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1. Royal party formed as police attack democratic movement. ANDnetwork
(Johannesburg), 9 August 2006.

2. Poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS driving up level of suicides. IRIN, 8
August 2006.

3. Food aid still needed after another poor harvest. Collapse of Central
Cooperatives Union (CCU) further threatens food security. 27 July 2006 (IRIN).

4. Swazi church plans campaign to teach people about new constitution. Bronwen
Dachs, Catholic News Service (Cape Town), 24 July 2006.

5. Anti-AIDS text messaging campaign raises hackles, 21 July 2006 (IRIN).

6. Diversify or die ? economists warn, 13 July 2006 (IRIN)

7. Corruption costing government US$5.7 million a month. Lack of political will
to tackle it. 14 July 2006 (IRIN).

8. People?s United Democratic Movement statement: Peaceful march to celebrate
15th anniversary of Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) violently suppressed by
police on 5 August 2006.

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1. Royal party formed as police attack democratic movement. ANDnetwork
(Johannesburg), 9 August 2006.


While a new royalist party was being launched at a gala event attended by the
rich and powerful, the Swazi police were using tear-gas and rubber bullets to
break up a rally by an opposition party, demanding a constitutional monarchy.

Sive Siyinqaba ("the nation is a fortress") described itself as a "cultural
organisation" when it was formed in 1996, complying with a ban on political
parties.

But with the signing of a new constitution by King Mswati III earlier this year,
which some analysts believe indirectly legalises political organisations, Sive
Siyinqaba has been reborn as a party, and is eyeing the 2008 parliamentary
elections.

"Let us fight for a change that is Swazi-driven, keeping in mind our culture and
uniqueness as a nation," said party chairman and former senator Isaac Shabangu.

Sive Siyinqaba's membership includes government officials, current members of
parliament and individuals from the royal family. As a "cultural organisation"
it has stoutly defended the power wielded by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's
last absolute monarch.

In the new constitution, the Bill of Rights permits freedom of assembly and
speech - important advances that analysts suggest provide a legal basis for
political parties to operate.

However, the Times of Swaziland quoted a police official as justifying the
break-up of a march at the weekend by the pro-democracy Swaziland Youth
Congress (SWAYOCO) on the grounds that political parties remained banned.

SWAYOCO, the youth wing of the opposition Peoples United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO), attempted to march through Msunduza, a rundown informal settlement on
the hill above the capital, Mbabane.

Swazi press reports described the "bashing" of demonstrators by riot police as
they pursued the mostly youthful protesters among shanty dwellings. One marcher
was shot in the arm with a rubber bullet.

/See democratic movement press statement below.


---------------

2. Poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS driving up level of suicides. IRIN, 8
August 2006.

A clash of the old world and the new, recession and the increasing incidence of
HIV/AIDS in Swaziland has seen the suicide rate spike to such levels that the
country has established its first toll-free helpline.

Ten years ago the NGO behind the lifeline initiative, the Swaziland Action Group
Against Abuse, was the first to introduce the concept of telephone counselling
for victims of spousal and child abuse. The service also provided legal and
advice and medical assistance.

"In the old days, life was simpler, and people with problems could turn to their
extended family - suicide was rare. Today, the traditional family cannot cope
with modern pressures. There needs to be a place where depressed people can go
for help," said Nonhlanhla Dlamini, the action group's director.

HIV/AIDS has been blamed as one of the main factors contributing to the climbing
suicide rate. Swaziland, ruled by sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch,
has one of the world's highest levels of HIV/AIDS infection: over 40 percent of
sexually active adults are HIV positive.

"AIDS has been a culprit in many suicides, and with the rise in AIDS in
Swaziland we have a corresponding rise in suicides. People with AIDS don't wish
to be a burden on their families, or else they are alone with no one to take
care of them and they cannot cope," said Dlamini. The group also counsels
families recently bereaved by the AIDS-related deaths of loved ones.

A front-page newspaper story this week reported the story of a nine-year-old
boy's attempted suicide. After a savage beating by his aunt, the child
attempted to emulate his father, who hanged himself shortly after the boy's
mother died of AIDS. The child's suicide bid was thwarted when the rope was
wrestled away from him by his cousin?

Poverty and the threat of unemployment were also driving up the level of
suicide, Dlamini said. Swaziland experienced double digit growth in the 1980s
and 1990s. But since 2003, when the kingdom experienced a downturn in the
economy, tens of thousands of jobs had been lost by one of the country's main
employers, the garment and textile industry.

The Central Bank of Swaziland has predicted a 1 percent growth in the gross
domestic product for this year and next year, which is expected to fall again
in 2008.

------------------------

3. Food aid still needed after another poor harvest. Collapse of Central
Cooperatives Union (CCU) further threatens food security. 27 July 2006 (IRIN).

Swaziland will once again be reliant on food aid this year to feed one-fifth of
its people, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

Cereal production was even lower in 2006 than last year due to poor rains and
the impact of AIDS. Swaziland has the world's worst HIV infection rate at over
40 percent of adults.

WFP plans to feed about 200,000 people from July through to December 2006.
According to the agency, distributions will target HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
mother-and-child health clinics; programmes for orphans and other vulnerable
children, and school-feeding programs in selected primary schools.

"The total available food after the 2006 harvest, which ended two months ago,
was 81,000 tonnes of cereals. Swaziland's consumption for the year is estimated
at 190,000," said Abdoulaye Balde, WFP Country Representative for Swaziland. At
least 107,000 tonnes of food imports will be required to fill the gap.

"Most of the gap will be filled by commercial imports through the National Maize
Board. We are calculating how much that will be, the cereals that will be
available in shops for people to purchase. The shortfall will then be filled by
emergency food relief," Balde told IRIN.

Since independence in 1968, Swaziland has historically been a net importer of
food, never achieving production of more than 49 percent of annual consumption.
However, over the last decade output has declined, related to a series of
droughts and the impact of HIV/AIDS on labour availability and rural incomes.

"The old adage, 'teach a man to fish, and he'll have food for a lifetime' has
been turned on its head because of AIDS. Our [just concluded] survey will show
that every family is affected by AIDS. The number of child-headed households is
growing, and households where only the elderly remain. Neither group is capable
of implementing farming instruction because they are unable to physically work
a farm," Balde said.

The liquidation this week of the Central Cooperatives Union (CCU), which for
over 30 years worked to raise agricultural output and the incomes of
small-holder farmers, is likely to also have an impact on food security, said
Balde.
Rural instructors provided by the CCU taught small-holder farmers modern
agricultural techniques, and promoted the use of fertilizers and hybrid seeds.
Its principal achievement was to assist farmers to form cooperatives to reduce
costs and reap the benefits of economies of scale.

The sudden demise of the CCU, which took the agricultural community by surprise,
could be rooted in the debts incurred by expansion into non-core businesses. The
CCU operated supermarkets, petrol stations and hardware stores in the central
commercial hub Manzini, and in some rural towns.

-----------------------

4. Swazi church plans campaign to teach people about new constitution. Bronwen
Dachs, Catholic News Service (Cape Town), 24 July 2006.


The church in Swaziland is planning a human rights education campaign to educate
people about the new constitution in southern Africa's only absolute monarchy.

"It is essential that we do this in the rural areas, where people don't have
access to electronic media and newspapers," Father Pius Magagula, chaplain to
the Manzini Diocese's justice and peace commission.

In a July 19 telephone interview from Manzini, the priest said a new
constitution signed into law by King Mswati III in January addresses issues
such as women's equality, but "as the constitution was imposed on people rather
than the result of a consultative process, people are largely unaware of their
new rights."

"We want to fill them in on the implications of the new laws for everyone," he
said.

The constitution, which took 10 years to draft, has brought about many changes,
such as allowing Swazi women to own property in their own name and to open a
bank account without the permission of a male relative. Also, a man identified
as the father of a child by the child's mother must pay child support unless he
takes a paternity test to prove he is not the father.

But while women have more rights under this constitution, there are inequities,
such as the acquisition of citizenship, which still favors men, Father Magagula
said, noting that "if a Swazi woman marries a non-citizen, their children will
not be able to have Swazi citizenship, while a Swazi man's children are
automatically eligible for citizenship."

Constitutional rights that clash with local customs will be met with resistance,
he said.

A common-law spouse is now eligible to inherit a partner's estate, while
traditionally an unmarried man's property goes to his parental homestead on his
death.

In the patriarchal country, which is divided into 365 chiefdoms, these changes
"will not be easily accepted by men," Father Magagula said.

"We have been a chauvinistic society for a long time, and people here have
become used to the dominance of men over women," he said.

The church's education program, which will take the form of regular workshops in
four regions of the country, plans to challenge these attitudes as well as "to
let people know that every individual's voice should count in a just society,"
he said.

The church's focus will be on the rural areas because "information is far easier
to come by" in the country's urban centers, he said, noting that the Swaziland
Council of Churches, of which the Catholic Church is a member, has held
workshops to address constitutional issues in the capital, Mbabane, and in
Manzini.

The king transported peasants from around the country to his residence in
January to watch him sign the constitution into law, Father Magagula said.

"The king purported to want to hear their views on the constitution" but "the
excitement of the outing and the free lunch" was the reason people went, the
priest said.

"Even if the king was right in claiming that 1,400 people had their views heard,
in a country with a population of 1.2 million that is not democratic," he said.

While the constitution's "preamble speaks of freedom of association, it does not
spell out what that means," Father Magagula said, noting that "there is no
clause that says political parties are free to operate in Swaziland."

According to the constitution, the king will continue to appoint the Prime
Minister, the Cabinet and high court judges. He also can dissolve the
parliament.

The church's education campaign aims "to make people aware of these issues, so
that if we were to have a referendum they would have an educated opinion,"
Father Magagula said.

The king, who can abrogate all constitutional rights if he considers them to be
in conflict with the public interest, has ordered the construction of four
palaces, "while next year there will be no scholarships for tertiary education
as the state coffers are dry," the priest said.

Two-thirds of Swazis live in chronic poverty, according to the United Nations,
and 40 percent of the adults in the country are believed to be HIV-positive.


--------------

5. Anti-AIDS text messaging campaign raises hackles, 21 July 2006 (IRIN).

In one of the biggest demonstrations seen in Swaziland in years, HIV-positive
people marched on the offices of the prime minister and the national AIDS
council this week to protest an "insulting" new media campaign.

The project by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA)
seems to suggest that HIV is caused by sexual infidelity. It was launched last
month without consulting people living with the virus.

"The campaign further stigmatises the HIV infected. It is an insult, we are
angry. It is time we are involved in matters pertaining to us," said protest
leader Vusi Matsebula, chairperson of the Swaziland National Network of People
Living with HIV/AIDS (SWANNEPHA). Around 1,000 people participated in the
demonstration.

The media campaign, called "Makhwapheni", SiSwati slang for illicit lovers, has
sent out tens of thousands of cellphone text messages mimicking secret lovers
arranging a sexual rendezvous.

The marketing company behind the initiative was quoted in the local press as
saying its critics failed to understand the campaign's creative rationale, and
said cellphones were the primary means of communication for couples having
affairs.

But to Swaziland's growing number of people living with HIV and AIDS - over 40
percent of the sexually active adult population - the campaign smacked of cheap
sensationalism.

"HIV is not just spread by cheating husbands and secret lovers - this insults us
all," said Senzo Nkhosi, a protestor who said he was HIV-positive.
A survey by the Times of Swaziland found the general public split on the merits
of the campaign. Supporters, none of whom said they were HIV-positive,
contended the approach was meant to startle and provoke discussion.

NERCHA did not return IRIN's phone calls on Friday, but in previous press
statements the organisation, which falls under the authority of the Prime
Minister's office, has argued that Makhwapheni was a dramatic attempt to change
people's behaviour.

However, SWANNEPHA has accused NERCHA of arrogance, and its staff of making a
living off the AIDS crisis, which NERCHA has denied. The protestors also
claimed NERCHA was concentrating its media efforts on uninfected Swazis while
ignoring people in the advanced stages of opportunistic diseases brought on by
AIDS.

The Makhwapheni campaign has become the catalyst for AIDS groups to raise other
objections. At the march they delivered petitions to NERCHA and the prime
minister demanding universal access to care and treatment for people living
with the virus, and legislation protecting the rights of those who are HIV
positive.

SWANNEPHA, an umbrella body of community-based AIDS support groups that receives
funding from NERCHA, gave the AIDS council until the end of the month to address
its concerns. Protestors vowed to begin a sleep-in vigil at NERCHA headquarters
if they were not satisfied.

---------------------------

6. Diversify or die ? economists warn, 13 July 2006 (IRIN)

Still reeling from blows to its major industries, Swaziland's economy is set to
come to a grinding halt unless government initiates reforms and aggressively
pursues foreign investment, economists warn.

According to a Central Bank of Swaziland analyst: "Ten years ago, we put all our
eggs into one basket ? garment and textile manufacturing. Tens of thousands of
jobs opened up. But the contraction has been just as dramatic. We need to court
investors in all fields."

The strong South African rand, to which the Swazi lilangeni currency is linked,
has made Swazi garments more expensive and less competitive internationally.
That, combined with the entry of low-priced garments from larger developing
countries like China, has left the Swazi garment industry devastated.

Ironically, most owners of the clothing plants in Swaziland come from China?s
political foe Taiwan. Just last week, the latest Taiwanese-owned clothing shop
closed suddenly, leaving workers with unpaid salaries and vanished pensions.

"We are technically not in recession, because there is some marginal growth,
though far from the double digit growth of the 1980s and 1990s. The population
continues to grow, so people are getting poorer," said bank economist Charles
Dube.

Tens of thousands of jobs in the garment industry have disappeared since the
downturn began in 2003. At the time, Swaziland's gross domestic product (GDP)
growth stood at 3.6 percent, swallowed by a population increase of 3.9 percent.
For this year and next, the Central Bank of Swaziland predicts 1 percent GDP
growth, which is expected to fall again in 2008.

Yet Swaziland, which was once a net exporter of food to Southern Africa and was
a key supplier of tin to Great Britain and iron ore to Japan, has the potential
to perform better.

The Swaziland Chamber of Commerce has called upon the government to follow IMF
recommendations on economic reform. The recommendations include halting
unproductive, treasury-draining projects and downsizing a bloated civil service
that currently employs more people than the private sector.

Business leaders have urged the government to consolidate its 18 ministries
after yet another one, devoted to youth affairs, was added this year.

Nathie Dlamini, Director of Foreign Direct Investment for the Swaziland
Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA), an agency responsible for luring foreign
investment, said, "We are going after all kinds of investment. The favourable
trade agreements Swaziland has with the European Union and the United States
are not restricted to garments made here. All goods produced in Swaziland
qualify."

In terms of restoring external competitiveness, "there is nothing much that
Swaziland can do when it is such a small economy," said Seamus Vasey, Global
Market Research Analyst for Standard Bank South Africa. "But when the South
African economy is performing well, Swaziland should be in a position where it
can be boosted by the South African economy."


----------
7. Corruption costing government US$5.7 million a month. Lack of political will
to tackle it. 14 July 2006 (IRIN).
King Mswati III, Swaziland's absolute monarch, has finally signed a law
empowering the government's Anti-Corruption Unit, 10 years after the body was
established.
"Corruption remains a challenge for this government. We will rely on the full
cooperation of the public, business and the media," Prime Minister Themba
Dlamini told a group of local newspaper editors this week as he announced royal
assent to the long-deferred legislation.
Finance Minister Majozi Sithole told IRIN in an interview last year that
corruption was costing the government R40 million (US$5.7 million) a month.
Annually, this amount equals Swaziland's national debt of R450 million (US$64
million)?
A survey of the business community showed that corruption was believed to be
widespread, and a necessary practice in securing government contracts. Petty
bribery is widely practiced by the public to obtain favours from low-level
bureaucrats, such as having government forms more swiftly processed.
In the mid-1990s, a series of high-profile corruption scandals, with no action
taken against the perpetrators, prompted a public outcry that resulted in
government establishing the Anti-Corruption Unit. However, a decade after it
was set up, the unit had not brought a single culprit to book. Officials said
they were hamstrung by a lack of legislation empowering them to undertake
investigations and make arrests.
During the intervening decade, the economy has deteriorated, making the impact
of corruption even more damaging. Two-thirds of Swaziland's one million people
live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations Development
Programme.
The new Anti-Corruption Act will allow the unit to seize assets thought to have
been illegally acquired through bribery and kickbacks. It also has penalties
for businesses and individuals who offer bribes to public officials as well as
public-sector workers who accept them.
Although the law is now on the books, it will not be immediately enforced - the
government wants a "public education campaign" to be carried out first.
-----------------

8. People?s United Democratic Movement statement: Peaceful march to celebrate
15th anniversary of Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) violently suppressed by
police on 5 August 2006.

?When our people exercise their inalienable right to freedom of association
and assembly, the police use live ammunition, teargas and batons to suppress
them.

Two of our members were seriously hurt after being shot at. One was shot in the
leg and the other in the arm. Scores were arrested and later released after
intervention by our lawyers. The secretary for Gender Affairs in the youth
league, comrade Dudu Sithole, was arrested and tortured in a police cell in
Mbabane.

She was arrested with another comrade. Upon release at night she was not
assisted with transport and the leadership was not told of her release, so that
it could arrange for transport or accommodation.

Teargas canisters were randomly fired at children and women. Many of these
canisters landed inside houses at the poor location.

And for this we are expected to say all is fine. To the royal family we say this
will not happen. This is our country as well. We own each and every inch of
Swaziland. We never chose to be born in these lands, but these were given to us
as a birthright by God and we shall defend this birthright with our own blood if
need be.


The International community

When all these things happen we are told that we should accept and be tolerant.
Those we trusted to be custodians of democracy and good governance have let us
down, as in such bodies as the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth sends the
Nigerian chief Adefuye to coerce us into accepting royal oppression because it
is an African way of authority. We say our people reject the notion that
Africans must have different types of democracy and liberties. If the people of
Nigeria are no longer ruled by kings and chiefs like Adefuye, why is he
expecting us to accept such a political order? This is an insult to our people,
and we will never accept being treated like aliens in the country of our birth.

We wish to appeal to the international community to:

- Support our cause in terms of financial and material and moral support to the
peoples? movement.

- Isolate the royal regime in Swaziland by pushing for ?smart sanctions?
against the family and its surrogate government leaders.

- Send credible monitors to establish the facts for themselves.

- Assist our exiled members with schooling, food and shelter.

- Put pressure on the king to accept our agreement to peaceful negotiations.


Freedom is in our hands.

We have always maintained that freedom is in our own hands. We have first hand
experience of royal repression. We see the king parading his luxury convoy of
cars everyday with sirens blazing. We see our people pushed aside from the
roads like rabid dogs whenever these convoys pass by.

We watch in dismay the royal family spend millions of our taxes in birthday
celebrations. We witness wastages in ceremonies that never help our people like
Umhlanga Reed Dance, Lusekwane and Incwala. Every now and again we watch the
king and his family leave Swaziland for overseas countries to spend our taxes.

Against all this, we bury our people on a daily basis. And these are victims of
a system that is long past its time. These are victims of HIV/AIDS, hunger and
of curable diseases like diabetes and diarrhea.

We shall struggle to rid our country of the suffering of our poor people.

The peoples? struggle as lead by PUDEMO is about delivering to our people the
following:

- Health facilities that can respond to the needs of our people. PUDEMO will
build hospitals and clinics and provide primary health care to all our people
particularly those in the rural areas.

- Provide anti-retroviral medicine and nutritious food supplements to assist our
people affected by HIV/AIDS.

- Provide better schools particularly in the rural areas.

- Provide scholarships to the needy. We shall use the money that is provided to
send royal children to crèches and schools overseas. Each Royal family
child?s yearly school fees can help educate 10 000 of our poor children.

- We shall turn the many palaces into seats of learning and health facilities.

- We shall appropriate the so-called royal farms and give them to our landless
people and provide farming logistics so that they can produce enough food for
themselves and their families.

- We are fighting for a sound social grant system that shall provide support to
our aged and infirm. The current E80-00 (14 USD) per month is an insult to our
people as it is too meager to support a family at a time when the old support
most families, HIV/AIDS having killed most of the young and productive members
of our society.

- We are struggling for universal free primary education for our poor people in
order to raise the literacy rate. We know from our experience of royal
oppression that an uneducated population is doomed.

- We are struggling for the provision of clean water to our people, particularly
for the rural people in Lubombo region. We will use the money for palaces and
luxury cars to build dams and reservoirs so that our people can produce enough
food for their families.

- We are fighting to restore the dignity and freedom to our people.

- We will turn the royal police force and armed forces into people?s forces,
and they will be re-trained in agricultural skills so that they can work with
the people in the quest for rural development.


There is no amount of oppression and violence that will stop us from our march
to freedom. We can hear the bells of freedom ringing and PUDEMO will fulfill
its 23 year-long mandate to help the Swazi people attain their freedom. For our
freedom we do not beg the royal family and their hit squads called the police.
We are committed to a free Swazi nation that shall share the resources of this
country. We will continue the fight until we free ourselves from the shackles
of oppression.

Ignatius Bonginkosi Dlamini
Secretary General, People?s United Democratic Movement


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SWAZILAND@NEWSLETTER appears twice monthly. Earlier issues can be read at
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