The Swazi Government is under attack for lying to the United Nations about poverty and hunger in the kingdom.
It doctored a report on how much progress Swaziland has made on reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and changed it from ‘not likely’ to meet the target of ‘eradication of extreme poverty and hunger’ and made it read it could ‘potentially’ meet the target.
The Director of the Coordinating Assembly of Non Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, said CANGO and a number of stakeholders who represent all sectors of society had contributed to the drafting of the report, so the report did not just belong to government or the UN but it belongs to the Swazi nation.
Ndlangamandla told the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, ‘When drafting this report we looked at the scenarios based on the evidence on the ground, and we aspired to produce a document that would provide us with an opportunity for national reflection.'
He added, ‘What government has done is really unfortunate, especially because the draft report did not undermine government in any way. All over the continent countries are struggling with these goals. Why shouldn’t we be frank about our situation here? How are we going to get assistance now?’.
The Times also reported that the government also doctored the part of the UN report that said Swaziland would not meet the target to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio. The Government changed it to say the kingdom ‘might’ meet the target.
Swaziland police officers have been on the attack again, assaulting members of the public – one a form-four school pupil and the other, a pregnant woman.
The latest newsis that a group of police attacked the son of a Swaziland member of parliament. They dragged him out of the family vehicle he was driving, kicked him and threw him in a government van, before dumping him on a dangerous road.
Police later said they mistook Sizwe Ngcobo, aged 21, a son of MP Musa Ngcobo, for a wanted criminal (as if that was an excuse for their actions).
Ngcobo’s crime? He couldn’t produce his driver’s licence on demand to the police.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) has protested about how police assaulted a pregnant woman at the Mbabane Plaza in Swaziland’s capital city, because she was selling items at the bus rank.
The police kicked and punched the woman even though she told them (and it was obvious to see) she was eight-months pregnant.
‘It is more disappointing that even members of the law enforcement are in the habit of perpetuating violence in the pretext of pursuing their work,’ a CANGO spokesperson said.
Editor’s note. New chief of police Issac Magagula told the world in October 2009 that his police officers were servants of the public and would treat ‘clients’ (i.e the public) with respect. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.
Regarding the press statement issued by Mr. Maxwell Dlamini-SNUS Organising Secretary- whereby he states that CANGO Director refused to pay for transport for students yet had made undertaking to do so and latter stated that "they will not support their (students) struggles because ‘we (students) want to overthrow the state’.
The CANGO Director as you will note on the paragraph that follows never made an undertaking to support this event. We would like to express our dismay at this unfortunate statement which is malicious and is meant to tarnish the image of CANGO.
The truth is that the CANGO Director met Mr. Bheki Khumalo just before the closure of offices on Friday the 29th January 2010. Mr Khumalo informed the Director that SNUS forwarded a request, which was received by the office on the 26th January 2010 and SNUS was appealing for response as the mass meeting for students was scheduled to be held on Saturday the 30th January 2010.
The Director informed Mr. Khumalo that that CANGO has no resources to support SNUS meeting, as all activities and budgets thereof for CANGO's financial year (March 31st 2010) were finalized. Mr. Khumalo promised to convey the message to the SNUS leadership and requested teh Director to communicate teh CANGO's position in writing.
We would like to be understood that we are an umbrella body for NGOs in Swaziland. We, like any other NGO, rely on external funding to pursue our work. Donors in this regard provide resources according to specific projects. It therefore follows that it is not possible to divert funds to activities not budgeted and agreed with our funders.
We call upon SNUS leadership to rebut this statement as it is devoid of any truth.
The following is a press statement released on 31 January 2010 by the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS)
SNUS PRESS STATEMENT
For the first time in the history of this tiny, semi feudal, neo colonial, quasi capitalist kingdom, the students of Swaziland met under the umbrella organisation SWAZILAND NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS (SNUS) to discuss and deliberate issues affecting them. The meeting was held in Manzini. Students came from the all tertiary institutions of the country.
The issues that were discussed include the proposed draft scholarship policy which the undemocratic government of the king intend to make it law without engaging the students to make inputs as major stakeholders. Mswati’s government still fails to recognize the students as major stakeholders in the education sector, thus the continual sidelining of the students in the decision making process. The students therefore resolved to resist this draft scholarship policy as they were not involved in the decision making process.
Moreover the students are demanding an increase in their personal allowances. Their allowances have not increased since 1992 and they are currently receiving R462.00 per annum. (about 60 US dollars) This is an insult to the students of Swaziland if you look at the current economic situation of the country. The inflation rate has increased dramatically over the decade.
The student are also demanding that government should register their union and stop frustrating the registration process as this is a violation of human rights contained in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of Swaziland. We strongly believe that the students of Swaziland have a right to associate and to join or not to join any organisation.
The students then resolved to march to the appointed Prime Minister to deliver the petition with their grievances. They have resolved to render the government ungovernable and impossible for her to operate until their demands are met. They will not return to class until government meet their demands. They will flock the streets of the country from Monday (1 February 2010) up until everything is sorted.
The Students will be marching under the banner of SNUS in what is set to become a watershed moment in the history of student’s struggles. We however continue to appeal for financial support because the union is still handicapped financial especially because these struggles they are engaged in have been ‘disowned’ by some of the so called Non government organisations, particularly CANGO.
In the preparations for the student mass meeting held at Bosco skill centre on Saturday, attended by over 1000 students from all tertiary institutions (this massive turn out is despite the fact that SNUS’s stronghold, UNISWA, was closed). CANGO had promised to pay the buses that were used to ferry the students. When CANGO’s Director was approached on his pledged he said they would not support our struggles because ‘we want to overthrow the state’.
They said they won’t support people who are violent and fighting government. We were shocked at this level of political prostitution by CANGO particularly because in other ‘moderate’ sessions they would patronise us about how much support they would give to the students. To this end we find ourselves currently running helter skater trying to get money to pay for the buses and other costs we incurred organising the meeting and the subsequent marches.
Statement issued by SNUS Organising Secretary Maxwell Dlamini
