Demokrati-forkæmpere er oprørte over, hvad de anser for skjulte lån til Swazi-kongens styre, mest for at sikre stabilitet i det sydlige Afrika.
South Africa is sneaking 2,4 billion Elangeni (320 million US dollar) to Swaziland to help it shore up its ailing economy so that the small Southern african kingdom does not have to instigate (indføre) political reforms, a Swazi campaigning group claimed.
Swaziland asked South Africa for the loan last August (2011), but the deal stalled because Pretoria wanted financial and political reforms as conditions. King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, put the block on the loan because he would not hold talks about unbanning political parties in his kingdom.
Now, the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) says the loan money is being channelled into Swaziland disguised as cash from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). This way Swaziland gets the money without reforms by King Mswati, the group claims.
Swaziland is due to get about 7,1 billion Elangeni (den lokale møntfod) in 2012-13 from SACU. This is up from the 2,9 billion Swaziland got in the financial year just ended. SACU receipts are based on the amount of trade done in Southern Africa.
But SCCCO says 7,1 billion Elangeni is more than Swaziland should get based on trade expected over the next 12 months.
The Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa reported Archbishop, Meshack Mabuza, chair of SCCCO, saying his group suspected there had been deliberate over-estimation so that extra funds could be released to Swaziland without questions being asked.
“We believe these estimates are over-inflated in order to give the R2.4 billion to Swaziland without any political or fiscal conditions”, the Mail and Guardian reported him saying.
‘We just do not see how with the current economic climate being so weak that regional imports are going to grow so rapidly”, he added.
Mabuza stated that, “It just seems very suspicious that Swaziland should be getting so much more this year”.
Budget estimates for Swaziland over the next three years forecast a 200 million Elangeni surplus for 2012-13 followed by deficits (underskud) of 1,9 billion in 2013-14 and 1,7 billion in 2014-15 – suggesting that the amount of money Swaziland receives from SACU in 2012-13 will not be repeated in the following years.
South Africa’s Treasury spokesperson Bulelwa Boqwana told the Mail and Guardian the SCCCO’s claim was “factually incorrect” and added the payment had been approved by a Council of Ministers [trade and finance] from the five Sacu member countries.
Nyt samlet LO på vej i Swaziland
Meanwhile, a new Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) will be officially launched this weekend (10 – 13 March 2012).
The new group is expected to discuss how to step up its campaign for democracy in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Major protests are expected in April and May this year.
TUCOSWA, which will have about 50.000 members, is an amalgamation (sammensmeltning) of the existing Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL). It is hoped that the new group will enable trade unionists in Swaziland to speak with a single voice.
Also at the launch meeting will be the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) – one of the strongest unions in the kingdom and one of the most vocal in its opposition to the ruling monarch.
There are fears that the Swazi police might disrupt the meeting which is expected to discuss demands for democracy and economic reform.
Last weekend police in Siteki, a small town in Swaziland, forced the abandonment of a rally by TUCOSWA at a market. Police said organisers did not have permission for the rally and claimed it constituted a ‘health hazard’ at the market.
Among guests at the opening at the Esibayeni Lodge in Matsapha this weekend will be the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), South African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC) and the African Chapter of the International Trade Union Congress (ITU-AFRO).
See also
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/03/swazilands-sacu-cash-mystery.html
Kilde: Swaziland Newsletter 9 March 2012
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Africa Contact, Denmark (www.afrika.dk) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland – free of charge.
