Tuesday 7 October 2008
Speech by Quinton Dlamini, SNACS, Swaziland
What are the causes of poverty in Swaziland, is it the drought, natural or is it induced?
How is governance and are there any strategies in place including commitment and or seriousness on the part of the state?
Swaziland gained independence in 1968 from the British without a barrel of a gun on anyone and a constitution guaranteeing a bill of rights was put in place with political parties functioning normally. The Royal family however felt threatened and the King who at that time was a constitutional monarchy promulgated a decree banning political parties and trade unions.
In 2006, those powers were transferred to the constitution and endorsed by parliament as entrenched provisions and were not debatable.
As part of the process the king assumed ownership of land and minerals which he claimed to hold in trust for the entire Swazi Nation and this is the case up to date and he makes use of the assets he holds and cannot be questioned thus accumulating royal capital.
Forbes magazine New York 2007 quote 'King/Swaziland $200 million Age: 39, Africa's last absolute monarch assumed throne at age 18. Wealth derived from investments, real estate. Lavish spender building palaces for each of his 13 wives'
Human Rights Watch has issued several warnings and reports about the king's expenditure and violation of human rights and lack of democratic rule to no fruition.
Corruption is the order of the day under the monarchy and in 2006, the finance minister revealed that the country looses about 8 million pounds per month on corruption and the IMF stated in its report in 2006 that corruption in Swaziland appears to be institutionalized.
There are 39 laws against media freedom and media is owned and controlled by the state and no dissenting views are allowed and people re informed that Kings are ordained by God. God has commanded that we respect them and be honest. Let us commit ourselves to that for the Lord God to bless our country.
Media can't report about the king and are sometimes summoned to palace and told where to get off and threatened with closure by King (Survey report by Prof Rooney 2008)
Inter Press Services Statement 15th April 2008
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has singled out six countries with an 'exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production and supplies': Lesotho, Somalia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Moldova.
Hunger and lack of medicine kill up to one Swazi child in seven before they reach the age of five. Of these, 70 percent die before their first birthday.
National Demographic and Health Survey Ministry of Health & Social Welfare 2008
WFP 16 October 2007
550 000 in 2008 to receive food aid;
IMF 2008 report
Real GDP averaged just over 2% in past 6 years
Per capita GDP growth is lagging behind other members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), and low and lower-middle income countries.
Reckless Spending by State
2.5 Million dollars on security for 40/40 kings'birthday ( Swazi news May 2008)
10 million dollars for celebrations in one day
1million dollars shopping spree by jet to Europe by Kings 13 wives
Demographic Data
% Tuberculosis detection rate under DOTS, 2004 |
39 |
|
% Tuberculosis treatment success rate under DOTS, 2003 |
43 |
|
Life expectancy at birth |
33 years |
|
Infant mortality rate |
73/1,000 live births |
|
Contraceptive prevalence rate, modern methods |
26% of women in union |
|
Estimated number of people living with HIV: Adults and Children, 2005 |
220,000 |
|
AIDS deaths in adults and children, end 2003 |
17,000 |
|
Ministry of Economic Planning and Development /UNDP Demographic Health survey (2008) 78% of the population lived in rural areas. ADVANCE \d4 589 out of every 100 000 women die while giving birth. ADVANCE \d4Women were found to be most infected by the virus as 87 percent of those aged between 15 and 49 tested positive. There were 77 percent sexually active men found to be positive (n =8,254) The statistics further found that more people in rural areas were positive than those of urban areas. Swaziland 26% was closely followed by Lesotho and Botswana with 24 percent, whilst neighbouring South Africa scored 16 percent. Some African countries such as Ethiopia, Senegal and Niger recorded the lowest rates at one percent 56.4% of the wealth is held by the richest 20% whilst the poorest 20% hold only 4.3% (SHIES 2001). Unemployment is estimated at around 40% (2005 est.) Youth unemployment is around 40% and it is estimated at 70% for women |
40% percent of men in Swaziland say it is all right to beat their women.
Most men and women believe that women cannot negotiate with their husbands to have safer sex.
Women do not have power to make household decisions and they are most likely to have control over daily household purchases.
Husbands often have the final say over visits to family or relatives and larger household purchases.
Men are slightly more likely to earn cash while women are more prone to be underpaid.
Women who earn generally earn less than their husbands.
69% of the population lives below the poverty line of US1 per day.
48% of the population lives under extreme poverty; (SHI 2001)
Sentinel Surveillance Prevalence based on 1 case of pregnant woman per 100 3.9% in 1992, 16.1% in 1994, 26% in 1996, 31.6% in 1998, 34.2% in 2000, 38.6% in 2002, 42% in 2004, 39% in 2006 |
The country has a poverty reduction strategy but with the society having no political rights to shape and craft their future destiny, any document and or legislation would not bring any changes if such documents have not come up as a result of debates based on ideological differences and that all the citizens will be equal before the law. Any thing that touches on the interests of the monarchy is likely to fail and not withstanding the existence of the poverty reduction strategy and instead of things getting better, it is the opposite and this is due to the one man show leadership which does not account to anyone.
The Zimbabwe issue has been a bitter lesson for most of the oppressed populations on the attitudes of African leaders on their colleagues, i.e. from SADC to AU and to the United Nations. The decision by Russia and China is indeed a challenge. The recent developments in Georgia cannot be overlooked.
This therefore leaves the UK and US as reliable countries to back oppressed masses of the world and their workforces including progressive trade unions like COSATU, PSI, ITUC, TUC and its affiliates, and social movements such as ACTSA and others
Needs; Political education, trade union rights education, HIV/Aids education as supply of food would be ideal but would be tantamount to addressing the symptoms of a disease and not dealing with the disease itself which is restoration of democratic rule,
Targeted sanctions have been called by the progressive movements including labour.
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