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WDDW2008: Poverty and disease in Swaziland

Issue date
World Day for Decent Work

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.

Poverty and land ownership

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.

Media Freedom

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

  • '85 deaths per 1,000 live births.
  • 1 in 4 children in Swaziland fail to receive the full number of recommended vaccinations in their first year.
  • 3/10 children under the age of five were victims of stunted growth, while an additional 10 percent reached adulthood severely stunted. Stunting reflects failure to receive adequate nutrition over a long period and is also affected by recurrent and chronic illnesses.'
  • There would be 200,000 orphans by the year 2010. i.e. 20% of total population. Whether orphaned or not, children living in households in which parents or other adults were very sick, often face serious hardships, such as chronic illnesses.

WFP 16 October 2007

  • About 40 percent of Swaziland's one million people are facing acute food and water shortages.
  • Over 50 percent of adults are eating less.
  • Over 60 percent are limiting or reducing meal portions.
  • Over 30 percent of the population is skipping meals entirely
  • Over 30 percent of Swazis are consuming more than the usual amount of wild foods."

550 000 in 2008 to receive food aid;

HIV silent Tsunami

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

Aids and Women Rights

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

What needs to be done?

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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