Telecommunications and the Monarchy of Swaziland

             http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/30/zimbabwe

Recently people in the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) went on strike in response to the company’s denial by a state court to enter into many of the facets of the telecommunications industry. The court ruled that SPTC had broken an agreement made with the competing company Swazi MTN (MTN), which was seen by many as an opportunity for MTN to become a monopoly in the most profitable areas of the telecommunications industry. There is reason to believe that the agreement restricting SPTC was only possible with pressure from King Mswati III, who happens to be a large shareholder in MTN. Since the agreement, the people of Swaziland have experienced worse service from MTN as well as higher rates for internet and phone connections do to a lack of competition from SPTC. During this time King Mswati III has been purchasing multi-million dollar jets with the funds from state supported businesses.

            

The fact that a leader could stomach profiting off of influence in business industries at the expense of the well being of the entire country is absolutely repulsive. Most of the king’s citizens survive on just two dollars a day, and suffer some of the lowest life expectancies in the world. In addition to poverty, the people of the region have experienced an epidemic of the HIV virus in the last decade with 26% of adults contracting the virus. Instead of using his omnipotent influence to further domestic infrastructure or public health relief projects, Mswati has used his power to meddle with the country’s economic structure for his own benefit. This use of clientalism to further a business that extends the king’s power and wealth is exactly why the country cannot deal with reoccurring problems of public health and poverty. The country as a whole has been made more inefficient in order so that the authoritarian government can enrich itself and its supporting elite.

            

What the country needs is a push towards a more democratic system, where the ruling officials are held accountable. Since the King rules by decree and cannot be voted out of power, he has no repercussions for his actions that damage the economic stability of his country. Political parties and opposition to the monarchy have been banned since 1973 by Mswati’s father, which has kept the country from moving in a more democratic direction. The consequence of a continued authoritative rule has been strikes in other public sectors of the country, such as teachers and civil servants, who have dealt with increasingly inadequate salaries. Swaziland has also seen further economic instability demonstrated by the fact that they required a $355 million bailout from South Africa in 2011. What the country needs is to find a government that is more accountable to the well being of its community. King Mswati III might as well find this out sooner rather than later because a strike at SPTC could easily turn from a movement to change the governance of the telecommunications industry into a movement to change the governance of the country.

           

Article: http://thinkafricapress.com/swaziland/further-public-sector-strikes-mtn-sptc-king-mswati-telecoms

Other Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14095303

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14388006

Picture: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/30/zimbabwe

           

            

Outside a King's Plush Halls, Streets Rise in Anger

Recently, the citizens of Swaziland have been publicly protesting the their King in an attempt for social and economic reform. Kind Mswati III has taken large sums of money from the country budget and has taxed citizens to the point where it is almost impossible to live a normal, healthy life. Many of the citizens of Swaziland are living in poverty off roughly two dollars a day while, the King and select government officials are receiving large paychecks (about $2,400 a month) and living a life of luxury. With the highest rate of H.I.V. infections in the world, the average income for most citizens is not enough to cover medical expenses or buy food. The economy of Swaziland is at a stand still. Statistics have said that almost five million dollars is lost from the budget each month due to corrupt activity. There have been multiple protests to bring the current problems to the spot light however, many of these protests have been met with police dressed in riot gear blocking streets as well as citizen's paths from leaving buildings. The Swazi people state they are not opposed to Monarchy because it has been a significant part of their culture but they say they are in need of a democratically elected official who will better represent the citizens. I picked this particular current event because I not only found it interesting and tied in to our class discussions, but I feel as though this current event is something more people should be aware of. 

This issue is important because the income coming into Swaziland is going to King Mswati III and selected government officials instead of going toward heath care for H.I.V. patients and infrastructure within the country. A 35-year-old nurse was interviewed in this particular article and she states that she can no longer afford meat and can barely afford beans with the income she currently receives. The citizens of Swaziland are essentially starving while a select few receive generous amounts of money and because of this, there is now a full-blown fiscal crisis in Swaziland. Ultimately, if policies are not changed and money is not evenly distributed throughout Swaziland, the entire economy, as well as the government, could collapse. As we have discussed in class, the King of Swaziland has kept the state weak in an authoritarian government and in the event of an overthrow and/or a collapsed economy, Swaziland will fall into further economic turmoil which will lower the Swazi people's quality of life even farther. 

Salaries in the country have become so low that teachers have left schools and refused to teach. Policy makers should to reform the laws regarding resources like food, health care, income and education so giving the citizens of Swaziland a more democratic say in the government in order to prevent a total economic collapse as well as potential wide-spread violence. Parents protested outside the Parliament building in the capital in hopes of getting raises for teachers so their children have access to education. Rev. Zwanini Shabalala joined the parents in protest and said, "This is a government that is not listening to its people. It shows that there is no democracy and no respect for people's rights as citizens of a country." 

Him and the parents joined in a chant at politicians within building saying, "Why are you scared? Your time is coming."

Sources:

Outside a King's Plush Halls, Streets Rise in Anger