SWAZILAND NEWSLETTER 39
PUBLISHED BY SOUTHERN AFRICA CONTACT (DENMARK)

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1. Traditional chiefs find new constitution disagreeable. UN Integrated Regional
Information, 18 August 2006

2. Swazi border protest: Union leaders acquitted (Johannesburg), SAPA
22 August 2006.

3. Southern Africa gripped by poverty, AIDS, erratic weather. Johannesburg, 9
August 2006 (World Food Programme).

4. Multiple partners fueling AIDS, 16 August 2006 (Reuters).

5. SADC investment protocol welcomed. SABC News, 22 August 2006.

6. From the region: Gabriel Nahimana, Can regional integration really save
Africa? 12 August 2006 (Taipei Times/ Project Syndicate).

7. Crisis in Swaziland trade union federation: The culture of traditional
leaders does not belong to a progressive labour movement. Press statement on
crisis in Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), 16 August 2006.

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1. Traditional chiefs find new constitution disagreeable. UN Integrated Regional
Information, 18 August 2006.

Swaziland's chiefs have condemned the new constitution as a plot by political
progressives to "steal the country" from them.

At a gathering of traditional leaders, called this week by the country's
executive monarch, King Mswati, chiefs discussed the new constitution, which
includes a Bill of Rights permitting freedom of assembly and speech, among
others.

Mswati's signing of a new constitution earlier this year, according to some
analysts, has indirectly legalised political parties by overturning a 1973
royal decree that effectively banned them.

"The constitution is open to huge abuse. We have noted that some cabinet
ministers and MPs [members of parliament] are plotting to topple the King
through this constitution. This is a serious cause for concern to us, as
chiefs," said Chief Magudvulele, of KaNdwandwa chiefdom in the northern Hhohho
Region.

This apparent loophole in the constitution has seen Sive Siyinqaba ('the nation
is a fortress'), formed as a cultural organisation in 1996, reborn as a
political party this month, with an eye on the 2008 parliamentary elections.

The legality of political parties is steeped in confusion. Swaziland's Prime
Minister Themba Dlamini said in a statement that political parties remain
illegal.

Although Chief Magudvulele did not specify the individuals involved in the
alleged treason conspiracy, observers deduced he was referring to Sive
Siyinqaba.

Most of the country's nearly 350 chiefs attended the meeting, where some viewed
the concept of human rights as an affront to traditional Swazi custom. "These
human rights, I am afraid, are trampling on what is genuinely Swazi, and that
should be a cause of concern for all of us," Chief Gija Dlamini, of the Nkamazi
chiefdom, told the gathering.

Prince Mangaliso Dlamini, the king's brother, who led the five-year
Constitutional Review Commission, criticised the chiefs for not taking part in
the consultative process before the constitution was drafted, led by justice
and constitutional affairs minister Prince David Dlamini, another of Mswati's
brothers.

In their submissions the chiefs highlighted the rift between traditional
authorities, whose power holds sway over a majority of the country's one
million people, and the progressive elements embodied in the constitution, such
as the rights bill.

Mswati assured the chiefs, through his representatives, that their powers would
not be diminished by the constitution.

Swaziland's chiefs hold hereditary positions that fall under a parallel national
constitution called Swazi Law and Custom. These customary laws have not yet been
transcribed, despite repeated attempts over the past ten years. The delay is
attributed to an absence of unified opinion as to what actually constitutes
Swazi customs and traditions.

A government development officer told IRIN that "chiefs see the constitution as
a threat to their power. To them, human rights mean human independence, which
they also see as a threat to their authority".

However, not all chiefs were hidebound traditionalists - some were educated and
socially progressive, and willing to take risks for the benefit of their
subjects. "It's a matter of educating the chiefs, which is what the King has
begun with this meeting of chiefs," the officer said.
Prior to promulgation of the constitution, chiefs could evict any resident who
engaged in political activity, and some chiefs maintain that this right stands,
in light of the prime minister's statement that political parties remain banned.

The chiefs have authority over about 80 percent of the population because they
reside on communal Swazi Nation Land controlled by the chiefs.
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2. Swazi border protest: Union leaders acquitted (Johannesburg), SAPA
22 August 2006.

Five labour leaders were found not guilty of public violence by the Pongola
Regional Court on Tuesday after they were arrested at a demonstration at the
Swaziland border in April, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)
said.

They were: Cosatu's first deputy president, Joe Nkosi, Cosatu's KwaZulu-Natal
secretary Zet Luzipo; second deputy president of the National Union of
Metalworkers of South Africa, Cedric Gina; second deputy president of the
National Health, Education and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) Mzwandile
Makwayba, and Nehawu's treasurer Trabir Badal.

"They were arrested when they approached the South African Police Service to try
to help resolve problems which had arisen at the border demonstration," said
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven.

"Yet they were then arrested, taken to the police station and charged with
public violence."

The demonstration, at Golela, was in support of human rights and trade union
freedom in Swaziland.

On Thursday, 21 Cosatu members will appear in court in Nelspruit following
another demonstration on the same day -- April 12 -- at the Malelane border
post.

Police opened fire on demonstrators, injuring eight of them, according to
Cosatu.

"Cosatu has demanded a top-level investigation into the conduct of the police at
the border posts, to establish exactly what happened and who was responsible for
the violence and the arrests."

The protests commemorated Swazi King Sobhuza II's instituting 33 years ago of a
state of emergency still in force now. Political parties are also banned in the
kingdom.

Cosatu condemned the police action, saying it reminded them of the tactics of
apartheid police.

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3. Southern Africa gripped by poverty, AIDS, erratic weather. Johannesburg, 9
August 2006 (World Food Programme).


The costs of funerals and medicines are contributing to southern Africa's dire
food situation, with three million people facing shortages, the World Food
Programme (WFP) said.
Despite harvests improving in southern Africa, the effects of poverty and
erratic weather conditions were compounded by the most vulnerable people having
to battle HIV/AIDS, said the WFP's latest national food security and
vulnerability report. Southern Africa has the world's highest incidence of the
disease.

According to WFP spokesperson Patricia Lucas, "The poor's assets are being used
to cover the costs of medicines and funerals," taking already meagre resources
for seeds and equipment from poor households surviving on subsistence
agriculture.?

In many cases these households were still recovering from the erratic weather
conditions of the past few years, which had trapped them in a cycle of extreme
poverty.

Uneven rain distribution in Swaziland brought cereal production down to 81,000
tonnes, about 114,000 tonnes short of the tiny kingdom's consumption
requirement, WFP said. The country has been a net importer of food since
independence in 1968, and has never achieved food production of more than 49
percent of its annual consumption requirement.

Over 40 percent of the sexually active adult population is HIV-positive, and the
pandemic's effect was also preventing the transfer of agricultural skills from
one generation to the next.

The WFP's Junior Farmer Field and Life School, which began in Swaziland this
year, aims to equip children as young as 12 years with the necessary
agricultural skills for food production. With the number of HIV/AIDS orphans
and child-headed families increasing, the initiative aimed to fill the skills
gap left by the premature death of parents. Lucas said five pilot projects with
25 students each were "proving very successful".

The junior farmer project is also running in Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.

In Angola there was at least a US$5 million donor shortage of funds, which was
"threatening a complete suspension of food distributions". WFP had already
instituted a system of half-rationing in some areas, and about 800,000 people
would require food or non-food assistance until at least the next harvest in
May 2007.

Four years of peace in the oil- and diamond-rich nation have yet to overcome the
legacy of three decades of civil war. Poor infrastructure and uncleared
minefields complicated food assistance operations, with expensive air transport
still being used to support some communities.

Peace has led to an increase in prospecting by diamond and oil companies,
bringing an improvement in infrastructure to some areas, where companies built
road networks to improve access to their operations.

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4. Multiple partners fueling AIDS, 16 August 2006 (Reuters).


In Swaziland they are called "lishendes" - multiple concurrent sexual partners -
and they are the driving factor behind the HIV epidemic in southern Africa, said
researchers yesterday at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Instead of casual sexual encounters with multiple partners, established
partnerships outside of marriage are fuelling a generalised epidemic in
southern African countries. These partnerships often involve inconsistent
condom use and occur in the context of low rates of male circumcision.

"In southern Africa and a country like Swaziland we're talking about a very
generalised epidemic," said Dr Daniel Halperin of the US Agency for
International Development's Southern Africa HIV-AIDS Program in Mbabane,
Swaziland.

Dr Halperin described the HIV infection rate in Swaziland as "astonishingly
high". The prevalence rate for the general adult population was 33.4 per cent
in 2005.

Multiple concurrent sexual partnerships are a main driver of the generalised
epidemic in Swaziland, Dr Halperin said. These partnerships are not casual
sexual encounters or polygamy, but are instead longer-term relationships
outside of marriage.

"Data worldwide consistently shows that people with a higher number of partners
have a higher prevalence of HIV," Dr Halperin said. Partner reduction can be
one important element of HIV prevention but it's not the only factor to
consider.

Men in countries like Thailand and the United States report more lifetime sexual
partners than men in some African countries, but have a lower prevalence rate of
HIV infection.
The problem is not that Africans have more sexual partners, Dr Halperin said,
but that concurrent partnerships lead to villages becoming linked up in sexual
networks, aiding the spread of the virus. Having two or three regular sexual
partners leads to an increase in the risk of HIV infection.

A large majority of those who responded to a baseline survey of 2000 adults in
12 randomly selected communities - done before the start of a sexual behaviour
communication campaign in Swaziland - agreed that lishendes were common or very
common in their communities.

During the study, many respondents said that multiple partnerships were harmful
to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Females in particular felt that choosing to have
only one sexual partner at a time was important for prevention and the fight
against HIV/AIDS in Swaziland?

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5. SADC investment protocol welcomed. SABC News, 22 August 2006.

The association of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chambers of
Commerce and Industry cautiously welcome the signing of the finance and
investment protocol by leaders of the 14-member regional trading bloc in
Lesotho's capital Maseru last week Friday.

Through the implementation of the trade protocol and the regional macro-economic
policies, SADC member states intend establishing a Free Trade Area by 2008, a
Customs Union by 2010, the common market by 2015, and the monetary union by
2016.

SADC which has a 200 million strong market has embarked on a number of
initiatives aimed at modernising its customs procedures and remove bottle-necks
on intra-regional trade in order to achieve targets for the creation of a Free
Trade Area in 2008.

The regional leadership has moved in to expedite the process of harmonisation of
customs legislation and procedures in member countries, including improved
transit flows. This is also aimed at preparing for the smooth transition to the
SADC Customs Union by 2010. But, there are fears that other countries might find
it difficult to be deprived of tariff income which is essential to their single
commodity economies. Victor Mathale, the head of New Partnership for Africa's
Development (Nepad's) private sector unit, concurs.

Regional trade liberalisation

Mathale said: "Countries have to forego some monetary value. Because these
customs mean revenue to the state. So even if you allow free movement, you must
do it in such a way that whatever you promote, whatever the duties they have to
pay somewhere, they need to be compensated."

Zodwa Mabuza, the Chief Executive Officer of the Swaziland Employers and Chamber
of Commerce, has in the meantime argued that governments over- reliance on
custom duties often stalls the process of regional trade liberalisation.

"I'll make an example of Swaziland where more than 50% of our revenue comes from
the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenue pool. That's not sustainable.
If we want free trade, we have to look at other sources of revenue and also
allow free movement of goods within our countries," he added.

Note: The Swazi Observer, 22 August 2006, quoting Prime Minister Themba Dlamini:
?We support the protocol but didn?t sign the agreement... As a country,
there are major consultations we have to go through before signing such
agreements.? Angola and Zimbabwe also failed to sign the finance and
investment protocol.

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6. From the region: Gabriel Nahimana, Can regional integration really save
Africa? 12 August 2006 (Taipei Times/ Project Syndicate).

During the last quarter-century, global economic growth has soared, but Africa
continued to lose ground. Indeed, the continent's share of world exports fell
from 4.6 percent in 1980 to 1.8 percent in 2000, and its share of world imports
declined from 3.6 percent to 1.6 percent over the same period.

Africa's share of global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) also fell,
from 1.8 percent in 1986-1990 to 0.8 percent in 1999-2000. Can regional
economic groupings, such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), help increase
trade and bolster growth?

Overall trade flows in southern Africa fell from US$131.1 billion in 2002 to
US$112.3 billion in 2003, with South Africa -- one of only three countries in
the region that recorded current-account surpluses -- accounting for 65 percent
of the total. Whereas South Africa's foreign trade almost doubled between 1994
and 2002, exports from, say, Malawi to Tanzania or from Mozambique to Zambia
remained negligible, despite their geographic proximity.

The low level of intraregional trade, despite the SADC and COMESA, reflects
several factors, including a range of non-tariff barriers -- mainly
communications and transport problems, customs procedures and charges, and a
lack of market information. Moreover, in the past, southern African countries
put their faith in protectionism and import substitution policies. Relying on
"infant economy" arguments, major exports were restricted and legal obstacles
were erected against foreign participation in the development of natural
resources, as well as financial and other services, further impeding regional
integration.

Nowadays southern African countries are committed to reinforcing their regional
integration through economic harmonization. A regional plan approved in August
2003 in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania's capital, by the SADC focuses on promoting
trade, economic liberalization and development as a means of facilitating the
establishment of an SADC common market. This requires completing the formation
of a free-trade area, with 85 percent of SADC trade to be liberalized in 2008,
and 100 percent in 2012.

A common market -- including harmonized policies for free movement of factors of
production -- will enhance competitiveness, industrial development and
productivity. However, protocols and political treaties are not sufficient to
boost integration. The major barrier is the region's great diversity in
economic and institutional development. The SADC's regional plan establishes a
timeframe for policy implementation over the next 15 years that takes these
constraints into account, focusing on macroeconomic policies, debt problems and
establishing a stable and secure investment climate.

Macroeconomic policy harmonization is needed to ensure that changes in one SADC
member country do not adversely affect economic activity elsewhere. The new
initiative calls for all member states to harmonize their economic, fiscal and
monetary policies completely, beginning with currency convertibility and
followed by exchange-rate unification and, finally, a common currency.

Several currencies have attained some measure of regional convertibility, which
should encourage monetary harmonization and promote intraregional trade, as
countries' trade flows shift from partners that require payment in foreign
currency.

A form of monetary harmonization in southern Africa already exists between South
Africa and Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, whose currencies are traded at par
with the South African rand. The Reserve Bank of South Africa implements
monetary policy after consultation with the other countries' central banks.
Despite tight monetary policy and foreign exchange regulations, the scheme has
boosted trade and investment while reducing intraregional indebtedness.

But debt remains a grave challenge for southern Africa as a whole. The region's
total aggregate external debt stood at US$75.6 billion in 2003, up from US$56.6
billion in 2000, with Angola, Mozambique and South Africa accounting for 75.9
percent of the total. Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia owe an average of
150 percent of their GDP, and servicing the debt swallows billions of dollars
annually.

Moreover, SADC has faced a sharp decline in FDI inflows, which fell from US$9.8
billion in 2001 to US$3 billion in 2003. This is attributable mainly to Angola,
Botswana and Namibia, owing to cyclical investment behaviour in the petroleum
and extraction industry, and to South Africa, where privatization and
acquisitions activity have slowed. Indeed, South Africa and Angola alone
accounted for 73 percent of the region's inward FDI in 2003.

For southern Africa -- indeed, for the continent as a whole -- global
competitiveness requires diversification to higher value-added and manufactured
exports. In order to attract the FDI needed to achieve this, southern African
countries have enacted laws aimed at encouraging greater private sector
participation, with special emphasis on foreign investment. But, despite these
efforts, FDI inflows in the region (excluding South Africa) remain too low to
have a significant economic impact.

This reflects the real and perceived risks associated with investment in the
region. Southern Africa's leading economies must therefore make every effort to
promote regional integration. Removing all trade barriers, as called for by
SADC's plan, would enable them to take full advantage of the region's abundant
natural resources and point the way toward deeper global integration for all of
Africa.

Gabriel Nahimana is economic affairs officer for the UN's Economic Commission
for Africa.
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7. The culture of traditional leaders does not belong to a progressive labour
movement. Press statement on crisis in Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions
(SFTU).

Issued by the Swaziland National Association of Civil Servants (SNACS),
Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA), Swaziland Transport & Allied Workers Union
(STAWU) and Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Unions (SATU) on the COSATU fact
finding mission in Swaziland, 16 August 2006.

The undersigned unions have had the opportunity to reflect on the draft report
prepared by the COSATU fact finding mission that came to Swaziland towards the
end of 2005 to collect information on the on-going crisis within the Swazi
labour movement in general and the SFTU in particular. We thus conclude as
follows:

COSATU?s draft report generally gives a true reflection of the crisis within
the SFTU and even on its relations with the suspended unions and other
progressive organizations. The report emanates from interviews with credible
progressive organizations in the country and is not out of COSATU?s own
imagination.

We unreservedly support COSATU?s fact-finding mission into the affairs of the
SFTU as this act demonstrated international trade union solidarity in practical
terms. ?Phela seyibhajwe eludzakeni iSFTU, idzinga kutakululwa masinyane!?

Since when has the SFTU leadership started viewing COSATU as an ?intruder?
into their affairs? Why have they been calling on COSATU solidarity all along?
Is this not hypocrisy at its best? The SFTU leadership is now using the very
same strategy of the Tinkhundla regime, which is to demonize proponents and
defenders of democratic practice as ?unSwazi? and therefore alien to our
country!! Is it coincidental that the SFTU leadership suddenly aligns itself
with the views of a government regime it has all along been criticizing?

What is it that the COSATU fact-finding mission would expose which the SFTU
leadership would rather keep tightly wrapped under the carpet? We believe that
power and an infinite access to workers? resources are the major bone of
contention here. The SFTU leadership feels threatened by what the mission would
potentially reveal and would do anything not to lose their grip on power and
resources even if it means fighting against progressive efforts to build a
stronger federation.

The SFTU leadership should deal with the internal problems and challenges facing
it and refrain from diverting attention and being in denial. These problems have
plagued the SFTU for many years but have not been resolved because the
leadership lacks the will to do so. In early 1990?s the SFL broke away from
the SFTU due to the same problems; recently we have seen unions being suspended
for raising concerns with the operations of the federation. Furthermore, we
always ask ourselves why SNAT has always opted to be ?independent? and not
affiliate to the SFTU. Why does their marriage of convenience only exist during
May Day and perhaps when there is a concerted effort to sabotage a progressive
move such as the April 12 Border Blockade?

The problems ravaging the SFTU include:

Lack of internal democracy;

A highly personalized organizational structure where an individual becomes the
organization;

Lack of accountability on mandates and poor financial management;

Lack of cadreship development and vibrant internal debates;

Lack of progressive information and understanding of issues amongst the rank
file hence their inability to take charge of the organization;

Suppression and ?demonization? of differing views, particularly those
associated with radical politics.

We the unions (SNACS, SNA, STAWU and SATU) cited in the draft report of COSATU
publicly declare our ownership of the contents of the report as a true record
of our submissions during the mission?s stay in Swaziland.

There is a genuine need for a strong revolutionary labour movement in Swaziland
to mobilize and lead workers around popular campaigns; to provide vanguard
leadership and a clear ideological focus and to establish maximum unity across
the entire Swazi working class. Clearly, the SFTU in its current form is
nowhere nearer to achieving this objective. We have taken the position that our
country needs only one giant workers federation that merges the two and draws
into it the so-called independent unions like SNAT.

The events of July 27 2006 at the Swazi Can Factory in Malkerns are just one
clear indicator of the problems plaguing the SFTU in which case the leadership
had to run for their safety after workers felt betrayed and bayed for their
blood! Obviously these workers were not influenced by any outsider but by the
anger at being ?sold out? by those who claim to have their interests at
heart. An insidious cancer is ravaging the SFTU from within and it is the
cancer of a lack of transparency and accountability as well as lack of worker
control. This fact is manifesting itself in various forms. Stopping a COSATU
mission will not solve this problem in the long term!

Finally, we call upon all progressive trade unions in our country to work
towards achieving the goal of ?one industry one union, one country one
federation.? This will require true cadres who shall rise beyond
hero-worshipping leaders. Workers must stop this habit of being praise-singers
and cheerleaders of people who have long outlived their usefulness in the trade
union movement. The culture of traditional leaders does not belong to a
progressive labour movement. No leader should be in office for life! Leaders
must be continuously produced to avoid the reactionary tendency of cult
personalities who reign above the organization; are sensitive to criticism and
very toxic to progress.


Yours in struggle,
NOAH DLAMINI (SNACS), ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL.
BHUTANA NKONDE (STAWU), SECRETARY GENERAL.
NATHI KUNENE (SNA), DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL.
FRANK MNCINA (SATU), SECRETARY GENERAL

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