat of forced eviction for years, to make way for the eSwatini National Provident Fund, a national pension fund administrator. Residents are anxious and have nowhere to go after they were served with a legal notice by the Fund to vacate their homes by 5 March 2021.

In a statement Amnesty said, ‘Forced evictions drive people into poverty and destroy livelihoods.’ It added the Swazi Government ‘utterly disregard their human rights in the pursuit of patronage and commercial interests’.

Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, said Swaziland had a grim history of not observing due process when evicting people, including failing to consult communities or offering alternative places of accommodation when carrying out evictions.

Mwananyanda said it was ‘especially appalling’ that the government was attempting to make people homeless during a pandemic.

In a 2018 report, Amnesty International revealed that many Swazis were vulnerable to forced evictions because they lacked security of tenure, due to the kingdom’s ‘deeply flawed land governance system’.

Most of the kingdom’s land is Swazi Nation Land, held in ‘trust’ by King Mswati III who rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch. The remainder of the land is Title-Deed Land, owned by private entities or the government.

Amnesty reported, ‘The residents of Madonsa maintain that they obtained the land through the traditional process of kukhonta, in which allegiance is offered to the chief who in turn admits that individual into his chiefdom and allocates them land.’

The threat of eviction began in 2012, and since then thousands of people have been evicted and are living in desperately poor conditions.  Despite this, more people have continued to build homes on the Madonsa land on the basis that that they felt to be secure following the allocation of the land by the chief.

Amnesty said, ‘The people of Madonsa have not been adequately consulted or offered alternative accommodation. Despite this some people have already started dismantling their homes to avoid brutal forced evictions.’

On 6 March 2021, the Masvingo Magistrates Court granted an interim interdict barring the arbitrary eviction of the villagers.

Amnesty reported, ‘The Court reaffirmed that no one can just decide to evict people from their place of habitation without following the law.  Villagers are devastated and continue to live in fear due to a history of intimidation on those resisting eviction.’

See also

Amnesty says Swazi Govt failing to help people forcibly evicted from their homes a year ago 

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/amnesty-says-swazi-govt-failing-to-help.html

 

Evicted farmers take on Swaziland absolute monarch to get their land back

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/01/evicted-farmers-take-on-swaziland.html

 

Bulldozers move in to evict families

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/bulldozers-move-in-to-evict-families.html

 

Homes destroyed for King’s vanity project 

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/homes-destroyed-for-kings-vanity.html

Swaziland near bottom in Africa for gender equality in the economy

Swaziland (eSwatini) came third from bottom in sub-Saharan Africa in a global survey of women in the economy.

The report called Women, Business and Law 2021 was published by the World Bank.

According to the report it ‘identifies the laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. From the basics of movement in the community to

the challenges of working, parenting, and retiring, the data offer objective, measurable benchmarks for global progress toward gender equality. They also emphasize the policy actions that could be taken to improve economic opportunity for women.’

In the survey Swaziland scored a total of 46.3 out of a hundred and was placed third from bottom in a list of 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The kingdom, ruled by King Mswtati III as an absolute monarch, scored zero points in the entrepreneurship indicator which explores the differences between men and women in that area. 

In other indictors the Swazi score was: mobility (100); workplace (25); pay (50); marriage (40); parenthood (20); assets (60) and pension (75).

The report stated, ‘Gender equality is a fundamental human right. More important, it can boost economic growth and improve development outcomes. There has never been a more important time to ensure women’s economic empowerment. As economies adapt to difficult circumstances, the World Bank Group will continue striving to improve conditions for their most vulnerable populations. By recognizing barriers to success and highlighting solutions, Women, Business and the Law 2021 is an important tool in that effort.’

See also

Swaziland Gender Links launches women in local economic development network

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/10/swaziland-gender-links-launches-women.html

Swaziland extends coronavirus lockdown and prepares for third wave to strike

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government has extended the partial lockdown of the kingdom as the coronavirus crisis reaches its first anniversary and the kingdom is no closer to getting life-saving vaccines.

The 17,000 people testing positive and the 652 deaths in that time were ‘nothing short of alarming’, Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in a statement.

He said Swaziland expected a third wave of coronavirus (COVID-19) to strike.

He added the situation was ‘simply unimaginable and heartbreaking. These past 12 months have not only been emotionally draining but have also left us with scars that will take years to heal as many families lost breadwinners, children and guardians.

‘This is over and above the huge trail of economic destruction caused by the pandemic on jobs and livelihoods; as many EmaSwati were rendered jobless and businesses closed down. Our children have also been out of school for just about a year now.’

Masuku said the Swazi Government had previously declared a National Emergency and introduced several partial lockdown restrictions, increased bed capacity in hospitals and the number of critical health workers.

He said following a second wave of coronavirus in December 2020, more partial lockdown restrictions were introduced.

‘It is gratifying to note that since the new restrictions came into effect, there has been a notable decline in both the number of new infections and fatalities as well as an increase in the number of recoveries.’

He said it was vital to continue to observe all health protocols in order to manage the situation. These include wearing face masks correctly at all times in all public spaces, observing social distancing protocols, washing our hands regularly with running water and soap and avoiding unnecessary travel.

Masuku added, ‘It is also crucial that we ensure that all systems are in place to contain the forthcoming third wave which epidemiologists have warned us might be even more deadlier.’

He said, ‘Government is currently finalising the necessary plans and structures to withstand the expected severe effects of the projected third wave. We have put in place the necessary interventions that will ensure EmaSwati are relatively safe from the virus and that our children can safely return to school and be adequately cared for in case of emergencies.’

Masuku added, ‘When we invoked the last extension two weeks ago, we had also hoped that we would have received the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to start vaccinating our health workers and frontline staff. This process has also been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances but we have intensified our efforts to access the vaccines as soon as practically possible to start the vaccination exercise.

He said the Government had extended the partial lockdown restrictions by a further two weeks.

 

See also

Swaziland Govt. misses target to deliver first coronavirus vaccines

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/03/swaziland-govt-misses-target-to-deliver.html

 

Swaziland coronavirus recovery in jeopardy as purchase of vaccine halted

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/swaziland-coronavirus-recovery-in.html

Swaziland Govt. misses target to deliver first coronavirus vaccines

The Swaziland (eSwatni) Government has missed its own deadline for delivering the first coronavirus vaccines into the kingdom.

Swazi Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi had promised they would be in Swaziland by the end of February at the latest.

Now, in a statement, she says 108,000 doses will ‘be delivered anytime soon’.

On Monday (1 March 2021) she said ‘transportation logistics’ had still to be overcome by UNICEF.

She said enough doses were expected to cover 20 percent of the kingdom’s population which is about 1.2 million people. She added the balance of the vaccines were expected in the second quarter of 2021.

The Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccines are coming through the COVAX Facility. She said the African Union had secured a provisional 270 million doses of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to distribute across the continent, including Swaziland.

 See also

Swaziland coronavirus recovery in jeopardy as purchase of vaccine halted

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/swaziland-coronavirus-recovery-in.html

 

Slow roll out of coronavirus vaccines in Swaziland, health workers to get priority 

 https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/slow-roll-out-of-coronavirus-vaccines.html

UK medical aid team extends stay in Swaziland as coronavirus battle continues

An United Kingdom emergency medical team sent to Swaziland (eSwatini) to help in the coronavirus crisis is to extend its stay by four weeks.

UK-Med announced on Monday (1 March 2021), ‘As oxygen supplies have been a particular concern during the most recent wave, the national WHO [World Health Organisation] office and eSwatini’s Ministry of Health have asked for assistance to review and advise on a national plan for sustainable oxygen supply.’

It added, ‘Although numbers of COVID-19 cases are now low across the country, the extension will enable the team to continue to provide vital support to health services at both the regional and national levels to build the country’s preparedness for any future waves of the virus.’

The UK Emergency Medical Team has been in Swaziland since 30 January where it has been strengthening health services through specialist care, technical support and training for doctors and nurses. The international team of 11 have specialisms that include critical care, infection prevention and control, risk communications and biomedical engineering.

Over the upcoming weeks the team will continue teaching healthcare staff on case management and use of oxygen.

As of 28 February there had been 17,014 recorded cases of coronavirus and 652 deaths recorded by the Swazi Ministry of Health.

 

See also

Coronavirus badly hits Swaziland economy, could take years to recover: Finance Minister

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/coronavirus-badly-hits-swaziland.html