SWAZI HUNGER AS CASH RUNS OUT

Swazis may face widespread hunger following an admission from the Swazi Government that it does not have the money to subsidise farming this year.

In particular Swaziland staple food - maize - will be badly affected.

Minister of Agriculture Clement Dlamini said there ‘was no money in place’ to subsidise the cost to farmers of seeds, fertiliser and other necessities.

He said without the subsidies it was impossible to ensure food security.

In the recent past about 600,000 people of Swaziland’s one million population have received food aid from international agencies.

Dlamini now hopes that the NGO World Vision will be able to come up with a plan to help. World Vision has been investigating how countries such as Zambia and Malawi organise their own farming and Dlamini hopes it can recommend to the Swazi Government how to move forward.

(Incidentally, in Malawi last year it was reported people were denied farm subsidies if they hadn’t voted in the national elections. I hope something similar is not on the Swazi agenda.)

Dlamini admission that money is not in place is puzzling because the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has previously announced aid to the Swazi Government to provide assistance to Swaziland farmers. This was announced as part of a Swazi Government strategy on farming.

But Dlamini is now saying that no strategy exists and he must rely on the good works of World Vision to get Swaziland out of this mess.

Did Dlamini forget about the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation? Or does he hope the rest of us will? Maybe the UN funds have disappeared.

Who knows? I certainly don’t, but I do know that Dlamini and his fellow government ministers are letting the people of Swaziland down badly. As the ordinary Swazi family face hunger and possible starvation Swaziland’s Government ministers and MPs pocket their pay rises and bury their heads in the sand.

SWAZI MINISTER’S BLURRED VISION

There is none so blind as he who will not see.

I laughed out loud when I read Swaziland senator Bhutana Dlamini saying that World Vision, the Christian NGO was not involved in politics.

Dlamini, who was recently in the news following a brawl in a bar, was greasing World Vision during a HIV / AIDS testing motivating campaign hosted by World Vision in conjunction with PSI Swaziland and Ngculwini Nazarene Clinic.

Dlamini tried to make out that other NGOs in Swaziland are involved in politics which was ‘nothing to do with them’. But good old World Viison was above all that and always stuck to its original mandate

We shouldn’t be surprised that Dlamini’s comments were reported in the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. It’s in the king’s interest for people to believe that politics in Swaziland is irrelevant.

Poor old Dlamini, he should spend less time in the bar and more time doing his homework. This is how World Vision describes its mandate.

'Justice is denied when power is used to exploit and oppress. Through advocacy, World Vision seeks to strengthen people’s voices in response to injustices that either cause or contribute to their poverty.

'World Vision engages in advocacy with the belief that unless we tackle the root causes of problems --which are often connected to unjust systems and structures –- change will not last or be truly transformational.

'Our advocacy is done through research, lobbying, public campaigning and other actions to influence decision-makers, raise public awareness, mobilize social action and change unjust policies and laws. Across Africa, World Vision is engaged with policymakers and publics to build awareness around poverty and to address the unjust systems that help perpetuate it. We also seek to influence positive changes in social behaviours and attitudes, with special emphasis given to child rights, poverty, conflict resolution, HIV and AIDS.'