Swaziland Newsletter 46
Published by Southern Africa Contact (Denmark)

Earlier issues can be read at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/SAK-Swazinewsletter together with documents
and other materials not included in the regular newsletter. If you wish to
subscribe to the newsletter, please send mail to:
SAK-Swazinewsletter-subscribe@... See photo section on the land,
life and struggle of the Swazi people.
_____________________

1. National economic policy remains the preserve of the elite. Reuters
AlertNet, 18 January 2007.

2. China in Africa. Taiwan in Swaziland. Reuters / Mail & Guardian (SA), 9
January 2007.

3. Swaziland workers, be aware! Huge increases in net profits in sugar
industry. Margie Inggs, Business Report (Johannesburg), 15 January 2007
(Excerpt).

4. A whole societal shift in sexual behaviours needed to curb spread of HIV in
Africa. Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report (Financial Times), 19 January 2007.

5. From the region: Henning Melber, International competitiveness at the
expense of strengthening the local economy: what future for the Southern
African
Development Community (SADC)? AfricaFiles, 3 January 2007.

6. Solidarity: Willie Madisha, president, Congress of South African Trade
Unions (COSATU) - Address to 6th General Congress of PUDEMO (Swaziland).

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1. National economic policy remains the preserve of the elite. Reuters
AlertNet, 18 January 2007.

An umbrella body of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) says Swaziland's
"weak" civil society is hampering efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in
the country.

"The country's weak civil society voice, coupled with citizen apathy, made
glaring the fact that [in 2006] the Swaziland government and the private sector
lacked an effective civil society partner for the country to effectively address
these daunting challenges," said the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental
Organisations (CANGO) in a recent analysis measuring spending priorities
against humanitarian needs in the government budget.

Citing key challenges facing the small, landlocked country in 2007, CANGO listed
poverty, HIV/AIDS, food security, governance, employment, corruption and
gender-based violence.

Two-thirds of the country's roughly 1 million people live on US$2 or less day,
and the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS has reached 34.2 percent among people aged
15 to 49, the highest in the world. The eastern Lubombo region, hard hit by
drought since 2001, and the underdeveloped Shiselweni region in the south of
the country are experiencing food shortages.

The 24-year-old umbrella group's membership of 70 associated NGOs covers the
gamut of social issues: child abuse, population control, women's empowerment
and the elderly; groups devoted to the welfare of ex-prisoners, traditional
healers, youth and orphans; and social service organisations like the Boy
Scouts and the Salvation Army.

Unlike Swaziland's trade unions and banned political organisations, the NGOs
seek dialogue and partnership rather than confronting the government. Part of
the reason for the less-than-flourishing partnership between NGOs, the
government and the private sector has been a sense of distrust between the
parties, and a lack of capacity in most activist organisations.

"We believe that grassroots groups, which for years have focused on particular
social ills, have garnered expertise and experience that would be valuable in
national policy-making, and the execution of those policies. But NGOs are
frustrated by this feeling - it's more than a feeling, actually - that
government does not see them as equal partners," said an official of the
Council on Smoking, Alcohol and Drug Dependence (COSAD), a longstanding CANGO
member.

According to CANGO Executive Director Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, "A strong and
sustained civil society voice is required to address national challenges.
Through effective citizen participation in governance, monitoring of national
strategies, policies and programmes, and engaging policy and legislation, NGOs
and civil society could effectively lobby the government to address
challenges."

However, the conservative royal government is suspicious of NGOs, which have
been critical of national governance. "Who are these groups? Where do they come
from? We know their financing comes from abroad. Some of these groups are
foreign organisations working in Swaziland. What is their agenda?" a
traditional authority asked IRIN during an interview.

The NGOs have responded that their sole interest is the benefit of Swazis. The
problem seems one of defining which constituency takes priority - the commoners
or the elite - in a country where 69 percent of the population live in chronic
poverty.

In its analysis of the budget, CANGO found that spending priorities were not
geared to improving the lives of the impoverished Swazi majority. "National
economic policy, particularly the national budget, even though it directly
affects the poor, remains the preserve of the elite," said CANGO's
Ndlangamandla.
This was borne out during the week, when the nation's elderly were told they
would again not receive their monthly pensions, while cabinet officials were
granted a four percent pay hike.

"The budget process in Swaziland is shrouded in secrecy, non-participation and
lack of information from civil society. The government bases the current
allocation on assumptions of what the people's needs and desires are, not their
preferences," the CANGO report stated.

Emphasising pro-growth, pro-poor national spending, CANGO called on government
to embrace a doctrine of fiscal transparency and accountability, and institute
performance audits to ensure ministries were implementing policy decisions. The
report pointed to poor infrastructure in rural areas, where 80 percent of Swazis
reside, and called for a shift in spending priorities that would include more
funds allocated to education and health.

CANGO criticised government for signing international agreements but failing to
implement them, such as legislation to ban child labour, and mechanisms to
allow a greater role for women in governance.

"The governance situation in Swaziland is wanting. The government has endorsed a
number of critical international protocols ... [but] has lost credibility in the
national, regional and international arena due to its inability to carry out
policy reforms to the end. The institutional framework and legal infrastructure
required for good governance are simply not there," the group reported.

Although the government has tacitly ceded the handling of some critical
humanitarian situations to civil society, such as the food crisis and tackling
HIV/AIDS, NGOs have suffered a drop in donor support, seriously curtailing
their operations.

"There has been a general decline in grant aid extended to the country during
the last few years. This is despite the continued poor economic performance,
high incidence of poverty, recurrence of natural calamities like drought, and
the HIV and AIDS scourge," CANGO reported.

"Accessing funds for development has remained a serious challenge for NGOs in
Swaziland, as donors continue to shun the country," Ndlangamandla said. "Some
of the NGOs have scaled down their programmes, whilst others are closing shop."
A lack of democratic reforms, transparency and accountability, and being
regarded as a middle-income country have kept many donors away.

CANGO felt a better partnership between civil society and government would allow
NGOs and others to press for the implementation of international accords,
reassuring donors.

Another thorny issue was the general lack of information, which has hampered
humanitarian relief planning efforts, and questions about the credibility of
official data. NGOs have vowed to improve data collection in the country.
"Evidence-based advocacy is critical, to enable civil society to effectively
influence policies," CANGO reported.

The umbrella body has set up a project to conduct research and surveys on
pertinent national policy issues, while enhancing the ability of its member
NGOs to undertake their own studies.

In 2005 the project delivered two research documents: one analysing the national
budget, and a situational analysis, 'Gender Based Violence in Swaziland',
commissioned by a partnership of United Nations agencies in collaboration with
the Gender Unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Although the analysis involved international rather than local humanitarian
groups, it demonstrated that similar collaborations between the government and
NGOs could be possible.

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2. China in Africa. Taiwan in Swaziland. Reuters / Mail & Guardian (SA), 9
January 2007.

China has dismissed a Taiwan accusation of buying diplomatic recognition in
Africa with $250-million in aid and loans.

Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, said Beijing had offered
five African nations aid, loans and debt write-offs during recent state visits,
highlighting tit-for-tat accusations of chequebook diplomacy between the
political rivals.

"Our relations with African countries are based on equality, mutual benefit and
respect," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao told a news
conference.

Taiwan and China say publicly they do not use economic means to win political
allies. China considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of Chinese territory rather
than as a country and forbids Chinese diplomatic partners from any official
dealings with the island.

But each side accuses the other of offering generous incentives, such as easy
loans and grants, to win diplomatic recognition from smaller, less developed
countries, which have a history of switching alliances when offered more aid.

"If compared to the past, it's obvious that the amount of money has increased a
lot," Wu Teh-yang, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry's acting director of African
affairs, said of China's efforts during the recent Africa trip.

During the trip, Chad and China signed deals worth $80-million, including aid.
China also agreed to give Guinea Bissau $60-million in agricultural loans,
forgive $30-million in debt to Benin and another $11-million in debt to the
Central African Republic, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said.

China's Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday China had donated "office supplies
and stationery" worth $64 000 to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Taiwan has formal diplomatic relations with two dozen countries, including four
in Africa. The oil-producing Saharan nation of Chad was formerly a fifth Taiwan
ally, but broke ties last summer and switched to China.

Taiwan has recently decided to make its own donations. It just pledged to Kenya,
Malawi and Swaziland medical aid for drought relief and poverty alleviation.
Kenya is in line for about $2-million worth of aid and Swaziland for
$2,85-million, Wu said.

Malawi and Swaziland are Taiwan diplomatic allies.


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3. Swaziland workers, be aware! Huge increases in net profits in sugar
industry. Margie Inggs, Business Report (Johannesburg), 15 January 2007
(Excerpt).


Last year's highlight for the sugar industry was the 25-year high in the world
sugar price, which peaked at $0.19 a pound (R3.04 a kilogram) in February,
giving a boost to all the milling companies and growers.

Although it has since dropped back to $0.112 a pound, it is still above last
year's average of $0.10 a pound. The sugar milling companies all produced
improved results in 2006.

Illovo Sugar, the biggest sugar producer in southern Africa, increased its net
profit for the six months to September by 98 percent to R327.9 million. The
dividend increased by 50 percent to 30c a share.

Tongaat-Hulett, the second-biggest sugar producer in the region, increased its
net profit for the six months to June by 48 percent to R320 million. The
dividend improved by 67 percent to R2 a share.

Crookes Brothers, an agricultural company with significant sugar interests,
increased its attributable profit for the six months to September by 38 percent
to R12.6 million. The dividend increased by 40 percent to 35c a share.

Trix Trikam, the executive director of the SA Sugar Association (Sasa), said the
world price had risen in response to a deficit in world production, especially
from the Indian crop, which was substantially lower over the past two years.

India normally produces 20 million tons of sugar a year of the world's 145
million tons, but last year the crop was down to about 13 million tons. Thai
and Australian crops were also down, partly because of the weather.

"This meant that there was a world deficit of 2 million to 3 million tons which,
because of supply and demand dynamics, pushed the price up," Trikam said.

However, with a recovery in Thai and Indian crops and expansion in Brazil, the
world's biggest producer, a surplus is once again expected, which has pushed
the price down.

On the side of the milling companies, 2006 was a year of exciting developments,
with the R3.8 billion takeover of 51 percent of Illovo Sugar by Associated
British Foods; Tongaat-Hulett's announcement of its acquisition of Anglo
American's 50.4 percent stake in Hippo Valley Estates in Zimbabwe for $36
million (R260 million).

Towards the end of the year, Tongaat-Hulett also released details of the Hulamin
unbundling and the empowerment deals in Hulamin and the Tongaat-Hulett Group.
The empowerment investors will acquire a 25 percent stake in Tongaat-Hulett and
a 15 percent stake in Hulamin.

After years of civil war, Mozambique's sugar industry is starting to revive and
is attracting interest from sugar companies outside its borders. Tongaat-Hulett
owns the Xinavane and Mafambisse cane estates and mills, and is planning a R1.3
billion investment to boost their output, which has risen from 36 000 tons of
sugar in 2001 to 125 000 tons last year.

Trikam said the high point of the year for Sasa was its 25 percent share of the
$10 million investment in the fourth silo of the Maputo sugar terminal,
together with the sugar associations of Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

The fourth silo will increase the terminal's storage capacity by 50 000 tons to
175 000 tons of sugar. The movement through the terminal could be doubled to 1
million tons a year.

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4. A whole societal shift in sexual behaviours needed to curb spread of HIV in
Africa. Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report (Financial Times), 19 January 2007.

An increasing number of health experts believe that there is a need to change
sexual behaviours, including a reduction in the number of sexual partners, to
reduce the spread of HIV in Southern Africa, the Financial Times reports.

Although a large amount of funding is directed toward HIV prevention programs,
"far less effort has gone into persuading people to change their" sexual
behaviors, according to the Times. "Prevention has concentrated on testing,
condoms, safe blood and mother-to-child transmission - things that fall easily
off bureaucrats' lips," Derek von Wissell, head of Nercha, Swaziland's official
National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS, said, adding, "Behaviour change
is the difficult side. It needs a whole societal shift."

Recent efforts in Swaziland and other African countries "reflect a new
determination to tackle" behaviour change - a "sensitive subject" that has
"long been politicized," the Times reports. In the U.S. and other countries,
the debate surrounding HIV prevention has become "polarized" around which
element of the ABC prevention method - which stands for abstinence, be faithful
and use condoms - "should receive priority," according to the Times.

"There was an immediate polarization between those saying condoms were evil and
those who argued that only condoms were good," Daniel Halperin of the Harvard
School of Public Health said. Halperin and some other public health experts
have said that while all three elements of the ABC method are important,
changing sexual behavior and partner reduction efforts have been the "neglected
middle child" in ABC. Ambassador Mark Dybul - who serves as the U.S. global AIDS
coordinator and administers the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -
said that a decrease in the number of men visiting commercial sex workers also
contributed to the reduction in HIV cases.

MOVEMENT TOWARDS BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Although there is "no single or satisfactory explanation" for why HIV prevalence
is higher in Southern Africa than the rest of the world, a "growing body of
evidence points to the predominant role of one aspect of sexual behavior" -
that men and women often have "concurrent sexual partners over months or
years," the Times reports.

This practice contributes to the spread of HIV because the virus' ability to be
transmitted peaks during the weeks after a person becomes infected, meaning
that an HIV-positive person with multiple partners can spread the virus quickly
to others. In addition, long-term sexual partners are less likely to use condoms
- increasing the likelihood that if one partner is HIV-positive, the virus will
be transmitted to the other.

The effect of such behaviors on the spread of HIV is beginning to be
acknowledged. A report presented last year at a conference convened by the
Southern African Development Community examined instances in which the number
of HIV cases appeared to be decreasing and linked these reductions to
successful behavior change programs in countries such as Kenya, Uganda and
Zimbabwe.
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5. Henning Melber, International competitiveness at the expense of
strengthening the local economy: what future for the Southern African
Development Community (SADC)? AfricaFiles, 3 January 2007.


The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) seems to emerge
increasingly as a type of mega-NGO to channel aid-funds into developmental
projects, which at best claim but in reality fail to be driven by a desire
towards enhanced regional collaboration. The programmes and policies funded
under NEPAD are implemented mainly by countries and not by regional bodies.
Hence NEPAD in effect more undermines than strengthens an agency such as SADC
(or any other regional institution).

This is a trend notwithstanding the fact that NEPAD attributes substantial
relevance to regional bodies when identifying ways and means to achieve the
defined socio-economic goals. NEPAD claims that its agenda is "based on
national and regional priorities and development plans", which ought to be
prepared "through participatory processes involving the people". So far,
however, no visible signs in the SADC would indicate that the collective
(multilateral) efforts aim at a united approach of the region in its relations
with the outside world.

Nor does NEPAD so far translate its noble aims into practical steps for
implementation. The blue print emphasises sub-regional and regional approaches
even under a separate sub heading. It stresses "the need for African countries
to pool their resources and enhance regional development and economic
integration - to improve international competitiveness".

But the crux of the matter lies there: the emphasis on international
competitiveness comes at the expenses of strengthening the local economy and
the local people. Instead, integration in Africa should as a priority meet the
socio-economic and environmental needs of its citizenries and not seek to turn
even more into an export platform.

NEPAD claims further to enhance the provision of essential regional goods as
well as the promotion of intra-African trade and investments, with another
focus on "rationalising the institutional framework for economic integration".
But again, such an approach neglects the local/internal in favour of the
global/external orientation. The implementation of NEPAD will hence most
likely have an adverse effect and assist in an increased outward orientation of
a regional bloc at the expenses of internal consolidation. It is interesting to
note in this context, that notwithstanding the decisive role of South Africa
within NEPAD, SADC has so far hardly acknowledged and certainly not embraced
the initiative.

DIVISIVE FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS

The Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and South Africa (EU-SA FTA)
negotiated since the mid-1990s, had a similarly divisive effect on the Southern
African region by entering into a preferential trade relation with one country
and thereby enhancing differences within the region resulting from existing
conflicts of interest among the national economies.

South Africa herself, the monetary zone, the South African Customs Union (SACU)
and SADC are already not in harmony and even less so given the effects of the
FTA on regional economic matters. Hence the EU intervention adds more friction.
The new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated between the countries
in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands (ACP states) on the one hand
and the EU on the other hand not only seek to replace the previous Cotonou
Agreement by means of sub-regional separate negotiations but also aim towards
compatibility between EU-ACP trade relations and the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). They are hence dependent upon the settlement of the Doha Development
Agenda's controversial and yet unresolved issues.

In addition, the negotiations by the EU aim at separate accords with each
region, and no country may negotiate in more than one bloc. As such, SADC is
reduced to seven member countries (half of the 14 SADC states) under the EPA
negotiations.

Countries may differ over the advantages between benefits from the continued
protection of regional arrangements or the creation of individual preferential
access within other trade agreements. But, if regionalism is considered as a
problem or obstacle towards further global harmonisation under the WTO, it
stands little chances of being a viable point of departure for strengthening in
particular the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the South within the global
trade arrangements.

Instead, the predictable outcome of the current negotiations under the WTO
related agreements will be a shrinking of "development space". To avoid such
in-egalitarian pseudo-partnerships, a shift in balance from the drive to
homogenize trading commitments to other states towards granting states
reasonable scope to choose appropriate levels of national protection is
required. A development strategy would therefore have to operate in a zone
where both internal as well as external integration reinforce rather than
undermine each other. Instead, issues of internal integration (including issues
of regional integration) have largely dropped out of the development agenda as
the gospel of the free trade paradigm dominates the discourse.

EU AND US AS PARTNERS?

The same limiting effects can be expected from the Free Trade Agreement between
SACU and the USA. The SACU-US FTA seems to promise nothing different from the
US-American African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which tends to separate
and divide instead of bringing African economies and interests closer. The
benefits from AGOA differ among African countries according to their resources.

Ironically, within those countries having been allocated a LDC status under AGOA
(receiving additional preferential treatment), external capital (from mainly
East Asian countries) has managed to exploit the opportunities created for
supplying the US market under preferential tax regimes with cheap textiles from
these countries. The by and large unqualified and underpaid workforce in the
local sweatshops is hardly reaping any benefits from this super exploitation.
Nor do these states, as initial investments and running costs for operations
are substantially subsidised with public revenue.

Such recent trends indicate less rather than more regional cooperation and
integration. Political and security interests might provide with increased
support by the G8 (the group of 8 most industrialised countries of the Northern
hemisphere) and the strengthening of initiatives towards closer regional
collaboration in reducing armed conflicts and securing more stability. Such
stability continues, however, to be perceived as regime security, in contrast
to a concept of human security. The latter would give primacy to human rights
in favour of the citizens and not preference to the governments in power.

Even if there were achievements in this direction, the multidimensionality and
heterogeneity of a region like Southern Africa is likely to persist and may
eventually increase. This does not prevent external support towards further
positive regional interdependence. But this requires more than merely the
opening up to the global economy. More so, it would have to re-visit matters of
regional economic collaboration and seek involvement of the majority of the
African population in these countries. The current initiatives by the EU and
the US under the WTO offer little to no promise to contribute to such a
desirable tendency, neither in SADC nor elsewhere.

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Henning Melber is Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala,
Sweden and has been Director of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit
(NEPRU) in Windhoek between 1992 and 2000.


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6. Willie Madisha, president, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU):
Address to 6th General Congress of PUDEMO (Swaziland). Excerpt.

"We salute the steadfastness of the Swazi people; political activists of
PUDEMO, workers and the youth in particular, who in the midst of intensified
state brutality, they have stood firm and faced the armed might of the state
with peaceful marches and mass demonstrations to rightfully demand what belongs
to them. We have and continue to share in your pains and are doing all in our
power to ensure that the crisis facing Swaziland are in the eyes of the world
and adequate attention is paid to this source of discomfort for all of us as
Africans, as we seek to part with the past of tyranny, poverty and
underdevelopment.

We follow with keen interests developments in your country, not because we are
intruders, but because our destiny is bound to your destiny. The intolerable
socio-economic and political conditions of life in Swaziland impact directly on
those of the people of South Africa and the whole region.

The alarming indicators as regards HIV and AIDS, the unemployment and poverty
rates, the massive retrenchment of workers and the generalized neo-liberal
restructuring of the economy compound the political suffering of the people.
The only thing we see recording sustained increase is a security budget that
reflects the growing insecurity of the Swazi state and its determined desire to
deal decisively with mass dissatisfaction and uprisings. Education and health
have suffered and state institutions are collapsing in our eyes, yet the world
watch with silent dismay.

We call on our own government to act now and act decisively in the interest of
the people of Swaziland and democracy for development in the continent. We
support the demands of the people and workers of Swaziland for;

- The unbanning of political parties and guaranteeing of the rights to free
expression, organization and holding of peaceful marches

- The unconditional return of all exiles and the immediate cessation of all
political hostilities against political activists and workers

- An immediate end to the brutal eviction of rural people from their land,
which consolidates the monopoly over land by the royal family regime

- The unconditional release of political prisoners and an end to the
intensified state brutality and arbitrary arrests of political activists for
exercising their rights to march peacefully

- The re-orientation of the Swazi police from being agents of a despot or a
royal private army into a professional force providing security to all Swazis
and not the tiny royal minority

We shall intensify our call in support of your demands, particularly the
following;

- Smart sanctions against the Swazi tinkhundla regime until the dawning of a
new and truly democratic era for Swaziland. In this sense, the royal family
regime should be isolated from all international forums until it accedes to the
democratic demands of the people

- Adoption of the process towards an all-inclusive and legitimate
constitutional process as outlined in your document, the way forward towards a
constituent assembly through a negotiated settlement, and emphasized by the
Road map to a new and democratic Swaziland

In this sense, we reiterate our belief that no constitution can claim to be
legitimate unless it is based on the will of the people; this is why we stand
by the people of Swaziland in their rejection of the royal constitution which
entrenches the absolute power of the monarchy

We continue to participate in the work of the Swaziland Solidarity Network as we
seek to mobilize all forces for democracy behind the cause of the Swazi people,
to the extent that we together organized a very successful border blockade as
we all can testify. This successful campaign, as expected, invited
unprecedented venomous attack from the Swazi state and their friends against
COSATU and the progressive movement in general.

However, COSATU remains unshaken in its firm conviction that it is not only in
the interest of Swazi people, but also in the best interests of South African
workers and people in general, as well as the whole region, that Swaziland
becomes democratic soon and join the community of prospering nations.

We share a common history - a history of struggle against plunder, oppression
and colonial dispossession".

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