Swaziland: Mswati Back in Pretoria - for a No-Strings Bailout

Swaziland's absolute ruler Mswati III was back in South Africa this week to try to persuade Pretoria to proceed with the R2,4-billion (USUS$307-million) loan promised to his cash-strapped regime, but minus the terms and conditions on democratic change.

His clampdown on the Swazi pro-democracy movement has been intensifying since the week of exuberant anti-government protests in early September, closely mirroring Mswati's growing reluctance to entertain even the vaguely worded democratic reforms required by South Africa as its condition for granting the loan.

Mswati has balked at signing the memorandum of understanding attached to the loan. The MoU closely follows the 3 August 2011 statement by South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, reinforcing its prescriptions on fiscal reform (Vol 29 No 21). Its stipulations on democratic change are fluffy by comparison, with no mention of the sorts of proactive steps Mbabane should take to move towards democracy, such as unbanning political parties.

Instead the MoU reiterates Gordhan's call for "broadening the dialogue process to include all stakeholders" and his description of the role of the Joint Bilateral Commission on Cooperation, which would meet a few times a year to oversee adherence to the loan conditions. Mswati has rejected both requirements.

The MoU remains unsigned. South Africa has consequently not paid the first of the three tranches of the loan, originally envisaged for the end of August.

From Allafrica.com. Read more here.

Corruption Exceeds Social Services Budget

From AllAfrica.com


Mbabane — Swaziland's Minister of Finance, Majozi Sithole, has told the Senate that each year the country loses nearly double the annual social services budget to corruption, and non-governmental organizations are not being spared.

"Because of these practices service delivery has suffered," Sithole told the upper house, composed mostly of appointees of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, on 10 October 2011.

The donor-dependent country sandwiched between Mozambique and South Africa is on the brink of insolvency and its financial crisis means that social services from schooling to pensions have either been discontinued or severely disrupted.

Sithole estimated that about R80 million (US$10.6 million) a month was disappearing - amounting to about R960 million (US$128 million) annually - while the government's 2010/11 budget allocated R562 million (US$75 million) to social services, including R182 million (US$24.2 million) for education and R252 million (US$33.6 million) for health.

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Does too much charity cause Swaziland to abdicate its responsibilities?

This is a question I often ask myself. The Swazi government has a responsibility to pay for the education of primary age pupils but it does not fully honour that pledge despite having it in its constitution. By foreign charities and organisations paying for the building of housing for teachers, payment of school fees, the supply of resources and so forth, it could be argued that the government will be less likely to fulfill its responsibilities. In 2009, government announced a few days before the start of the school year that it would charge school fees. In 2011, parents have to pay school fees after the third year of primary school. Orphans who are supposed to get their school fees paid regardless of the form they are in are often turned away on a whim by head teachers for 'not wearing the correct school uniform' when the true reason is that the money paid by government comes late and is much less than the school fees charged to those who can pay.

The Swaziland government has a habit of treating its citizens with contempt and failing to honour its responsibilities. Abuse of power is the norm for those in all positions of authority. To get a passport you need a personal interview with the passport office, as though it is not a right. Now the Swazi government is facing an economic crisis. Its currency is artificially propped up by being pegged at one to one against the South African rand. South Africa has had to step in and loan 2.4 billion rands because the IMF and other lenders will not help because of Swaziland's record of corruption and bad governance.

This is what Swazi students are up against

SBIS gags UNISWA students

They are not even allowed to announce a public meeting on radio. Remember that most students there do not have access to the internet. This is typical of the control that Swazi authorities have over the individual in this country.