Swaziland@Newsletter 61
Published by Africa Contact (Denmark)

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exploitation and rebellion. Colonial times. Sobhuza. Settlers in the
colony. People of Swaziland. Images of power. Women of the land.
Children. Men of the land. The struggle for democracy. Images of a
democratic movement.
__________________________________________________

Dear friends,

Has the time of radical change now gone, a time that gives the people
a new life, a new hope, a new future? Sometimes it seems that this is
the case. And sometimes Swaziland seems such a place.

To survive and to create a better life they must organise and move,
call out and reach out, discuss and plan and take all those steps that
must be taken. There is no other way.

And to those who stand in the way, to the royal and privileged of the
land, it must be said: you must follow us or you must flee or fall. In
the past it is you that have ruled us. In the future it is us ourselves.


Patrick Mac Manus
Editor
Swaziland@Newsletter
Denmark
___________________________________________________

1. Against the proclamation. Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of
Sobhuza's notorious April 12 Proclamation of 1973. 13 April 2008.

2. The king celebrates his birthday. World News Forecast, RSS
Newsroom. 7 April, 2008.

3. Without the King. Empire Movies - North Bay, ON, Canada
http://www.empiremovies.com/movie/without-the-king/22645/preview

4. Food price surge could mean '7 lost years' in poverty fight. World
Bank calls for plan to fight hunger. April 11, 2008.

5. Every third woman sexually abused as a child, says report.
Mbabane, 9 April (IRIN).

6. Partnership between World Bank and Kingdom of Swaziland receives
boost. Mallory Saleson, World Bank Group - Washington, DC, USA, 15.
April 2008.

7. Starving Swazis exploited. Swazi Media Commentary Tuesday, April 15, 2008.

8. No political parties at elections. Timothy Simelane, The Swazi
Observer, April 9, 2008.

9. Swazi Election Board bans reporters. Swazi Media Commentary, April
15 2008.

10. Climate change poses humanitarian challenges - top UN official.
Dubai, 8 April (IRIN): http://www.irinnews.org

11. Underpaid and undervalued - caregivers go hungry. Mbabane, 4 April
2008 (IRIN).

12. New book: Gerald Caplan, The Betrayal of Africa
http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=1270



______________________________________________


1. Against the Proclamation. Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of
Sobhuza's notorious April 12 Proclamation of 1973. 13 April 2008.

The Swaziland Progressive Party (SPP), under the leadership of John
Nquku, was founded in 1960. Its manifesto had four points: democratic
enfranchisement for all persons irrespective of race, colour, or
creed, opposition to the incorporation of Swaziland by South Africa;
adoption of the United Nations declaration of human rights; and
complete integration to eliminate racial discrimination.

Due to questions about Nquku's leadership that party splintered and
eventually another party, the Ngwane National Libratory Congress
(NNLC) was formed in 1963. Around this same time two other but much
less significant parties also were born - the Swaziland Democratic
Party (SDP) and the Mbandzeni National Convention (MNC).

Seeing the British would go ahead with the June 1964 elections, Van
Wyk de Vries, one of Sobhuza's legal advisors and a "prominent member
of the South African Broederbond" encouraged him to hold a referendum
and then form his own party.

The Imbokodvo (The grindstone) National Movement (INM) was formed
one month before the election. INM won 85.45 percent of the vote and
NNLC was the only party to gain any support - 12.3 percent. The MDC
and SDP now aligned themselves with INM as did the white settlers of
the United Swaziland Association (USA). The king's party again won all
twenty-four seats in the April 1967 election but the NNLC had won 20
percent of the popular vote - that would change in five years.

In the 1972 election, the NNLC won three of the twenty-four seats in
Parliament. Dr. Ambrose Zwane, Thomas Ngwenya and Mageja Masilela had
gained all three seats from the eastern constituencies of Mphumalanga
- the same region which had experienced the huge labour strikes of May
1963. One eighth of the seats did not pose an immediate political
danger but Sobhuza would not tolerate these members. This was
significant because the three had been elected in the "constituencies
containing large numbers of sugar plantation workers who were
disgruntled with the government over their working conditions".
Additionally, "the NNLC had enjoyed significant popular support among
non Swazi Africans".

Before the drastic action of April 12, 1973 three attempts were made
to limit the NNLC opposition. First, Ngwenya was ordered deported on
the grounds that he was not a Swazi citizen. Secondly, the Assembly
Standing Order was amended so that a Private Member's Motion "would
lapse for the duration of the meeting if there were no quorum when it
was either moved or put to the vote". Thirdly, INM members left the
chamber "when NNLC Members rose to introduce a motion".

Ngwenya was not deported as he challenged the order in High Court and
was successful. Immediately an Immigration Amendment Act was
introduced to Parliament and passed; so once again Ngwenya was ordered
deported. He then challenged this in the Swaziland Appeals Court and
won. Sobhuza would not be out-manoeuvred by the courts. Parliament
passed a motion that the Constitution was "unworkable" and the king
was called upon to resolve the crisis. With assistance from Pretoria,
on April 12, 1973 Sobhuza declared: the constitution had "failed"; it
was the cause of "growing unrest"; it had permitted "undesirable
political practices"; there was "no constitutional way" to amend the
Constitution; and a new constitution needed to be "created by
ourselves for ourselves in complete liberty."

A State-of-Emergency was declared and Sobhuza "assumed supreme power".
The Attorney General then read the decrees that included "Political
parties [including his own INM] were prohibited and political meeting,
processions and demonstrations disallowed without prior consent of the
Commissioner of Police. The King-in-Council was given the power to
detain a person without trial for a period of sixty days, which period
could be repeated as often as deemed necessary in the public interest.
This situation would be reviewed in six months' time."

April 12, 2008 is the thirty-fifth anniversary of these decrees; they
have never been repealed. The Swazi people refer to this as the
"King's Coup."
_________________________

2. The king celebrates his birthday. World News Forecast, RSS
Newsroom. 7 April, 2008.

Swaziland 19 April 2008 Swazi King Mswati III celebrates 40th birthday
On Apr 19 Swaziland, sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique
and one of Africa's poorest and most AIDS-ridden countries, celebrates
the 40th birthday of King Mswati III, who plans to throw a lavish
birthday party and independence day celebration and is likely to
choose a new wife. He is Africa's last absolute monarch.

Opposition deputies have called for the celebrations in Mbababe and
elsewhere to be scrapped or scaled down, but the government is
defending the plan.

For his 39th birthday the monarch expressed concern about the growing
drought and food shortages in the country, but went ahead with lavish
birthday celebrations. The South African Press Association reports
that the bash, at a cost estimated at the equivalent in emalangeni of
US $4 million, drew criticism from rights groups but the king said it
helped boost national morale.

The 2004 party brought together some 10,000 guests in the national
football stadium.

The birthday and the 22nd anniversary of his accession to the throne
on 25 Apr invite media scrutiny of his rule by decree and his
lifestyle, including the number of his wives.

While he has embraced Western-style market-driven economic policies,
King Mswati has adhered to his traditional political culture that
allows him full control of the executive, judiciary and executive arms
of government. Political parties are banned. The recent release of a
draft constitution guaranteeing his eternal dominance has sparked
protests from underground opposition movements. There were hopes the
long-awaited document would move the country towards constitutional
democracy. Instead, the draft gives the king legal immunity for any
wrongdoing and article 65 states emphatically: "The executive
authority of Swaziland vests in the king."

Like all the Swazi kings before him, he is a polygamist. His father
had more than 70 wives, and Mswati has some 15 already. Each new bride
is chosen at the annual red dance in August, a courtship ceremony
where some 20,000 semi-clad virgins perform a selection of tribal
dances outside the royal enclosure.

Mswati's rule has been criticized for ignoring the growing problems of
his subjects while lavishly spending his nation's wealth on his own
comfort. The country is relatively prosperous in normal circumstances,
but drought and AIDS have taken their toll. The Food and Agriculture
Organization reported in May 2007 that drought and high temperatures
have resulted in the "worst harvest ever" in Swaziland, leaving one in
three people in need of food aid in the southern African country. The
agencies said some one third of the population will need about 40,000
tons of food between now and the next maize harvest in April 2008. The
FAO/WFP report notes that the majority of Swazis live on less than one
dollar a day. Some some 33 per cent of the country?s people is
infected with HIV. The king responded to the HIV/AIDS crisis in 2001
by banning sex for women under 18. Just two months after imposing the
ban, the king fined himself a cow for breaking it by taking a
17-year-old girl as his ninth wife. He has since lifted the ban.

The Times newspaper of Swaziland reported in Jan 2004 that the King
asked for US $15 million ? almost as much as the 2002 health budget ?
to redecorate his three existing palaces and build eight new ones for
his wives. In 2002 the parliament rejected his request to buy a US $45
million royal jet.

He is the 67th son of the late elderly King Sobhuza II, and was born
only months before Swaziland attained independence from Britain. He
was crowned king at the age of 18, becoming the youngest ruling
monarch in the world. King Sobhuza II died in 1982 at the age of 82,
after having ruled from 1921 to 1982.
_____________________________

3. Without the King. Empire Movies - North Bay, ON, Canada
http://www.empiremovies.com/movie/without-the-king/22645/preview

The tiny country of Swaziland is the last absolute monarchy on the
African continent. Its leader, King Mswati III, faces huge challenges
as his people face starvation and the worst AIDS crisis in the world.
Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world at a startling
31 years of age. These problems have given birth to an underground
revolutionary movement intent on bringing democracy to the country.

"Without the King" explores Swaziland's Royal Family and their lavish
lifestyle, replete with palaces for each of the King's fourteen wives,
a fleet of expensive cars, designer wardrobes, and school abroad for
his 22 children, while also dramatically underscoring the conditions
of poverty lived by the majority of ordinary Swazi people.

This disparity is highlighted by a group of "freedom fighters" who
quest to remove the King from power and form a constitutional
democracy. Their growing anger is chronicled in protest rallies,
violent clashes with the police and glimpses into the severe living
conditions prevalent in the country. But when the HIV/AIDS prevalence
rate is 42.6%, the highest in the world, their hope for survival as a
nation begins to be questioned.

In the middle of both these worlds is the King's eldest daughter,
Princess Sikhanyiso, aka Pashu. Traveling between her first year of
college in California, where she contrasts her interests in rap music,
fashion and American culture, with her duties in Swaziland, the
Princess begins to truly see what's going on in her country. When she
returns home to attend the annual Reed Dance, where over 75,000
virgins dance for the King, hoping to become his next wife, the
Princess begins to question the role of the monarchy. As her father
becomes more oblivious to the dire situation plaguing the country, her
own concern about a possible revolution becomes heightened. In the
end, she is left to consider what will become of her country and what
she can do about it.

Director: Michael Skolnik. Release Date: April 25, 2008
Official Site: MySpace.com/WithoutTheKing
Distributor: First Run Features
________________________________________


4. Food price surge could mean '7 lost years' in poverty fight. World
Bank calls for plan to fight hunger. April 11, 2008.

The crisis of surging food prices could mean "seven lost years" in the
fight against worldwide poverty, World Bank President Robert B.
Zoellick said. "While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks,
many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs,
and it is getting more and more difficult every day," Zoellick said at
a press briefing on the eve of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings. To
meet this crisis, Zoellick is calling for a "New Deal on Global Food
Policy." For the "immediate crisis," he urged governments to fill the
US$500 million food gap identified ! by the UN's World Food Program.

Under the New Deal, the World Bank will nearly double agricultural
lending to Sub-Saharan Africa over the next year to US$800 million to
substantially increase crop productivity. In addition, the
International Finance Corporation - the World Bank Group's arm for
private sector development - will boost its agribusiness investments.
Zoellick is also proposing that sovereign wealth funds around the
world allocate US$30 billion - one percent of their US$3 trillion
assets - to investments for African "growth, development, and
opportunity."

At his press briefing Thursday, Zoellick said rising food prices are
also contributing to malnutrition, one of the "forgotten" Millennium
Development Goals. "This is not just about meals foregone today or
about increasing social unrest. This is about lost learning potential
for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and
physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food
crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost
years. So we need to address this not just as an immediate emergency
but also in the medium term for development.

"Meetings such as this are usually about talk. Words can focus
attention. They can build momentum. But we can't be satisfied with
studies and paper and talk. This is about recognizing a growing
emergency, acting, and seizing opportunity, too. The world can do
this. We can do this. We can have a New Deal on Global Food Policy."
Zoellick said the poor spend as much as 75 percent of their income on
food. "In just two months, rice prices have skyrocketed to near
historical levels, rising by around 75 percent globally," he said. The
price of wheat has risen 120 percent over the past year, he added.
Over the past three years, food prices overall have risen 83 percent,
the World Bank estimates.

_____________________________________


5. Every third woman sexually abused as a child, says report.
Mbabane, 9 April (IRIN).

One in three Swazi women have suffered some form of sexual abuse as a
child, while one in four experienced physical violence, a new United
Nations survey revealed this week.

The study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is the first of its kind
conducted in a country where anecdotal evidence suggests an alarming
number of female children are victims of abuse: more disconcertingly
still, the mushrooming population of orphans and vulnerable children
in Swaziland provides yet more opportunities for sexual exploitation
to occur.

In two years, Swaziland will have a population of 200,000 children
orphaned by AIDS - more than one-fifth of its population, according to
UNICEF. With HIV prevalence at 33.4 percent among people aged between
15 and 49, the country has the world's highest infection rate. As a
result, life expectancy has halved from nearly 60 years in the 1990s
to just over 30 years today.

"Disabled children, children out of school and orphans are some of the
most vulnerable groups," said Jama Gulaid, UNICEF representative in
Swaziland. "Poverty and the high prevalence of HIV create high numbers
of marginalised children."

The survey, the National Study on Violence Against Children and Young
Women, based its findings on interviews among rural and urban
communities. Disturbingly, it concluded that violence and sexual
assault against girls primarily took place at home.

"We found that 75 percent of the perpetrators of sexual violence were
known to the victim," Gulaid said. "It is not surprising that sexual
abuse of girls is a household problem, because Swazis reside in
multi-generational homes, usually isolated farms. Relatively few girls
are raped by strangers in towns because less of the population resides
in towns, and there is a heightened awareness of security there".

Rapists don't use condoms

Often the abusers are the girls' own fathers and boyfriends. Only 43.5
percent of girls said their first sexual experiences were freely
willed and devoid of coercion: a little less than five percent said
they had been introduced to sex as rape victims.

Underscoring the urgency of addressing violence against girls was the
AIDS crisis. "Rapists don't use condoms, and if a father or uncle are
so inclined to rape a daughter or niece, or a boyfriend forces himself
on his girlfriend, the danger of HIV transmission is rife," said
Victor Ndlovu, a voluntary testing and counseling officer in the
central commercial town of Manzini. "Add to that the reluctance of
girls to report abuse or in many instances to rightly understand they
have been violated, we are faced with a serious public health
challenge, aside from the individual suffering incurred by the girls."

A third of Swazi females interviewed for the study reported they had
experienced emotional abuse. Often, the perpetrators had been abused
themselves as children.

"The established 'hand me down' passing on of abuse is evident from
what we were told," said Pamela Dlamini, a sociology student at the
University of Swaziland, who was one of the survey interviewers.
"Emotional abuse of girls is mostly carried out by the girls' female
relatives, who were abused themselves. Sometimes there is jealousy.
Instead of reporting an abusive husband or unable to police [the
girl], the girl's mother or aunt will treat the girl as a rival. This
comes from a culture where any post-pubescent girl is considered
eligible for marriage in a polygamous household, even if she is 13,
although Swazi culture does not allow for the incest we find rampant
in households where abuse occurs."

Although officially a middle-income country, the UN Development
Programme estimates more than two-thirds of Swazis live in chronic
poverty, about the same number - over 600,000 - currently depend on
food assistance from the World Food Programme and other donor groups.

The report noted that "Violence can damage the emotional, cognitive
and physical development of children and thereby impact economic
development of Swaziland by degrading the contribution of affected
children".

The way forward

Less than half of sexual assaults and other abusive crimes are
reported to the authorities. Swazi children were found to have sought
help from the police or social welfare counsellors in only one out of
five cases that resulted in injury serious enough to consult a doctor.

The way forward appears to be through education, instructing girls
about what constitutes abuse. "I spoke with many girls who said they
did not understand that they had been abused. They felt abused,
physically and psychologically, but no one told them this was not
normal," said Dlamini.

The report backed Dlamini's observation, noting, "The numbers suggest
a lack of understanding of what sexual violence is and how and where
to report such incidents".

Educational programmes in schools would assist in a country where
primary school attendance is relatively widespread, and instruct girls
on the type of behaviour acceptable when they return home.

"The large numbers of sexual violence incidents happening in the home
underscores the hidden nature of sexual violence and presents one of
the largest challenges in preventing sexual violence in Swaziland,"
the report said.

________________________

6. Partnership between World Bank and Kingdom of Swaziland receives
boost. Mallory Saleson, World Bank Group - Washington, DC, USA, 15.
April 2008.

The growing partnership between the World Bank and the southern
African Kingdom of Swaziland received a significant boost on April 8
with the launch of the Swaziland Development Information Centre (SDIC).

The new centre is a partnership between the Bank and the University of
Swaziland (UNISWA), which is hosting the centre, the European Union,
the Coordinating Assembly of Non-governmental Organizations (CANGO),
the Central bank of Swaziland, the National Emergency Response Council
on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization.

The Swaziland Development Information Centre is aimed at enhancing
knowledge and information sharing around development issues and
challenges as well as consultation with all stakeholders through
development dialogue.

The centre located at UNISWA Kwaluseni Campus library is open to
everyone, from the students attending the university to academics and
policymakers. The centre offers a range of facilities and services
that stimulate development thinking through access to the latest
knowledge and information. Partners consider the SDIC a
one-stop-centre for public access to information on development.

The launch followed World Bank board endorsement of the new Interim
Strategy Note for Swaziland, the first in 14 years. The Interim
Strategy is a product of joint discussion between the Bank and Swazi
government and sets out the framework for strengthening the Bank
group?s engagement with Swaziland over the next two years. The
strategy builds on three particular areas for Bank assistance:
HIV/AIDS, governance and competitiveness.

"The strategy underscores the Bank commitment to Swaziland and maps
the way forward for our relationship, noted World Bank acting Country
Director for Swaziland Dirk Reinermann. "The launch today of the DIC
is another indication of our growing partnership with the Swazi
government and people".

Minister of Education Themba Msibi noted the DIC is an invaluable
resource to extend the frontiers of knowledge.

"It comes at a very opportune time when Swaziland is trying to meet
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015," he said. "This is a hub for
information for the government and for all the Swazi people that can
help us meet the goals we aspire to and develop our human capacity".

Msibi urged other partners to join the DIC: It is through
partnerships such as these that development can be addressed.
Development information is critical, especially cross-cutting
information that expands knowledge.

We are committed to an informed society that leads to
nation-building, he said. "Swaziland is part of the global knowledge
economy and needs to know and keep abreast of what is happening in
international and regional trade, markets, economy, commerce,
governance, banking, financing and education. The establishment of the
SDIC comes at an opportune time, considering the fact that the drivers
of the global economy are information and communication technology."

Magagula said countries with access to information and knowledge
develop faster than those that do not: Knowledge is power and this
new centre will provide knowledge through access to printed materials,
electronic databases, and many publications.

All partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing them to
the development of the DIC. Reinermann welcomed the partnership as
another sign of engagement.

We know it is not always about projects, or lending money.
Partnerships work because both sides believe the relationship has
mutual benefits. In this case, it is about sharing all our knowledge
and progressing development.

The World Bank regional office in South Africa has established similar
centres in Lesotho, with the University of Lesotho in Roma, in
Botswana with the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis,
in Namibia with the Polytechnic of Namibia and in Johannesburg with
the South African Institute of International Affairs on the campus of
the University of the Witwatersrand. Partners have included United
Nations organizations, think tanks, tertiary institutions, NGOs and
governments.
_______________________________

7. Starving Swazis exploited. Swazi Media Commentary Tuesday, April 15, 2008.

Swazi people threatened with starvation are being forced to pay cash
to receive food aid that has been donated free of charge by
international agencies.

In the latest example of corruption in a kingdom eaten away by the
cancer, the Swazi News reported (12 April 2008) that people in the
Mkhiweni area must pay E2 to get food or they go hungry. (In Swaziland
about 70 percent of the population earns less than E7 per day.)

The Swazi News reports, 'It has been gathered that the E2 is a
prerequisite for residents to be listed as beneficiaries for donor
food.'

The newspaper quotes a resident, who refused to be named for fear of
victimisation, saying, 'The E2 payment is something that has been
going on for some time. When it was introduced it was said that it was
meant to hire a car for the area's traditional authorities to attend
food rations. We can hardly afford this amount. That we qualify for
donor food rations means we do not have the money to buy food, and
this just leaves us confused.'

The Swazi News reported that residents were called to a community
meeting where the money was demanded from them.

One resident told the Swazi News, 'It is inhumane. In the meeting the
authorities of the area said they would take even 50 cents. It's
pathetic, but we pay up [rather] than miss out on the rations.'

In Swaziland about 600,000 people - about two thirds of the total
population of the kingdom - are reported to have received
international food aid in the past year.

The Disaster Task Team in Swaziland, responsible for donated food, is
investigating the matter. The news of this obvious corruption will
almost certainly tarnish Swaziland's reputation further in the
international community. Already the World Food Programme is finding
it difficult to get donor agencies to meet the cost of food aid to the
kingdom.

Swaziland also has a poor reputation in the international community
for its inability to use money wisely.

On the same day as the Swazi News article (12 April 2008), its rival
newspaper the Weekend Observer reported Swaziland Prime Minister
Themba Dlamini saying his government was embarrassed that it had not
utilised the E36 million (about 5.1 million US Dollars) that it had
itself earmarked to spend on HIV AIDs drugs. At the same time as it
failed to spend this money, the government was asking foreign
institutions for cash to help in the fight against AIDS. (Swaziland
has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world).

The Weekend Observer quoted the Prime Minister at a business meeting saying,
'I am embarrassed. I do not have much to say. This reflects certain
weaknesses in the management system. I will ensure that I get an
explanation from those involved.'
Surely, if it is a problem with the 'management system' the Prime
Minister, as the 'senior manager' of Swaziland, ought to take the blame.

Swazi journalists - and some others - often complain that Swaziland
has a poor image abroad and they put the blame for this state of
affairs squarely on 'misreporting' by the media. I don't suppose it
will take too long for the international media to pick up on the two
stories I have written about here.

And when they do, and Swaziland is rightly shamed, please don't blame
the messenger this time.
__________________________________

8. No political parties at elections. Timothy Simelane, The Swazi
Observer, April 9, 2008.

Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission Chief Gija Dlamini
says political parties remain illegal in Swaziland.

Chief Gija says the clause allowing freedom of association in the
national constitution merely talks about other formations, not
necessarily political parties. He made an example of Mbabane
Highlanders as just one of the many associations people can freely
associate with. Chief Gija was addressing chiefs and traditional
authorities at Siteki Hotel where the Elections and Boundaries
Commission held a civic education.

He said the national constitution did not say people would go to the
polls by political associations.

?People will be elected as individuals. If the community picks an
individual and feels he qualifies to represent them, they can just
vote him in, as long as he or she is Swazi.

The chairman was responding to a question from Chief Sibengwane
Ndzimandze who wanted to know what would happen in the event that some
people use political affiliation to canvas for parliamentary seats.

Petros Masina of Enceka also asked: What are we going to do when
people who affiliate with political parties eventually win the
elections and go to parliament. Whilst there, they may try to change
the system of governance.

Chief Gija said the chiefs should not be concerned about political parties.

Emaphathi akhona emoyeni nje. Emtsetfweni akabusiswa. Kwasho emaSwati
kutsi afuna tinkhundla, he said, meaning ?political parties are not
founded on the law. Swazis said they needed the Tinkhundla system of
governance.

The chairman explained that in parliament no one could claim to be
representing a political party.

He read section 79 of the constitution: The system of government for
Swaziland is a democratic, participatory, tinkhundla-based system
which emphasises devolution of state power from central government to
tinkhundla areas and individual merit as a basis for election or
appointment to public office.

___________________________________
9. Swazi Election Board bans reporters. Swazi Media Commentary, April
15 2008.

Journalists were banned from a meeting held by the Swaziland Elections
and Boundaries Commission (EBC) because its chairman doesn't like the
way the media is reporting its activities.

Police, including at least one from the intelligence branch, were
called to eject any reporters who tried to get into the meeting.

In another twist in the long-running controversy over the way members
of the EBC were chosen and the Commission's activities since then, the
announcement of the date of the election has been postponed.

Chief Gija Dlamini told the Times Sunday today (13 April 2008) that
the reason the meeting was held behind closed doors was because 'the
media had failed to report truthfully about their previous meeting at
Siteki.'

The Times Sunday reported that the meeting at a hotel was with
traditional leaders from the Hhohho Region of Swaziland and was part
of ongoing 'civic education' being undertaken by the EBC.

The Times Sunday reported that more than 40 chiefs from different
areas of the region 'were given the special privilege of meeting the
EBC behind closed doors and protected by the presence of the police.

'Police officers, who were deployed at the hotel, were told that
journalists were not welcome to cover the meeting.' The Times Sunday
continued, 'Apparently, Chief Gija was not happy with one of the
dailies [Swazi Observer] after it quoted him saying political parties
were not allowed at the in the upcoming elections.

'He said they were now careful with who participates in these meetings
as they do not want to expose themselves to "manufactured" stories in
the media.'

It is significant that Dlamini did not say that contrary to the
Observer story; political parties indeed were allowed to participate
in the election.

The Times Sunday reported that the EBC had already met privately with
chiefs in other regions of Swaziland.

Dlamini went on (unwittingly, I suspect) to admit that not all people
in Swaziland were to be afforded the same opportunities to learn about
the election. Chiefs were to be given special privileges.

The Times Sunday reported, 'Chief Gija said their meeting with the
Chiefs was meant to respect traditional protocols before they can
start the process of civic education to the ordinary masses.

"You will know that Swazi culture dictates that we respect chiefs as
heads of communities and we could not therefore be seen to be doing
something without the knowledge of the chiefs", Gija said.'

The Times Sunday in an editorial comment said, 'By holding such secret
meetings, for a process that determines who will govern us for the
next five years, the EBC has compromised the transparency that should
encompass such an important election process.

'To cut a long story short, the Commission has indicted to all that
the elections, or selection, will not be independent.'

The EBC is under attack on several fronts at the moment. During the
past week it was announced that civic organisations are going to court
to get the appointment of the EBC members ruled unconstitutional. The
Swazi Constitution states that members should be judges, but none of
the people appointed are. The chairman himself is variously described
in the media as an 'electrician' or 'an electrical engineer.' Whatever
his formal job title is one thing is for sure: he has no legal training.

Following Chief Gija's statement that political parties remain banned,
the African Union Democratic Party announced it had petitioned the
Swaziland House of Assembly to make a law allowing political parties
to operate.

According to a report in the Swazi Observer (10 April 2008), 'The
petition alternatively states that the House of Assembly should amend
provisions of the Constitution which prohibit political parties from
standing for local and or general elections and from managing and
directing public affairs at government level.'

Meanwhile, there is mystery about the actual date of the election.
Recently, Chief Gija called a press conference to say that a date
would be announced last week. The date for the announcement has come
and gone but we still do not know when the election will be held.
_________________________

10. Climate change poses humanitarian challenges - top UN official.
Dubai, 8 April (IRIN): http://www.irinnews.org

Global demand for humanitarian assistance is likely to grow in the
coming decade because of climate change, warned John Holmes, UN
under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief
coordinator.

In his keynote speech to the fifth Dubai International Humanitarian
Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD) on 8 April, Holmes
said: "What we are witnessing is not an aberration, but rather a
'curtain raiser' on the future."

The conference, which ends on 10 April, addresses four main subjects -
future crises, technology innovation, future challenges and emerging
trends.

"We are already beginning to feel the effects: last winter, large
swathes of Central Asia were devastated by the most severe weather for
nearly three decades. Cyclone Gonu, which hit the [Arabian] Gulf coast
last June, was one of the most severe cyclones ever to hit this part
of the world," Holmes said.

He said such events were "not abnormal" but were the "new normal".

Disaster risk reduction

Reviewing the number of recorded disasters in the world, Holmes said
these have doubled from about 200 to over 400 per year over the last
two decades, with nine out of every 10 disasters now climate-related.

Despite the rise in the number of disasters, the level of preparedness
remains inadequate. "What we are trying to do now is to promote
disaster risk reduction. It is not just being prepared for the
disaster, but to reduce the impact of the disaster that we know is
going to happen," Holmes told IRIN after his keynote address.

"For example, in Bangladesh we know that there will be flooding every
year. so you try to make sure that people are not living in the most
flood-prone area and houses are built in the most flood-resistant way.
This does not stop the flood from happening but it reduces its impact
on people's lives and their livelihoods," he said.

Last year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) issued an unprecedented 15 funding appeals for sudden natural
disasters, five more than the previous annual record. Fourteen of
these appeals were climate-related.

During the last decade, the world has paid more attention to global
warming and climate change. A UN Climate Change Conference was held in
Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007 to step up efforts to combat climate
change and to launch formal negotiations for a long-term international
agreement at the conference in Copenhagen to be held towards the end
of 2009. These negotiations will also lay down measures and
obligations after the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment
period (end of 2012).

Food prices

Some experts say climate change has been a contributory factor in
recent food price rises. These have led to riots in numerous
countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritania,
Mexico, Pakistan, Senegal, and Yemen.

"Since mid-2007, food prices have risen an estimated 40 percent as a
confluence of factors has increased demand. These factors include
rapid global population growth, ever greater numbers of people eating
resource-intensive foods such as meat and milk, bio-fuel production,
shortage of reserves, and increasing oil prices," Holmes said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in February that
36 countries were in crisis as a result of bad weather and conflicts
and would require external assistance.

____________________________

11. Underpaid and undervalued - caregivers go hungry. Mbabane, 4 April
2008 (IRIN).

Overworked and poorly paid, volunteer caregivers in Swaziland
struggling to cope with the growing numbers of bedridden patients with
HIV, are faced with a hard choice: to quit or go hungry.

"I love helping people. It is the first time I have done anything out
of the home. I do not do this for money. But I am in need of money to
buy food for my children now that my husband has passed on," explained
Sipiwe Matsebula, a home-based care worker.
The demand for their services is clear: one out of four adults in the
country is HIV-positive, and the health system is faced with a growing
workload and a shrinking workforce.

Increasingly, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government
agencies that depend on volunteers are budgeting small monthly
stipends to show some appreciation for long hours worked under
difficult conditions. But these allowances can be as low as R60 (US$8)
a week for a daycare centre worker and R200 ($26) a month for food
distribution point workers.

Matsebula started her work as a caregiver at home, tending her
HIV-positive husband. She was trained by a nurse from the Nyakeni Red
Cross Clinic, 20 minutes north of the central commercial hub Manzini;
and subsequently began to assist her neighbours' relatives who were
bedridden with AIDS-related illnesses.

"I never had a job, and it felt good to have the responsibility and
respect, and get out of the house. My husband had some disability pay
from work, and our needs were met.

"I learned to treat people wearing rubber gloves, and supervise their
taking the ARVs [antiretrovirals], and help their young ones change
bed sheets and wash the very sick ones," she related.

Facing reality

The overwhelming number of AIDS cases in her area and the rising
deaths due to AIDS-related illness have not diminished her enthusiasm
for her work. But now comes the hard reality of supporting her family,
and this means finding a paying job - amid Swaziland's depressed
economy.

"What will happen to the people I care for when I am working? I will
have to try to see them at night, because at some of these homes there
are only small children who can do nothing to assist the older sick
people," she wondered.

Swaziland's nurses number about 3,000 and have pay issues of their
own, which led to a work slowdown this month. Unresolved issues of
security and unhealthy working environments continue to prompt work
stoppages.

But volunteers like Matsebula also endure harsh conditions, and
instead of ambulances, their transport is their own two feet. An
allowance for bus fare is a luxury unheard of, as is a food allowance.

Matilda Simelane, a cook at a community care point for orphans and
vulnerable children in Manzini, has no problem with food - her lunch
is the beans, porridge and cabbage that she prepares for the centre's
300 children, augmented by occasional fruit.

"My problem is I depend on my working children for everything. My
children are struggling. I cannot bear to leave these poor orphans you
see at the centre without a cook, but I may have to go back to the
market where I was a vendor before I started volunteering here," she
said.

Like the pre-school teachers who volunteer at the centre's two
classrooms, the two cooks and a grounds man receive R60 ($8) a week
from the centre's maintenance fund paid by a US-based Christian
organisation. The volunteer staff has been promised an allowance
increase for the past year - but their needs are now overwhelming
their patience.

More than cheap labour

Jackson Dlamini, a voluntary HIV counselling and testing officer in
Manzini, told IRIN/PlusNews: "In my opinion, volunteers are seen as
cheap labour who can be counted on to do everything from taking head
counts door to door for aid censuses to doing construction work. The
philosophy is that these people who volunteer are helping themselves
by helping to improve their communities, which is true. But it is also
cynical to use this as an excuse not to budget for workers' pay."

"The truth is, in the developed world when a school is built or a
hospital is staffed, workers are contracted and paid. Nobody would do
such work for free, and no one would ask them to. Why are the poor
expected to do the same thing for nothing?" Dlamini added.

Going on strike is not an option. Instead, the volunteers drift off to
find ways to sustain themselves.

"I would say all the volunteers I've worked with enjoy what they are
doing, said Samuel Magagula, who holds a traditional post as chief's
runner and who communicates community activities to a band of elders
meeting at his chief's kraal.

"Even young men toiling with wheelbarrows full of sand, bringing these
up from the river to a building site, they prefer this hard work to
being idle, because there are no jobs in their community. But people
need to eat, and those wheelbarrows can be heavy," he noted.
_______________________________________

12. New book: Gerald Caplan, The Betrayal of Africa
http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=1270

Think Africa, and many people think of brutal war, endless famine,
pervasive corruption, unworthy rulers, universal poverty and AIDS
epidemic out of control. These characteristics are both true and a
caricature at the same time. While Africa faces a daunting list of
challenges, the vast majority of the continent?s citizens live
ordinary lives with the hopes and dreams that all of us share.

There is a widespread assumption among rich countries that Africa is
the problem and that we in the rich world are the solution.

This book turns this complacent conventional wisdom on its head. It
argues that the policies of rich countries, though couched in
benevolent terms, are in fact responsible for many of the ills in
Africa.

Every year, contrary to what Western leaders and the media tell us,
far more of Africa?s riches flow out to the rich world than we plough
into Africa. In this systematic process of exploitation, leaders of
the rich world work in happy cooperation with most of the leaders of
the African continent, who are ready accomplices in accepting the
destructive policies demanded by the outside world.

For Africa to move forward, the citizens of rich countries must be
aware of the false premises on which their own leaders deal with
Africa. Only by reversing the policies that have done such grievous
harm to Africa over the past decades do the new leaders of the continent
and activists have the chance of making serious progress.
__________________________________

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