Swaziland’sKing Mswati III is the fifth youngest national leader in the world, according to a report just released.
The Times Sunday reported yesterday (4 January 2009) that King Mswati, aged 40, was among a list released by what the newspaper called an ‘internationally renowned’ group in the US called Foreign Policy.
I assume the Times Sunday decided to call the group ‘internationally renowned’ because this would add an extra bit of gloss to the news.
King Mswati, who assumed power at the age of 18, isn’t included in the list on merit. He was never elected to the position and there is no way of getting rid of him if his subjects don’t like the way he rules. He is, as we know, the last absolute monarch in sub-Saharan Africa and he rules with an iron fist as his current war against his own people testifies.
I’m not sure why the Times Sunday chose to publicise the Foreign Policy report but it has been dishonest with its readers. Foreign Policy does not praise the king. In its report it says, ‘Mswati was crowned king a mere six days after his 18th birthday, and the country has been a train wreck ever since.’
It goes on to say, ‘An estimated 26 percent of Swazis between ages 15 and 49 are HIV positive, one of the highest rates in the world. Mswati’s brilliant solution: a sex ban. In 2001, he instated the uncwasho rite, which put a five-year ban on sex for females under 18. The move proved unpopular, especially after Mswati - who at last count had 13 wives and at least 23 children - married a 17-year-old. The ban was lifted a year early.’
Manzini Regional Administrator Prince Masitsela says talk that there is no democracy in Swaziland or that the Swazi people are oppressed should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. He noted in the Weekend Observer that the fact that some people can use the media and internet to hurl insults and vermin on the national leadership and nothing happens to them proves that Swaziland was far from becoming a dictatorship and that the leadership displayed a huge sense of tolerance. Link
AIDS is having an unprecedented impact on Swaziland. Life expectancy has fallen from 60 years to 31 years, the world's lowest figure, and one in three children are orphaned or left vulnerable from AIDS. Last year, about 40 percent of the population needed food aid.Link
Minister of Finance Majozi Sithole says a deficit in the national budget cannot be avoided. People should cut down on alcohol use and other expensive habits for the sake of their families and themselves, he said.Link
Prices of essential food items have risen 10-40 percent in 2008. There are now meat shortages in towns. World Vision reports that many Swazis in rural areas are down to one or two meals a day. Link
About 70 percent of the people in Swaziland are hungry; 40 percent are unemployed. In this group are over 120 000 orphans and large number of HIV infected people. Close to 30 percent of the population and that’s almost 300 000 of the sexually active group. Link
King Mswati III said his subjects were lazy and needed to work harder to ensure this year’s harvest was big enough to feed all of Swaziland with enough left over to export to other countries. Link
Swaziland has been placed among the top ten nations in a list of the ‘worst places to live’. This was because the kingdom is ‘afflicted with dire poverty and the world's highest HIV infection rate, the tiny southern African kingdom of 1 million has a shockingly low life expectancy of 32 – less than half the world's average. The royal family has a monopoly on the economy, and the majority of Swaziland's people live on about $1 a day.’ Link
In his predictions for 2009 the editor of the Swazi News prophesied this about Swaziland’s army, ‘They will rape anything on two legs, steal from shops, shoot to kill unprovoked and generally become loose cannons.’ Link
New Year Message from the Swaziland Youth Congress
The Swaziland Youth Congress wishes to extend its revolutionary greetings to all the citizens of our beloved country, Swaziland, and also extends warm greetings to all its allies inside and outside the borders of Swaziland. We also extend our greetings to the whole Swazi workforce and democracy lovers.
The year 2008 has been an eventful year for Swazis, the masses have once again been forced to watch the ruling regime squander hundreds of millions of Emalangeni on projects that are not beneficial to the Swazi populace.
The Swazi taxpayer forked out a lot of money funding the 40/40 celebrations where quite a substantial amount of money was used by Emakhosikati to go shopping, whereas the remaining umsizi and the wives of those who perished in the first and second world wars where King Sobhuza II sent them for independence are eating from dustbins and sleeping on pavements and are subjected to severe abuse like rape, hunger and are also killed. The government has literally forgotten about them.
SWAYOCO salute the spirit of the Swazi civic society that has realised that forming splinter organisations will derail the liberation of the Swazi masses from this Tinkhundla monster hence SWAYOCO has been part and has contributed to the formation of the Swaziland United Democratic Front that seeks to unite all swazis towards the realisation of a democratic Swaziland with multi party democracy where everyone will be treated as citizens not a subject.
The Swazi workers have also realised that for a small workforce Swaziland doesn’t need two federations and SWAYOCO that has been calling for the implementation of the slogan one country one federation has won in that the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL) has finally moved towards the realisation of that dream and for the first time in the history of the country the Workers Day celebration was jointly celebrated by Swaziland’s two labour federations and the attendance spoke for itself, SWAYOCO salutes the leadership of these two federations and the workers.
Workers have risen and they have now realised who is their enemy (the Tinkhundla regime) in that the textile workers rose to the challenge and waged a two week strike for better working conditions and every worker downed tools in favour of the strike even after police used live rounds of ammunition after getting orders from above because the people have businesses’ interest in this sector.
SWAYOCO has always affirmed that it is only in unity that we will be able to remove the brutal regime of TINKHUNDLA and setting the people free. SMAWU and SPRAWU, we salute you for working together and in the interest of the workers in the textile sector and also moving towards having one union in one sector.
SWAYOCO applauds the women of Swaziland for organising a march against the lavish spending of Emakhosikati when women in Swaziland are the most poor and abused, these women defied the traditional prime minister who is stroke prone and marched wearing black clothes signifying the death of the country.
The arrest of PUDEMO President CDE Mario Masuku is condemned and we as SWAYOCO say that one day someone will pay dearly for the continuous harassment of the peoples’ president and his family. The government of Swaziland ratifies all conventions on human rights and also guarantees freedom of speech yet all these conventions are not adhered to in the country. CDE Mario has had his charge sheet changed many times and now he is being remanded inside the maximum prison where no one is allowed visitation rights.
This confirms what SWAYOCO has been saying all along that the Tinkhundla regime is dictatorial.
All this happened immediately after the king said PUDEMO and SWAYOCO members must be throttled (abekhanywe) and be wiped out and he swore that their family members would mourn because his armed forces have been tasked to deal with our members.
The imminent disbandment of the oldest customs union in the world, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) spells doom for the Swazi regime. 80% of the countrys’ revenue comes from this union with the liberalisation of markets Swaziland needs to scour for other sources of income to sustain the falling regime, this is the time that will be reminiscent of the then Zaire where Mabutho Seseseko borrowed the government money to run its affairs.
Tinkhundla will be cash-strapped sooner than expected. We are heading for disaster even dogs and cats will be taxed because the regime is desperate for cash that’s why they have influenced some SADAC countries to sue South Africa for a share of the dividends from SACU.
SWAYOCO applauds university of Swaziland students who have fought relentlessly towards the abolishment of semesterisation although it was a brutal fight, the students persevered and they won.
The university students not only won the semesterisation issue but when the university organized impromptu elections without adhering to the statutes of the university, the students challenged that and the elections were annulled Proper elections were held and the students elected overwhelmingly the leadership that they want. The Tinkhundla backed candidate lost.
SWAYOCO calls for the priotiraisation of the following as we enter the New Year:
1. The unconditional release of pudemo President cde Mario
2. The return to multi party
3. Quality health for all
4. Free housing for the poor
5. Free education
6. The unbanning of all political parties
SWAYOCO held its extra ordinary congress in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa and Imbokodvo has stooped so low in that it tried to plant its agents to come and destabilise the congress and call for the resignation of leadership that was five months in office, what an opportunistic tendency.
One thing Tinkhudla didn’t know was that at SWAYOCO, when we talk of democracy we also practice it.
The year 2008 was the worst year for Swazis in that the country was elected to head the Organ Troika on Defence and good governance.
SWAYOCO calls for the intervention of the African Union in Zimbabwe where human rights abuse is escalating. Activists are subjected to torture and are kept where their families don’t know and even court orders are defied.
This is not right, the people are hungry there’s no food even in shops. The outbreak of cholera has worsened matters, more than a thousand Zimbabweans have died of these epidemic as hospitals have run out drugs.
May the warring factions put the interest of the citizens first before theirs and find a lasting solution to this matter but SADC must speed up the process.
Israel must be isolated- it has done more damage in the Middle East and time has come for the international community to act. The Zionist regime of Israel has unleashed a reign of terror on innocent people of Palestine innocent lives are lost, lives of children and women are lost for no reason, the silence of the super powers on this latest onslaught of Palestine is a cause for concern-it must be condemned from all directions.
HIV/AIDS continues to be a scourge. We are still leading and if we don’t take this disease seriously. We will be wiped out in no time and time has come for us to be proactive and learn from the Ugandans on how they have managed to bring it under control because if we continue to be unfaithful to our partners and have unprotected sex we will die so let us act responsibly we don’t need multiple partners.
SWAYOCO wishes the people of the world a happy new year and they must remember aids kills and they must abstain or use condoms. Speed kills so make sure you reach your destination don’t drive recklessly.
New Year message from Sive Siyinqaba National Movement
Sive Siyinqaba National Movement takes this opportunity to wish all Swazis a Happy New Year. The beginning of each year has always been characterised by new resolutions made by individuals or organised entities, Sive Siyinqaba being no exception.
It is sad though that the preceding year closed on a very bad note, both at home and abroad. The carnage of human loss occurring on a daily basis as a result of the bloody war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is revolting. Innocent lives, women and children have not been spared in the process. We remain confident that the United Nations Security Council will continue to work around the clock with a view to bring the blood-bath to a halt.
Sive Siyinqaba Sibahle Sinje continues to monitor the latest political developments taking place in neighbouring South Africa with keen interest. It is an undeniable fact that whatever political turbulences taking place in that country, one way or the other, will have an impact on our shores. We are, however, hopeful that this is nothing more than a case of a maturing democracy and that no significant negative spill-overs will fall on South Africa’s neighbouring countries.
On the domestic front, Sive Siyinqaba revisits the ugly incidents of the latter part of the just ended year 2008, whereby bombs were planted by the extremist cadre within the radical political formations and their international associates.
We remain steadfast in our condemnation of the bloodthirsty elements for such barbarism that has no place in the political dispensation of Swaziland, today, tomorrow or in the future. Conversely, Sive Siyinqaba is not blindfolded towards the sustained political protestation that seemingly has and continues to fall on deaf ears over the years. Intransigent attitude have no room and no role in the political governance of any country, but it can only serve as a catalyst for the adoption of unconventional means in order to initiate dialogue. Dialogue is at the core of the Swazis’ cultural heritage.
Needless to say, the Swazi is by nature peace- loving. Those selected to be in the leadership of this country for now, are duty-bound to adhere to such a profound cultural heritage and means of solving disputes. Failure to do so, as is the case now, will invite more harm and damage to the country and they should be ready take the blame. We can only hope that such political aloofness is temporary and is not systematically orchestrated. We hold the view that inflated personal egos and arrogance are definitely not in the best interest of Swaziland.
Evidently, Swaziland’s system of governance continues to face many challenges at home and abroad. This has resulted in the depreciation of our socio-economic life. The absence of significant foreign direct investment throws the country deeper into an uncomfortable zone. The less than 2% level of the country’s economic growth is totally unacceptable, making it better only to Zimbabwe within the SADC region. This is signified by the growing numbers of poverty and unemployment.
The sick and the ill no longer get the appropriate medical attention and supplies in our health facilities like it used to be the case before, and they now feel better cared for at home by relatives or health-care givers, than in hospitals. Our citizens are now not comfortable to be admitted in hospitals because they perceive them as deathbeds than recuperating centres. The status of our education system is no longer prided as one of the most qualitative in the region. The high quality education of the yester-years has been diminished significantly. Regrettably, corruption continues to dig deep into our social fibre and the results of the newly-constituted Anti-Corruption Commission are yet to be realised. Worse still, successive governments continue not to exercise fiscal discipline, against all professional advice from our international partners in the finance industry.
The country is gripped by a state of hopelessness. Such a doom and gloomy picture should not be allowed to manifest itself in a procrastinated fashion. Swaziland has the ability, capacity, talent and resources to extract itself out of this calamity.
Therefore, Sive Siyinqaba calls upon all Swazis to place national interest above individual benefit; embrace change not to the detriment of our national identity but as a inevitable necessity; accord the necessary respect but not fear for the institution of the Monarch; and that, an all inclusive forum for political dialogue for all shades of political opinion be created as a matter of priority for the future good of Swaziland.
Such a move will serve not only as a basis for the political and socio-economic advancement of the country, but will also send a very positive signal to the international community, friends and partners, i.e. at last ‘SWAZILAND IS TALKING TO HERSELF’. No one entity should be allowed to monopolise the national franchise because copyright to a country’s political governance should be inherently held by all its citizens. The country’s image can no longer afford to be a subject of international ridicule and pity.
Finally, as always, Sive Siyinqaba congratulates the nation for its continued adherence to culture, as demonstarted in the recent Incwala and Umhlanga. We further, applaud the high voter turnout in the recent national elections and thereby implore those elected to return the faith bestowed on them by the electorate, bearing in mind the challenges that lie ahead. Theirs is no easy road.
