Swazi gold keeps a kingdom alive?

FOR many Swazis, the dagga trade can mean the difference between life and death.

Poverty reaches new lows in the tiny landlocked country. The average Swazi will live to only 48 and 29% of children under five are stunted. According to US think-tank Freedom House, 66% of Swazis are unable to meet their basic food needs.

Dagga makes a difference. The powerful local variant of the drug is legendary among users in Europe and the US, to where it has been smuggled for decades. I n the past few years, insiders say, growing, harvesting and selling of the plant have become more organised and farmers have consolidated to set up semiformal operations.

About 40km off the main road in a corner of the country lives Mandla, who, by his own reckoning -and reputation -manages one of the biggest dagga operations in Swaziland. He says he owns four of his own fields of about 4ha each (“I invest in property“) and buys the harvested and dried dagga from about 20 other farmers in the area.

He is tall and wide with an impressive gut that hangs over his low-slung jeans. He is the unmistakable mnumzane (important man) in the area, a Swazi Marlon Brando complete with a steady gaze and low-toned, laconic speech.

He says he gets about R1,500 a kilogram and sells up to 200kg at each of the three annual harvests. His net income in a year reaches close to R1m, an unheard of fortune in that part of the world.

The operation has a few of the hallmarks of the cocaine trade in South America: there are guns, secret rendezvous and police on the payroll.

Mandla says his crops are protected day and night by armed guards until they are harvested.

“We use guns in the field. There are many stealing here.” But gratuitous violence is not part of this picture: “No, we never shoot someone. They fire up (into the sky).”

During the harvest, “many, many” people are employed to pick the plants and remove the tiny leaves from the dense flowers.

Siboniswa, my guide, says the owners of craft businesses around Swaziland that rely on the tourist trade complain that their workers disappear for days during the harvesting season. But it is easy to understand why they would take the risk.

In the most rural parts of the kingdom, where there is little or no formal economy and people live with no water or electricity, the crop has incalculable knock-on effects.

The money earned during harvesting season helps to send children to school and buys clothes, groceries and even a few luxuries. It also helps to stock the spaza shops and buy the ingredients to make umqombothi, the local beer that forms the basis for micro industries in the country’s most rural parts.

“There are some jobs, but the money is too small,” says Portia, a young woman sweeping the earth yard among bony dogs and a group of giggling children. They are lucky — at least they have an adult to look after them.

Because of its massive HIV rate — the highest in the world — Swaziland has an estimated 200,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

Aids has savaged families, leaving orphans to be cared for by relatives who are themselves struggling to survive.

Most of the people on the rutted dirt roads are dressed in rags. Whenever the deep gashes in the road slow vehicles to a crawl, the car is swarmed by groups of dry-skinned children, hands outstretched, giggling and calling “sweets, sweets”.

Once it is picked, the crop is dried in the shade for four days before being carried over rivers and through forests to the notoriously porous border fence with South Africa.

Here Mandla’s “many strong boys” who do the legwork are met by a car — one of Mandla’s — and the bags are taken to Johannesburg. Mandla says that once there, the dagga is delivered to a group of old friends, who pack it up and ship it out of the country to Europe and the US.

What about the police? “In Swaziland, the police are stupid. They don’t want money. In South Africa, if you have money, there’s no problem.” Mandla says his drivers never do the trip to Johannesburg with less than R15,000 in cash to pay their way out of any trouble with the authorities. But it is a different story in Swaziland, where the police are renowned for being virtually incorruptible.

The smaller farmers typically work in groups of four. If any one of them is arrested, their bail — which can be in excess of R4,000 — will be paid by their partners by the following day.

Mandla covers the bail for his own “people”. “Of course. I can’t leave them,” he says.

He says he has been caught many times — but he has a top lawyer on his payroll and so far he is still a free man.

The trade might be formalising, but dagga is not something many Swazis admit to using. Mandla scoffs at the suggestion. “I never smoke,” he says. When pressed, a few of the young men say they smoke insangu (hemp). But, given the choice, they would take a beer any day.

…
Investors get high on dagga

US investors are getting high on the soaring share prices of dagga companies this year after the US legalised sales in some states.

“The demand for marijuana is insatiable,” said Bruce Perlowin, a once jailed smuggler who is now running Hemp Inc, which is listed on the US Nasdaq exchange. “You have a feeding frenzy for the birth of a new industry.”

The legal dagga market, among the fastest growing in the US, is set to outstrip the cellphone market, say pundits.

Is South Africa missing a trick by not legalising dagga? Jeremy Acton — leader of the Dagga Party — is adamant the plant could be massively beneficial. “From the bottom to the top, the plant has enormous value,” he says.

And it is not just about getting high or helping with cancer. He says the seeds are nutritious, the stems can be chopped up and used to strengthen concrete, and the fibres can be used for carbon fibre technologies.

Petrol, methanol and plastic could also be made from the plant. And then there is the tourism aspect -people would come to indulge in the region’s dagga, the narcotic strength of which is celebrated worldwide. Acton says that dagga goes for about R2 a gram now, but its value could reach R350 a gram.

Were it legalised, the government could regulate the industry and bring it into the tax net. Dagga could then be taxed just as booze and cigarettes are now.

Rough estimates suggest the industry is worth more than R35bn a year. Legalising and regulating dagga would provide far greater oversight over the substance — allowing authorities to crack down on children using the drug.

In the US, the industry is 10 times the size of South Africa, which partly explains its legalisation. There, 18 states allow the medical use of dagga and 11 permit sales through pharmacies. Two states have legalised its recreational use. — Tina Weavind

…
Sticky business where crop is weed

SIBUSISO, 24, is barely visible in the dense foliage of his marijuana crop. He squats beside each plant, sprinkling a few tiny white balls of fertiliser at its base before carefully watering it with a bright green petrol tank modified as a watering can.

At about 100m², Sibusiso’s “garden” is not very big. Bigger ones of a few hectares often have a basic irrigation system.

The little plot is perhaps 50m from the main road, but the path to it is barely visible in the dense grass and bush and it takes a few tries before we find it.

The route winds and doubles back on itself and then abruptly ends in a “fence” of thorny branches dragged into place to deter cattle and redirect anyone who might stumble on to the path.

The plants, some 2m tall, are well disguised, but there is no disguising the potent smell. The plants stink.

And because of the sticky residue the plants give off, the smell only goes completely when you wash it off with intent.

Harvest time is in three weeks, says Sibusiso.

He expects the crop to bring in about R18,000, which will be split four ways — he manages the garden with three other young guys.

There is a harvest each season except in winter, which stunts growth even in this mild climate.

So what does his family think about his business? His mother knows, he says, but she never mentions it.

The others are happy. Sibusiso’s brothers are in school, he looks well fed, his clothes are in good nick and his shoes do not have holes.

Who buys it? “There are some South Africans” — a group of black and white men who order it and arrange when they will pick it up. Sibusiso and his friends — and some of their friends — harvest the plants, dry them and store the final product in buckets until it gets collected. Payment is in wads of cash.

 

http://www.bdlive.co.za/businesstimes/2014/05/11/swazi-gold-keeps-a-kingdom-alive

 

A little more about this intriguing country…

Almost the whole of the country can be seen from the summit of its highest mountain, the 1 863 metre high Emlembe, (“the place of the spider”). Emlembe lies on Swaziland’s western border and is one of the peaks of the granite range known as the uKhahlamba, (“the barrier”). To the west of this range lies the basin of the South African central plateau with its numerous rivers snaking their way to the distant sea. These rivers make the tiny country of Swaziland one of the best-watered areas in Africa. According to tradition, the Swazi people were part of a mass of migrating people, the Nguni, who moved down the coastal belt of Mozambique from the north. Political disturbances caused the mass to disintegrate and a small section of people led by their chief Ngwane wandered off on their own and stumbled into the area now known as the Kingdom of Swaziland. They named the country KaNgwane after their chief and called themselves the bantu baka Ngwane, the people of Ngwane. Most of the people settled in the southern areas of Swaziland. The settlers flourished in this beautiful land of rivers and rich alluvial soil surrounded by hills and mountains that were free of the pestilence of the tsetse fly that had caused so much illness and death in their former homeland.  When their chief died, they gave him a ceremonial burial in a forest known as emBilaneni (the hallowed place). His descendants thrived and as they increased in numbers, started spreading further north until they penetrated the fertile valley of the river they called uSuthu (dark brown). The small community of Tswana people were living on the banks of the river at the time, and was promptly dubbed the baSuthu (people of the dark brown river). This term later came to denote all related tribal groups scattered over the interior of South Africa who are collectively known today as the Sotho people.  The new settlers led by Ngwane’s grandson, Sobhuza, drove the original inhabitants away and made this area their new home. This was the time of the great leaders – Shaka in Zululand, Moshweshwe in Basotholand and Sobhuza in Swaziland. However, this was also the time of the devastating Mfecane/Difaqane Wars that would cause such turmoil and strife in southern Africa. Being a shrewd and ambitious leader, Sobhuza prudently shied away from the Zulus who were spreading death and destruction over the interior of the country. He married a Zulu woman and gave two of his daughters to Shaka as wives, thus avoiding confrontation with the Zulu king. In the meantime, he quietly set about building a nation of his own.  By the time of his death, he had subjected some 75 different clans to his rule. During the reign of his son, Mswazi, the first European traders and hunters began to filter into the country. They called the people Swazi after their chief. Mswazi’s son, Mbandzeni, was acknowledged and appointed king in 1875 by the ZAR, the Boer Transvaal Republic. In return, Mbandzeni ceded large portions of his territory to White immigrants. Partly for this reason, land became in short supply and some indigenous Swazi ended up living beyond the borders of their homeland in part of what is known today as the Province of Mpumalanga. Swaziland became an independent kingdom on 6 September 1968, after having been a British Protectorate for 66 years.

Internal Political and Social Organisation:  The central, political authority was vested in the king and his mother who performed the highest legislative, executive and judicial functions. However, this did not mean that they ruled as despots but rather that they filled the key positions in an extended hierarchy of political functionaries and local rulers. The king appointed his successor from among his sons but the choice was largely influenced by the ranking of the boy’s mother.  The king’s first wife was not necessarily the senior wife, as the king often married a senior wife later in life to make sure that the heir would be too young to question his father’s authority in his own lifetime. Swazi clans were graded according to the relationship they had with the Swazi royal family, the Nkosi Dlamini. These clans were followed in seniority by the clans known as the “bearers of kings”, those senior clans from whom the king’s wives came. In a further subdivision, clans were divided into lineage groups called sifunza.  Everyday Life:  The Swazi are primarily of Nguni stock and, like the Zulu and Xhosa, had a deep sense of family commitment. Large, close-knit families were the norm of the day and every household formed a separate unit. Farming and tending the livestock were everyday affairs followed by much socialising in the evenings after work.  Gender Roles:  The Swazi male was the indisputable head of the home and all the women in the household, wives as well as daughters and daughters-in-law, honoured him. As cattle always represented a man’s wealth, it was thus the responsibility of the boys and the men to take care of the cattle. Women were expected to hoe the fields, carry out domestic duties and keep the family home in good condition  Personal Adornment:  The Swazi are very conscious of their personal appearances and take great pains to adorn themselves. In earlier times, Swazi youths would spend many hours bleaching their hair with carbolic soap and water. They would then follow this ritual by tying feathers, skins, beads and colourful handkerchiefs around their arms and carrying special beaded “love letters” on their person.  Art and Crafts:  Beaded love letters are characteristic of both the Swazi and Zulu cultures. When a girl grew up and fell in love, she would set out to “write” her sweetheart a love letter in which she could express her hopes and desires. This “letter” was made of beads, each individual bead expressing a specific meaning linked to its colour, but each also representing a specific letter. The overall pattern could express complete thoughts. Young men cherished such letters and could not be persuaded to part with them.  Traditional Ceremonies: One of the most impressive and sacred tribal ceremonies practised by the Swazi was the Ncwala dance held at the beginning of January, at the time of the first new moon of the year. The ceremony was held at the royal kraal in the valley of the Usuthu River and was a complex ritual designed to reinforce the monarchy and celebrate the harvesting of the first fruits. At the preceding new moon, special officials set off to fetch samples of water from all the major rivers of Swaziland and also from the sea. When they returned, the “Little Ncwala” would commence and the ceremonies and dances continued until the moon was full. On the first day of the Ncwala proper, youths and warriors from Lobamba, the ceremonial capital, marched to join the men of the king’s residence at Lozita. While they walked, the combined force sang ritual songs. As sunset approached, the king sent the youths off on an 80 km endurance march to gather branches from the lusekwane trees growing at a place called Gunundwini. At dawn on the third day, the boys who were too young to do the 80 km return walk were sent off to fetch branches from the imbondvo shrub.  Elders then built a nhlambelo (bower) for the King, using the saplings from the lusekwane and imbondovo trees. At about 3 p.m., the various dignitaries and the king arrived and ritual songs were sung, songs that were taboo for the rest of the year. A black ox was subsequently driven into the nhlambelo and doctored before being set loose among the youths waiting outside. They fell on the animal and killed it with their bare hands. Parts of the ox were used in certain rituals inside the nhlambelo.  In the meantime, the warriors, drawn up into a great crescent, danced backwards and forwards like the surging sea while singing their strange-sounding ritual songs. Another black ox was caught by the youths and taken alive into the bower where it was used for certain ceremonies and then set loose. This ended the festivities of the third day. The fourth day saw the highlight of the festival. The Swazi army, in full regalia, was mustered in the enclosure. Official guests arrived and were seated in a grandstand. The guest of honour was allowed to inspect the warriors after which the king joined his warriors and a great dance began. After the dance, traditional beer was drunk and the guests took their leave.  The king, escorted by members of his royal clan, then entered the bower. This was the sign for the warriors to resume their dancing while singing their ritual songs and pleading with the king to return to them for another year of reinforced rule. The king then left his bower, indicating his acceptance, and symbolically tasted the first fruits of the harvest. This signified that the crops could now be harvested and eaten. The next day was a sacred day of seclusion on which no work was done. On the morning of the sixth and last day, the warriors marched off into the hills to collect firewood for a huge bonfire. In the afternoon, this pyre was set alight.  Singing and dancing, the warriors then burnt on the pyre those items of their costumes worn the previous year. They implored the ancestral spirits to send rain to put out the fire and as a sign of their favour for the coming year. When rain fell, the ceremony ended with a general celebration of feasting, dancing and singing. However, if rain did not fall, certain ceremonies had to be repeated until ancestral approval was at last revealed by means of rain. Although many younger people of today adhere more to Western traditions, there seems to be a return to the old ways and many of these ceremonies are still performed.  Initiation:  All the indigenous peoples of Africa have some form of initiation. This is often associated with circumcision for the boys and periods of isolation for the girls. Initiation usually takes place after puberty and is often a prerequisite to marriage. Group circumcision for boys was practised up until the time of Mswazi but has since been abandoned. A symbolic circumcision is apparently still performed for the king as part of the ritual of his installation. Swazi girls did not undergo initiation but after puberty a change in dress code was allowed.  The custom of becoming part of an initiation regiment was seen as an entirely personal and individual choice. The king usually ordered the formation of such a regiment and only the king could grant permission for a young man to marry by giving his regiment permission to marry. This is however not the case today and young men may marry at will.  Courtship and Marriage:  Among Swazi aristocracy, the king’s first wife was never the senior wife. Instead, the families from whom the brides came determined seniority. The king could marry anybody he wished but it was expected of him to show restraint in this matter. However, the ordinary Swazi men and women practised clan exogamy (not marrying someone from the same clan as themselves). The transfer of marriage goods, called lobola, was seen as the contractual aspect of the marriage and the way in which the two families became bonded.

Tackling low condom use dramatically

The project is getting men to talk about HIV/AIDS and condoms

Manzini, 20 May 2008 (IRIN) – Why are condoms so unpopular? This question has baffled and discouraged health experts for a decade, but in Swaziland the mystery of why men and women refuse to use condoms is slowly being unravelled by a project that is getting Swazi men to open up about their condom use, or lack thereof.

Much has been said and written about the myths and misconceptions inhibiting condom use, but little has been done to reflect these realities in existing HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns.

Now, an initiative led by AIDS activist and health motivator Hannie Dlamini, and the National Emergency Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), a government body that distributes grants to AIDS organisations, is hoping to change this by getting to the bottom of men’s attitudes towards sexual health.

Swaziland’s first Demographic Health Survey, in 2007, found that 26 percent of sexually active Swazis were infected with HIV. Although almost 99 percent of survey participants said they knew about the disease, nearly half admitted having multiple sex partners and having sex without condoms.

“Men in Swaziland do not use condoms. They are distributed all over, but they are not used,” Dlamini told IRIN/PlusNews.

For the past three years, the NERCHA project has covered two of Swaziland’s four regions: the populous central Manzini, the country’s commercial hub, and Hhohho region in the north, where the capital, Mbabane, is located. Next on the itinerary are Shiselweni in the south and Lubombo in the east.

The programme has adopted a traditional communications approach, rather than the standard method of using questionnaires, to amass data. To get the men talking, Dlamini and dramatist Modison Magagula looked to traditional Swazi customs that are still largely observed by Swazi men in rural areas, and understood by all Swazi men.

“We recreated the sihonco. This is the enclosure, like a small kraal [cattle pen], where the men go to roast meat, smoke traditional weeds, and discuss things. Women do not enter the sihonco, just as by custom men do not enter the women’s special huts. We call the AIDS awareness programme ‘kudliwe inhloko’ and that is the SiSwati term that means when men sit around and talk amongst themselves,” Dlamini explained.

”Men in Swaziland do not use condoms. They are distributed all over, but they are not used.”
Magagula’s drama troupe performs a playlet covering a specific issue, like men involved with under-age girls, which is the starting point for the discussion that follows.

About 8,000 men have participated thus far, but the organisers intend to make this an ongoing project that would eventually reach all Swazi men, to inform them about the facts on AIDS and counter peer pressure and the prevailing myths about the disease.

Hannie Dlamini commented that such word-of-mouth misinformation often served to fill the vacuum of factual knowledge, because there were almost no health educators out there regularly meeting with communities, especially in remote rural areas.

What do men really think?

“What has resulted thus far from this project is not statistics but understanding: why men behave the way they do, what their beliefs are,” said Wiseman Dlamini, a NERCHA project officer in the Manzini region.

Hannie Dlamini said the anecdotes showed a striking pattern of similarity. “The men give many reasons for not using condoms, but these are excuses. The problem is that condoms were never properly introduced to men.”

As a result, Swazi men are eager to embrace anti-condom myths as a reason to reject what they consider a foreign and unnatural intrusion into their sex lives.

“One myth we hear a lot is that condoms were made to destroy African manhood; then they say they heard that the gels in condoms shorten the size and duration of erections,” Dlamini reported.

Allergic reactions to condoms were another common excuse. “Some men are developing rashes and other problems. It is really happening to them. But other men see this and they decide condoms are dangerous. If one man gets a rash, that means the whole community will not use them,” said Dlamini.

“We tell men that if they have trouble with the rubber latex condoms, they must use a female condom, which is made of plastic. But even Swazi women are afraid of using their condoms. The men are ashamed of the suggestion. If women don’t use them, men don’t want anything to do with them,” he noted.

Bored and married

Extramarital affairs were also a topic of discussion in the men’s enclosure. According to many men who participated, sleeping with one woman all the time caused them to lose interest in sex. “They don’t get erections because every day they sleep together, so the men find excitement with other girls,” Dlamini said.

Renewing excitement in a marriage is a challenge for couples worldwide, and although marriage counselling is not what Dlamini’s project is about, AIDS prevention measures will have to take these findings into account.

“In the past, polygamy was the Swazi man’s way to avoid sexual boredom. For financial reasons that is not the option it once was, so there is a need to keep the spark going between a married man and his wife to keep him from straying,” said AIDS counsellor Patricia Dube.

Will this project make a difference? Dlamini is frank and realistic in his assessment: “It’s true that people listen, but after two days they think otherwise. They forget; they are influenced by their friends. Men listen to you when you talk to them, tomorrow they will go on as they did before,” said Dlamini.

He said it would take regular education campaigns in communities if progress was to be made.

NERCHA, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and AIDS non-governmental organisations will analyse the findings for possible ways of bringing about behavioural change. Dlamini feels that if the views and concerns of ordinary people had been taken into consideration from the inception of the AIDS crisis, more effective solutions might have been found, perhaps even achieving the elusive goal of convincing people to change their behaviour.

http://www.irinnews.org/report/78311/swaziland-tackling-low-condom-use-dramatically

SA complicit in Swazi rot?

It is a scandal that South Africa is doing nothing to rein in Swaziland’s King Mswati and his despotic lieutenants.

Is South African policy influenced by Jacob Zuma’s personal relationship with King Mswati? (AFP)
There are two theories about what lies behind the intensifying campaign of repression directed at the media and political opposition in Swaziland.

One is that there are deep concerns in the ruling elite about Swaziland’s preferential status under the United States’s African Growth and Opportunity Act, due for renewal this month, and that anyone seen as tarnishing the country’s international reputation has been targeted. The irony is that nothing could be more damaging to Swaziland’s image than the crackdown. As reported in this edition of the Mail & Guardian, it includes the prosecution of the country’s leading journalist, Bheki Makhubu, threats by the chief justice to detain and charge another editor, and the arrest of leaders of the ­pro-democracy People’s United Democratic Movement.

The Makhubu trial has attracted world attention: US ambassador Makila James has voiced concerns about human rights in Swaziland and made a symbolic appearance at the court hearing.

The other theory is that there is a longer-term project by King Mswati to use Lesotho-born chief justice Michael Ramodibedi to roll back any democratic gains made by Swaziland’s new Constitution. Mswati has no intrinsic interest in advancing constitutional values. Freedom of expression and the rule of law threaten his absolute power and lavish lifestyle, so he subverts them.

The scandal is that South Africa does nothing to rein in Mswati and his despotic lieutenants. South Africa’s high commissioner in Mbabane, Happy Mahlangu, has claimed that Swaziland is a democratic state of a different kind, and a multiparty system should not be forced on the Swazi people.

Is South African policy influenced by Jacob Zuma’s personal relationship with Mswati, and perhaps by the fact that, through its investment arm Chancellor House, the ANC has business interests in the kingdom?

By refusing even to raise its voice in protest, South Africa is complicit in Mswati’s human rights crimes. Swaziland is not an African democracy; it is a thinly veiled dictatorship where basic rights exist at one individual’s whim.

 

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-05-08-sa-complicit-in-swazi-rot/ 

NCPs, Community Ownership and SHAMBA’s Approach.

Neighborhood Care Points
It is clear that the challenges faced by Swaziland are severe and many. Perhaps, as has been suggested, the most important challenge of them all is that an alarming proportion of Swazi children are growing up in highly deprived conditions and that without some kind of intervention these children will not become productive, responsible Swazi citizens.

The Swazi people have recognised this for some time and in 2002 they came up with a solution, which they called Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs). At their most basic, these NCPs consist of a handful of volunteer caregivers who feed and supervise a group of children. Originally the food came from their own homes and gardens, and the “point” at which they delivered care was often no more than a spot under a tree.

As has been noted, this simple model produces an extraordinary range of benefits: “children who would otherwise be sitting at home, hungry and alone, now get a regular meal, are able to play with other kids and have access and guidance to an adult who listens to them”. This is also the type of community based care model now being advocated as the most appropriate response in places where AIDS converges with widespread poverty and inequality.

Since 2002 NCPs have grown to become a major government programme. In 2002 The National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) was set up to coordinate the national response to the epidemic and became responsible for controlling the flow of money and food to NCPs. Donors contributing to the programme have included UNICEF, Global Fund for Aids, TB and Malaria (GFATM), PEPFAR, The World Food Program and World Vision, as well as smaller local and international NGOs. In 2010 the NCPs came under the responsibility of the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development (MTAD). In addition the National Children’s Coordination Unit (NCCU) in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office is responsible to ensure inter-ministerial coordination.

Weaknesses and opportunities of the NCP concept
Today there are over 1,500 NCPs in Swaziland, feeding and caring for about half the country’s 100,000 children aged between 3 and 5. The rapid expansion of this programme from a community run activity to a national intervention, receiving substantial external inputs of food and money, has led to two consequences threatening the continued existence and successful operation of the NCP model:
A feeling of the loss of ownership by community members. A number of factors have been involved here:
– NCP structures used to be built by the community, but often donors came in and built the structures for the community, reducing the feeling of ownership.
– The serving of cooked meals is the most common and important activity of NCPs. Where external supplies of food become unavailable, the NCP usually closes down, because communities view NCP structures as from outside and not their own responsibility.
– NGOs held training workshops and then left community volunteers to apply their new knowledge without any ongoing support to do so.
– For a short time caregivers were paid stipends and the volunteer spirit vanished, as did many of the volunteer caregivers.

An expanded vision of NCPs
In 2008 UNICEF supported the NCCU in conducting a re-visioning workshop. Participants included communities, government, local and international NGOs, donors and the UN. They agreed that in future:

…all NCPs will not only provide care services but will also mainstream development activities. They will be open to all children who need them – not just OVC – and will offer high-quality, full-spectrum services, not just emergency/survival interventions, to prepare children for schooling and ultimately for a productive adulthood”

This workshop led to 15 months of consultations involving children, communities, senior government officials, field and technical officers, NGO directors, heads of UN agencies and donors. The outcome was the National Strategic Plan for Neighbourhood Care Points (2010-2014), which envisages NCPs as hubs for the provision of a holistic package of services to all children in need, with a special emphasis on early childhood care and development (ECCD).

Laudable as the new strategic plan is, it does mean continued reliance on external funding and support: As has been noted:

Unlike the feeding programme which was started by communities without external support, more sophisticated services like ECCD are ‘sustainable’ only for as long as they are supported by an external funder, whether it is government or a donor. Of course it is possible to offer ECCD to children whose parents are able to pay for it, but this has little relevance to NCPs.”

Up to now the extended vision has not been achieved. NERCHA has stated that future reporting to GFATM would be restricted to whether a NCP had a caregiver and food, because the list of attributes in the strategic plan had proved to be unrealistic.

SHAMBA sees these developments of the NCP concept, not as weaknesses, but as an opportunity. We believe that, by providing support that empowers communities, it is possible to make the expanded vision a reality while at the same time retaining (or regaining) community ownership of NCPs and ensuring their sustainability.

All Just Part of a Woman’s Day: Haircut, Brunch, Shopping … and Child Birth!

So, the weekend arrived after a weeklong workshop for approximately 30 Mpolonjeni caregivers exploring child protection and safeguarding. And thoughts turned to a little ‘me’ time. Maybe a little selfish but after six months in Swaziland, I thought it was about time I had my haircut!

Not long after 8am, Erica, Makala and I set off for Ezulwini. My hair appointment was relatively smooth, even if it did feel a little like I was on a conveyor belt. With my trimmed barnet, I went off to meet Erica in Mugg and Bean – the SA/Swaziland equivalent of Costa! – while Makala remained in the hair salon for the next three hours.

True, Makala was having her hair coloured so naturally her appointment would be longer, but really, almost 4 hours in total? In the time, Makala was having her hair coloured, the hairdresser attending to her cut eight the hair of eight other people… and asked Makala to brush and blow dry her own hair!

While Makala patiently and politely waited, Erica and I popped down to the local handicraft market – a squared off horseshoe of stall after stall selling virtually the same thing. When we arrived, we were the only ‘shoppers’ – or more accurately, window shoppers – but just as we left a coach full of tourists pulled on to the gravel car park.

Before that though, Erica and I were greeted at every stall with, “Hello, how are you?” to which we responded, “Fine, thank you, How are you?” The conversation generally moved in the same direction with the stallholder saying “Please have a look. Free to look. Sale today. I will make good price for you” and our repeated response was “Just looking today. We live in Swaziland so we will be back to buy another day.”

One conversation progressed a little further and the Swazi ‘boti’ asked when he could take me to meet his mother. At first, I smiled and jested a little, but his request for a date he could introduce me to his mother became rather persistent. I responded by commenting that my boyfriend would not like that, and very helpfully, Erica jested ‘Oh, but he is in the UK!” Boti then said “It’s okay, he is in another country, he will not know.”

Back at the hair salon, Makala was finally finished.

Brunch had became lunch (with desert), and late morning/lunchtime shopping at Manzini market became early afternoon shopping. Cloth was procured for dresses to be made and naturally, shoes also bought,

Driving back to Mbabane for a quiet afternoon before our respective evening plans. Makala’s phone rings. It’s Mehuili, father to the child she sponsors and husband to the family she and her parents have been supporting. He is calling to ask her to come and attend to his wife, Temba, because us is going on to labour. Makala imagines he is quiet concerned as he lost his previous wife to childbirth.

After a short drive down a dirt track, we arrive at the family’s house. Not having met the family before, Erica and I remain in the car while Makala goes into the family’s home. A short while later, Makala emerges with Temba, a very small, deceptively pregnant lady.

Makala later explains that Babe (Mehuli), who is generally a hands-on engaged father, laid on the bed reading the newspaper while Temba packs a bag for the hospital. Before she leaves, he looks up and says to Temba, call me when you are bringing baby home.

Temba sits in the back of the Landcruiser with Makala, and we being the 30 minutes plus drive to Government Hospital. Virtually, no time after having set off, Temba comments that she is ‘leaking water’. We all quietly and independently realise her Temba’s waters have already broken.

Only a few moments into the drive, Temba becomes more agitated and restless. As I join the freeway, Temba stands to remove her knickers and says to Makala, I need to push. What happens next is all of a blur, but within minutes the baby was born.

What I do remember from this point is: Erica saying to pull over, Makala telling me to drive whilst remaining calm and supportive to Temba, Erica trying to use my phone to call an ‘expat’ friend with medical advice, me trying to drive as quickly as I can to the hospital being extra cautious of bends and speed bumps as the baby lays on the floor between the front and rear seats.

Arriving at the hospital, Temba and baby remained in car while Makala ran into the maternity ward to find help. Eventually, she found the single midwife on duty, who told Makala to go find a wheelchair – her second hunt in the Government Hospital in less that five minutes. The midwife came to the car, cut he umbilical cord and took baby inside leaving us to help Temba out of the car and take her into the hospital. Before sitting in the wheelchair, Temba stuffed umbilical cord back inside her.

Up until this point, none of us had considered the HIV risk to ourselves, so some reading this may think the three of us are stupid; we live in Africa, and not just Africa, Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV rates in the world. But we didn’t think, events occurred super quickly and adrenalin kicked in.

As we stood in the hospital car park, the enormity of what just happened began to sink in and adrenalin became shock, concern and I don’t know what. It was a surreal time; we were still trying to ‘hold it together’ as we still had ‘stuff’ to sort.

We asked the midwife where could wash our hands and if she had gloves, so we could begin to clean up ourselves, or things and the car. The midwife took us to sink in the admissions room, where sat dirty surgical scissors, to wash our hands, before giving us some gloves. Before handing over the gloves, the midwife asked Malaka, ‘did you know cover the car in plastic to protect it?’ and then noticing her shock, asked “have you not seen a baby before?’

Naturally, we sought to find out Temba’s HIV status but for confidentiality reasons, the midwife was unable to tell us. Nevertheless she advised us to visit the OPD (Out Patient Department) and speak to an Exposure Counselor, and rightly so, given 43% of pregnant mothers in Swaziland are HIV positive.

Still in a state of shock and therefore ‘just’ following instructions, rather than thinking, we headed to OPD. Once we entered the rather tired, run down building with a strong stench of bodily fluids, I searched for a reception – or at least, someone we could report to. There was no one so I approached one of the security guards, and asked Babe who we needed to speak to. A nurse approached us, and I briefly explained what had happened and that we needed to seek an Exposure Counselor. The nurse looked at me blankly for a while, and then said there was no one available now. I asked when there would be someone available, to which the nurse responded maybe later and I then asked the nurse to find out. We waited a while for the nurse to return with hopefully more helpful information.

As we waited, a car pulled up to the double doors of the OPD. The car doors we opened, and we could hear crying and whaling from the passengers inside. The boot of the car was opened, and a body dragged out. Once on a stretcher, the deceased was rushed past us.

It was at that point, it dawned on us where we were: the OPD at the Government Hospital! We decided to make a hasty departure.

Our attention turned to the other things we needed to do and we headed to Pick’n’Pay to buy supplies for mum and baby. We needed to find nappies, clothes and a blanket for baby, food for mum and more – because the hospital has nothing to give mothers or that mothers can buy, not even the basics. Although we knew it was dark, we had lost track of time, and Pick’n’Pay was closed. We managed to find one or two things in a corner shop and returned to the hospital with what we had.

The next ‘thing’ our attention turned to was cleaning the car. We tried to identify professional, medical cleaning companies through the private Mbabane Clinic and Trauma Link (paramedic service). No such luck. We then tried the car washes around town, and one could help us tonight. One offered us an appointment in the morning, but our concern then was thar the blood would have dried making cleaning more difficult.

Back home, after explaining the events to my very calm and supportive managers (who own the soiled Landcrusier), we began cleaning the car. Wearing rubber gloves, we mopped up as much of the excess, wet blood as we could and then began scrubbing. The scrubbing continued for a further couple of days. The is huge improvement, but a remaining pink tint to the grey carpet!

Temba has also birthed over Makala’s handbag and its contents. Our next task was to empty the bag, through away identities that could be easily replaced (e.g. lip salve, hair brush) before cleaning and disinfecting her phone and my camera.

Finally, we had a chance to breath and begin to reflect on the day’s events.

I drove Erica and then Makala home. As we were chatting outside Makala’s house, the ‘magic’ of the birth began to sink in for Makala and she commented on how special it was to see the baby emerge. She then said she would always remember seeing the baby’s little feet. I very quickly responded with “Feet? “ The baby was breach, and we realised how lucky we were. An unsmooth or difficult labour does not bear thinking about given we were in moving car and the most medical experience the three of us had between us was basic first aid!

Sunday arrived, and our first task, after checking on each other’s emotional well-being, was to finishing shopping baby supplies. We then headed to the hospital to see Temba and the baby, and give them what they needed.

When we arrived at the hospital, we were escorted by a female security guard as we sought to find the ward where Temba was. We asked about the reason for the escort and we were told it was because white ladies steal babies.

We came to the ward where Temba and baby were staying and were shown in. Between the public hallway and the main, large wardroom, there was a smaller ward with one bed to our left and one to our right. What we witnessed demonstrated again what undignified place the Government Hospital is: there was a pregnant lady, fully naked, bent over a hospital bed having a catheter inserted. There was no curtain or screen, and not even an attempt at giving the lady any privacy.

Temba was allowed to leave with baby, so Makala and I walked with them to reception, where Temba would collect baby’s health card and pay the hospital fee. The fee, which ‘covered’ a night at the Government Hospital and medical attention was E50 (£2.70) – less than a speeding ticket in Swaziland!

We drove proud mum and baby home, and found just how very traditional this family was.

It was explained to us that normally, after birth mum and baby would move in to the home of another female family member for the first six weeks after the baby is born. During this time the father has no contact with the mother or the baby, because the mother was ‘dirty’ from child birth’.

Temba has no extended family, who can offer her and the baby anywhere to stay, so she, baby and her other six daughters will be sleeping in one room while Babe (father) sleeps in the family room.

While we were at the house, the father did not look at, or show any interest in the new baby, and he barely acknowledged his wife.

Swazi people we have spoken to have since last Saturday’s events are very surprised that mother and baby are still alive. They have also commented that had she been in a kombi – the only option open to her at we not been able to help – the kombi driver would have left her by the side of the road when she began to give birth.

BUT, the main thing, mother and baby are healthy and doing well!

‘Food for thought’ …

Probably a highly inappropriate title for this blog update (as I will explain), but the more I think about and digest events of the last couple of days, the more this title seems to fit.

On Thursday (week before last), Makala (Fulbright Researcher) and I accompanied Shelley and Tenele (Bomake) for field/sites visits in the Lavumisa area. Located in Southern Swaziland, the peaceful and tranquil region on the Swaziland – KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) border, the area is reputably one of the country’s poorest areas. The greenness of the area, which was upwards of a three and a half hour drive from Mbabane, for this time of year (i.e. the beginning of the dry season) was remarked upon several times during our day visit. Lavumisa is an area susceptible to drought.

We turned off the main road on to a graded dirt road, which illustrates the dryness of the area because as I understand it, the roads only tend to be graded at the end of dry season – just before the rains come!

The first stop was by an opening on the right of this dirt road, also known as a ‘Gone Rural’ trading point. Today was trading for this ‘Group’ and when we arrived, women had begun to gather, waiting for trading to begin. Many were continuing to weave beautiful, intricate baskets while they waited, and a couple of women were breastfeeding young children as they worked, proving this is work they could fit around and into their home and family lives.

Trading has several facets: the baskets – some made for ‘general sale’ and others made for specific customers’ orders – are bought by Gone Rural, some women exchange grass they have harvested for dyed grass and cloth, others purchase dyed grass from Gone Rural.

While we were there, Tenele awarded one of Swaziland’s ‘Safe Sisters’ with a small glass plaque as a token of congratulations. Through her quarterly returns, this lady had been identified as Bomake’s most active 2013 ‘Safe Sister’.

‘Safe Sister’ is a health programme, which operates through community members, who are trained as peer educators. On the morning I was present, one ‘Safe Sister’ asked the women about female condoms. She asked who knew about them and how many used them.

Whilst the programme was called ‘Safe Sisters’ Shelley explained that there was one man in the Lavumisa area (who we briefly met later that morning), who had trained as a health peer educator. This was offering a new way to ‘reach’ Swazi men and talk to them about health.

We also witnessed the women’s empowerment savings programme in operation. Post trading, a sub group of women gather in a corner of the opening and discussed as a group how much they would save this fortnight. To provide group/peer encouragement, the women had to reach agreement on how much they would all save. This was the minimum; the women could each individually save more if they wanted.

From selling their handmade baskets back to Gone Rural, the women receive 50% of the net profit. (The minimum return for ‘fair trade’ is 20%). The remaining 50% is divided between Gone Rural and Bomake.

Through Bomake, Gone Rural is able to ‘put back’ and help the community though, for example the ‘Safe Sisters’ and women’s empowerment schemes. Through the rest of the day, we saw other ways Bomake support the communities where they have ‘Groups’ of women weaving baskets and other products (e.g. through WASH facilities – boreholes and pit latrines – and teacher training).

We moved onto the next part of our morning, which included visiting four different Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs). All the NCPs we visited were one-room ‘mud and stick’ structures. One structure was used solely as a storeroom for food and cooking utensils, while in another children sat around the food supplies, on flattened cardboard boxes, and the teacher also used the structure as the classroom (as well as the storeroom). In the third location, the food was cooked in the single ‘mud and stick’ structure while ‘lessons’ took place under a nearby tree, but if the weather was bad the children just went home.

These NCPs each served circa 30 children, but when we visited each of the NCPs, there was only half a dozen or so children present. These very young children had to walk long distances to reach a NCP, which for the majority was the only way of getting a daily meal or any form of education.

The long distances between home and the NCP meant children arrived at and left the NCPs at ad hoc times. There was not set times for lunch, also making it very difficult to the teacher to provide any form of structure to the early years education.

In all but one of the NCPs we visited, there were no books, posters, toys or other resources to aid the children’s learning. One NCP was fortunate enough to have a blackboard, where the teacher had written the five vowels with chalk, and as we observed the children were reciting ‘a, e, i, o, u’. This was also the only facility where the children had chairs to sit on, albeit ‘adult’ size chairs.

This early years provision struck me more as a crèche and feeding point than a preschool. It was very difficult to see how the young children were learning anything very much with the limited resources or structure avalible to the community.

The teachers are well meaning members of the community. As volunteers, these women receive some basic teacher training from Bomake to help them in their role. They only receive a stipend should the community/parents come together and raise local funds.

Often the teachers will speak to the children in SiSwati, but expect the children to respond in English. This means comprehension and fluency in English becomes even more difficult for these young children, whose first language is SiSwati.

Yet, the primary schools in this rural area, like everywhere else in Swaziland, use an English medium programme. It is therefore unsurprising that the end of year failure rates, and thus repetition rates in Swaziland, are as high as they are.

This really sunk in when I considered the greater access children in peri-urban areas of Swaziland have to more structured preschool education as well as other learning opportunities (e.g. a Reading Clubs). Nevertheless, these peri-urban located children still struggle with their primary education.

As we knelt in the corner to observe the teacher helping the children recite the vowels, a little boy in the ‘mud and stick’ classroom began to shake. As we observed, the shaking progressively increased, the little boy shred a few tears, which then became heavy crying, rocking and a lot of distress. He was ushered out of the classroom, passed us, to a caregiver cooking outside the structure. She cuddled the little boy, while speaking in SiSwati. It was later explained that the little boy had heard the car pull up outside the NCP and then seen the three white women, so he had automatically assumed that we were present for immunisations injections.

Tenele asked the volunteer caregivers at each NCP if they had food, where the food was coming from and how often it was delivered. The caregivers at each of the four sites explained that they all had food, and that the food was delivered by *blah NGO* every three months.

These women were naturally expecting their next food delivery at the next three-month due-date, without realising there is no more food. Mpolonjeni’s NCPs’ last food delivery was approximately a month ago. Women at another NCP based in the Ezulwini area found out that the food deliveries were stopping via an article in a Swazi newspaper. It appeared that this news had not yet reached the rural caregivers of Lavumisa.

The caregivers will themselves admit that children will not come to the NCPs when there is no food. And why would they when there is little other reason or incentive? More about NCPs, community ownership and SHAMBA’s approach in another blog post.

DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS: WORKING ALONGSIDE AND SUPPORTING TWO MPOLONJENI COMMUNITIES

 

Aims and Objectives:

The mission of SHAMBA is to empower disadvantaged women, children and young people in poor communities to gain access to resources and services to help alleviate poverty and the burden caused by HIV/AIDS.

 

The Project:

The project aims to work alongside and support two communities in Mpolonjeni to help them to develop effective Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs), which provide a full range of support services to address the impact of the country’s dual HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics at a community level.

 

By working alongside and with the community, SHAMBA will develop the communities’ long-term capacity to improve the life chances of their orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs), who are disadvantaged by poverty and the dual HIV/AIDS and TB epidemic.

 

Background:

Since 2011, SHAMBA has been working alongside and supporting a community-based Committee to develop, resource and run a full range of supports services for OVCs at the Nkoyoyo Swedish Free Church NCP.  These services include: a kitchen providing a daily nutritious meal, a garden to complement the food provided by Children’s Cup, high quality preschool education for the most vulnerable children in the community, educational after-school clubs to provide additional learning opportunities for local primary school children, and access to business, computer and literacy training.   Health promotion, child protection, safeguarding and psychosocial support are integral to all these services.

 

SHAMBA also works with the wider Mpolonjeni community.  For example, supporting CARE NAKAKELA (a local CBO for caregivers) and working with caregivers to run a Kids Club, which aims to provide young people with the knowledge and skills to help them learn to value one’s self, develop valuable life skills and protect themselves from the harm As a result of this and SHAMBA’s strong relationships with local headmen as well as other key members of the community, two communities have approached SHAMBA to work alongside and help them.  Specifically, they have each asked SHAMBA to support them to develop, manage and sustain a NCP in each area, which includes a kitchen, garden and preschool, offering a full range of support services to OVCs and the wider community.

 

Key Activities (in each of the two communities):

1. Work with the headman and community to establish and train a committee of 10-15 community members to manage its NCP
2. Build a school room and kitchen, so over the next 3 years, 90 free preschool places can be provided for children from the most deprived families, and 120 orphan and vulnerable children can access to one nutritious meal a day.
3. Train up to 30 community members each year in ‘caring’ to support the NCP in early childhood care and development; psychosocial support; and child health including prevention of HIV and TB, child protection, literacy and participatory learning.
4. Provide afterschool clubs (focusing on maths, English and reading) for children in grades 0 to 3, which will provide additional learning opportunities in a supportive environment.

 

Proposed Start and End Date: 01.09.2014 until 31 August 2017.

 

Budget Per Community / NCP:

	Year 1 £	Year 2 £	Year 3 £	Total for project (£)	Funding from other sources (£)
Revenue
Salaries (incl. NI and pensions)an	5,260	5,799	6,393	17,452	2,368
Staff and volunteer training	2,058	2,269	2,502	6,828	2,926
Beneficiary training	1,915	2,111	1,391	5,416	0
Travel and accommodation	2,205	2,431	2,680	7,316	0
Nutrition for OVCs	2,061	2,348	2,541	6,950	6,369
Total revenue costs	13,499	14,958	15,507	43,962	11,663
Capital
Building	9,500	0	0	9,500	3,166
IT and office equipment	3,333	0	0	3,333	0
Total capital costs	12,833	0	0	12,833	6,079
Overheads
Office rental and services	2,520	2,646	2,778	7,944	7,944
Office running & stationery	672	706	741	2,118	0
Total overheads	3,192	3,352	3,519	10,062	7,944
Total project costs	29,524	18,309	19,026	66,859	25,686

 

The budget includes full costs for the salary of a teacher and teaching assistant in each community/preschool, but only one third of the salary costs of management staff, as they will have responsibilities beyond this project.

 

Approximately, a sixth of building costs have been raised through appeals in Swaziland, UK and other countries.  These funds remain ring-fenced in a building fund.  The community headmen are working with their respective communities to raise local contributions in the form of time and labour.  One headman has begun asking each household for E20 as a financial contribution.

 

The considerable value of ongoing in kind contributions should be noted.  These include:

–        Community contributions of labour and materials related to cooking (including fuel) and maintenance of NCP garden.

–        Office rental and services.

–        Volunteer time of experts in management, public health, early childhood education, research and evaluation.

 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Dissemination of Lessons Learnt

The project is currently being externally evaluated by a Fulbright Scholar and internally monitored and evaluated under the supervision of a SHAMBA board member, who is a monitoring and evaluation consultant for another programme.

 

The project report at the end of year 2 will include a description and evaluation of the activities undertaken and services provided.  Amongst other things, the report will consider the outputs delivered (e.g. meals provided, support given to families) and the outcomes achieved (e.g. levels of primary school readiness and skills gained).  There will also be discussion of differences found and recommendations for improvement.   This report will be widely distributed within Swaziland.

 

THE NEED IN SWAZILAND

 

Swaziland has the world’s highest rate of HIV and TB incidence. This position may worsen because 43% of pregnant mothers are HIV positive thus many more children are born into HIV/AIDS affected families. UNICEF estimates that there are 125,000 orphans with numbers growing, and 15,000 child-headed households.  95% of children directly affected by HIV/AIDS live with extended families and children of HIV positive parents experience need long before they become orphans.

 

The country ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world, at 157 out of 196 nations. 63% of the population live in poverty and one in three children experiences at least two deprivations (e.g. education, health and nutrition). There is no publically funded early years education in Swaziland creating inequality for the children of poor families, who cannot afford preschool fees. Furthermore, only 4% of children under 5 years live in homes with 3 books and only 50% have an adult, who plays with them in a way that promotes learning and school readiness.

 

Malnutrition is widespread with 31% of children under 5 being stunted.  Inadequate nutrition impairs:

a.     children’s health and ability to grow normally

b.     development of basic skills and the ability to learn

c.     the ability of ARV treatment to be as effective as it would otherwise be.

d.     children’s immune systems, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases, including TB.

 

With their focus on survival, communities and families are unable to provide normal early childhood development opportunities, care and protection for orphan and vulnerable children, due to lack of resources, knowledge, expertise and management skills. In addition, child abuse is rife especially within disadvantaged families.  Abuse has major impacts on life chances and often spreads HIV.

 

 

SHAMBA IN THE UK AND SWAZILAND

 

SHAMBA acts as a hub for health professionals and others to give their time to help fight HIV/AIDS and TB and mitigate their impact in Swaziland and the UK.

 

The SHAMBA Trust (Swaziland) was established on 11 March, 2011 as An Association Not For Profit in terms of Section 17 of the Swaziland Companies Act, while the SHAMBA Trust (UK) was established as a small charity in December 2011. It is registered with the UK Charity Commission, registration number: 1149849.

 

Our UK trustees and Swaziland board members are at senior levels in their professions. These include two public health consultants (one specialising in perinatal and maternal health), two specialists in sexual health and HIV medicine, a consultant in emergency medicine, a health promotion specialist, an accountant and a lawyer. All but one has experience in working in Africa, many in long term or career placements.

 

In Swaziland, our directors include a public health doctor, a dentist, and a community development specialist, a manager of health projects, a teacher, an agricultural economist, a lawyer and an accounting technician. These people are supplemented with others acting as short-term volunteers.

 

Both boards are separately constituted and have separate accounts.

 

 

A country of killers?

MBABANE – Swaziland has been ranked as the country with the highest murder rate in Africa according to figures in a report released last week Thursday.  The report was released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

It reveals that the Kingdom is even worse than South Africa in this regard. The figures in the report, ‘Global study on Homicide 2013’ also put Swaziland at number seven worldwide.  Homicide is referred to as the crime of killing someone.

Swaziland has a rate of 33.8 murders per 100 000 people.

This means that based on a population of just over 1.2 million, at least 416 people are killed every year.

The average world rate is 6.2 per cent.  The report says homicide is one of the most comparable and accurate indicators for measuring violence.

“As the international community looks towards the post-2015 development agenda, the connection between violence, security and development, within the broader context of the rule of law, is an important factor to be considered,” the report states.

Swaziland’s murder rate has jumped from 12.1 per 100 000 in 2011, beating South Africa which has a rate of 31 per 100 000 after dropping from 64.0.

The information contained in the report was obtained from Swaziland’s public health system in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.

Most of the murders are said to occur within the urban areas, with a majority of the victims being male.

Swaziland’s rate is also higher compared to war-torn countries such as South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which are 13.9 and 28.3 respectively.  The high number of deaths was attributed to several elements including failure to convict those who committed murder.  The report showed that more people were arrested for homicide yet, fewer were convicted.

This was viewed as one of the reasons why more people continued committing crimes.  Another attribute highlighted was that hardcore criminals were those who had committed lesser crimes.

Superintendent Wendy Hleta, Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) said she had not yet seen the report.  She said she could not state whether the statistics were the same as those the police had.

“I may have to check our statistics department but I also need to have a look at the report,” said Hleta.
Sibusiso Shongwe, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said he would like to view the report before commenting. Shongwe said the figure appeared to be very high, considering the population of Swaziland.  “I will be more comfortable commenting once I have looked at the report,” said Shongwe.

 

Link to report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/GSH2013/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf

Related reading:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/04/economist-explains-5?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/ee/whysouthafricaisabitlessviolentthanyoumightthink 

http://m.europe.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579495863883782316?mobile=y

Appeal for Nhlanhla’s Family

Nhlanhla, aged 5 years, is a sweet little boy, who has recently begun primary school. Very tragically, NNhlanhla’s mother, Thandi, died at the end of February giving birth to twins. One of the babies also died during the birth. 

NNhlanhla, his older two brothers (aged 13 and 9) and his sister (aged 8) live with their father, Sipho, in a small two-room house.   NNhlanhla’s 18-month-old brother and the surviving baby (also a boy) live with a Nomsa (a neighbour). Nomsa is already caring for her daughter (aged 7) and her niece (aged 9), who was abandoned by Nomsa’s sister.  

Sipho has a piece job a builder, earning E1000 per month, while Nomsa earns E600 per month domestic worker and her partner earns E500 from piece work.

Both families rent their small two-room houses, for E600 per month – equivalent to 60% of their household income. Whilst the families have electricity for lighting, they cook on open fire/with paraffin and walk 10 minutes each way to get water from a river.

Neither household has extended family, who can provide support. Sipho fled from Mozambique when he was a teenager and his family was killed in the civil war (but he and his brother survived). The late Thandi’s brothers ran away from home when there was a family dispute and her sister has very poor mental health.

SHAMBA is trying to support these two young, poor and vulnerable families. We are appealing to our friends for help and would like to ask if you would please be willing to donate some of the items the families need on an on-going basis.

Items that the families need include:

• Nan 1 baby milk powder,
• some disposable nappies, terry towel nappies, nappy steriliser and nappy bucket
• toiletries for the baby including cotton wool, baby soap and petroleum jelly
• sheets and blankets for the baby,
• blankets for the older children
• clothes and shoes for all the children.

We are happy to receive secondhand blankets, sheets, clothes and shoes.

If you feel you can make a donation to support these families, please contact SHAMBA by emailing info@shambatrust.org or phoning +268 78438232.  I know it would be hard for my overseas friends to send actual physical items, but I wondered if people would consider making a donation so SHAMBA can buy some of things the family needs.  Many thanks in advance. 

SHAMBA Swaziland is a local NGO supporting needy children and young people in Mpolonjeni (near Mbabane), which runs a number of initiatives protect individuals and households from experiencing further effects of the HIV/AIDS and poverty.  This includes working with partners, to offer free preschool education for the most vulnerable families, business training for young people and literacy courses.  For more information on SHAMBA, please visit our website www.shambatrust.org and our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shamba/460722700653005

*Please note all names have been changed to protect the families’ privacy.