An entire town in Swaziland is suffering a month-long
power cut because the government has not paid its electricity bill.
As the blackout continues news is emerging that the
Swazi Government is no longer able to pay suppliers and is issuing IOU notes.
All new capital spending is reportedly on hold.
The town of Vuvulane has been without power for a
month so far, according to the Observer
on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland. It reported (2 June 2018) that the
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development was responsible for paying the bills.
It said Vuvulane Town Council said it had paid the E10,000 a month for electricity
supplies but the electricity was no longer supplied. Tenants of the Town
Council are angry because the electricity charge is included in rents they pay.
Meanwhile, it was reported that government was issuing
IOU notes promising future payment of debts to suppliers. In his budget speech on
1 March 2018 Finance Minister Martin Dlamini reported the Swazi Government owed
suppliers E3.1 billion (US$243 million), but according to the Sunday Observer (3 June 2018) he refuted
earlier reports this had increased to E5 billion and said the debt had been
reduced to E2.2 billion.
The newspaper also quoted
unnamed officials at the Ministry of Economic Planning saying
that all new capital spending in the kingdom ruled by King Mawati III as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch had been ‘put in limbo’. This included
projects where tenders had been awarded.
It reported an employee saying ‘The only
tender projects we are involved in are those which are ongoing.’ It added, ‘Their
understanding was to the effect that there would be absolutely no funding for
anything in the short term.
‘They said they were informed of this decision following the weekly
principal secretaries’ meeting which is held every Wednesday following
cabinet’s Tuesday meetings. The mitigation measure comes at a time when
government is trying to find means of coming out of a financial crisis which
has seen it fail to pay some of its obligations on time.’
Finance Minister Martin Dlamini denied the report and said no decision
had yet been made.
The spotlight on spending in Swaziland intensified
when in April 2018 at a party to mark both his 50th birthday and the
anniversary of Swaziland’s Independence from Great Britain, King Mswati wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing
6 kg studded with diamonds. Days earlier he had taken delivery of
his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but
with VIP upgrades
was estimated to have cost US$30 million.
Meanwhile, seven in ten of the 1.1 million population
live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.
Children in Swaziland have
been told by teachers to prepare
themselves for starvation as the government failed to deliver free
food to schools over the past year. At the heart of the crisis is the Swazi
Government’s inability to pay its suppliers. As a result of unpaid bills,
suppliers have stopped delivering food, and medicines.
Electricity
supplies to government offices, law courts, police
stations, libraries, media houses, and border posts have been cut.
In 2017, the global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as
the most unequal country in the world in a report called
Starting With People, a human economy approach to inclusive growth in Africa
that detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and
those at the bottom.
Swaziland
is not a democracy even though national elections are due
to take place later this year.
Political parties are banned from contesting
elections and groups advocating for democracy are banned as ‘terrorists’ under
the Suppression of Terrorism Act. Media
are severely censored and freedom of assembly is curtailed. Elections are held every five years in Swaziland
but people only get to select 55 of 65 members of the House of Assembly. The
King chooses the other 10. No members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the
people; the King chooses 20 and the other 10 are elected by members of the
House of Assembly.
See
also
SWAZI
GOVT ‘RUNS OUT OF CASH’
SPOTLIGHT
ON SWAZI INTERNATIONAL AID
LAVISH
SPENDING LEADS TO FOOD AID CUT
SWAZI
KING’S BUDGET INCREASES US$14 MILLION
THREAT
TO LIFE AS GOVERNMENT DOESN’T PAY BILLS
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