Afrikas sidste enevældige monark vil ikke bindes af krav om menneskerettigheder – imens fortsætter nedturen i det lille land mellem Sydafrika og Mozambique
MBABANE, 26 September 2011 (IRIN) – South Africa recently granted a 350 million US dollar bailout to Swaziland’s King Mswati III – following desperate overtures to his neighbour to stave-off his kingdom’s financial meltdown.
But the king has now cooled to the idea and left the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) unsigned and the loan in limbo.
The first tranche (sum) of the three-tranche loan was scheduled to be released in August 2011, but among the loan conditions were “confidence-building measures” on democracy, human rights and fiscal reform, as well as the “overhaul of its budgetary systems”.
These vague conditions were dismissed by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country’s largest union federation and alliance partner to South African President Jacob Zuma’s ruling ANC government, as giving “breathing space for the regime,” and not “serious” in inducing a democratic transition, while pro-democracy activists in Swaziland dismissed it out of hand as a “betrayal” of the Swazi people.
Nevertheless, king Mswati’s government is reportedly trying to source additional finance from non-traditional sources of revenue such as Qatar and Kuwait, but as these efforts proceed so the country sinks further into the financial quagmire (morads).
The impact of the current financial crisis is severe and according to the World Food Programme, annual production of the staple maize since 2000 has gradually dropped – from an average of 100.000 tons to about 70.000 tons – a consequence of erratic weather, high input and fuel costs, HIV/AIDS and the declining use of “improved agricultural practices”.
Stocks of antiretrovirals (livsforlængende medicin mod aids) have become alarmingly low and were reportedly standing at one month’s supply. Swaziland has the world’s highest prevalence, with one in four Swazis aged 15-49 HIV-positive and about 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
Dimpho Motsamai, a researcher in the Africa Conflict Prevention Programme at the Pretoria-based think-tank the Institute for Security Studies, told IRIN South Africa’s loan “was small and will be quickly absorbed” and the government needed to look for other financing opportunities.
However, the MOU (memorandum) created the impression in Swaziland the country was being “dictated to” and issues of sovereignty and patriotism had reared their heads.
– The government does not fully appreciate the magnitude of the fiscal crisis, the potential for a social crisis and the need for dialogue… They think it is just about money and think it will be fine if they get a loan as it will address the liquidity crisis. It is a band aid approach… But it is not about money. It is about governance (god regeringsførelse), Motsamai said.
The Swazi government has opaque (uigennemskuelige) accounting systems of its spending and has approved multi-million dollar vanity projects such as the Sikhuphe International Airport.
It also has a free-spending and unaudited (ikke revisor-belagt) Royal Household, and there have been recent disclosures in the media that more than 10 million US dollar (ca. 55 mio. DKR) disappeared from government coffers each month.
A poorer government means more poor people Meanwhile, Circular No 1, 2010, provides politicians (from the prime minister to regional administrators) with numerous perks (frynsegoder) – from entertainment allowances to their water, rates and electricity bills being paid.
The public sector wage bill is difficult to assess, as the budget for the security personnel is withheld for “security reasons” as are payments for an indeterminate number of traditional authorities.
“Double standards”
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