Police officers in
Swaziland are forced to walk or hitch-hike to crime and accident scenes because
the government has not paid for fuel or vehicle repairs.
Criminals in some parts of
the kingdom recently renamed Eswatini by absolute monarch King Mswati III, ‘are
having a field day, especially in Siteki, as police at the biggest police
station in the region have no motor vehicles to attend to reported crime scenes
on time’, the Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Thursday (16 August 2018).
It reported, ‘Traffic
officers are said to be currently using their personal vehicles to mount
roadblocks.’
Vehicles are off the road
because of a shortage of transport and fuel, it reported. It added this was
caused by the financial crisis presently gripping the government.
It reported, ‘Traffic
officers in Siteki have been left with no alternative but to hitch-hike their
way to accident scenes. A number of vehicles belonging to the station are said
to have developed mechanical faults and are being attended to at the local
Central Transport Administration (CTA) depot.’
Currently, there are only
two vehicles available to police at Siteki being used by the general patrol,
crime investigation department (CID) and the traffic department.
The Observer reported, ‘When reached for comment, Chief Police
Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba
acknowledged that they were currently facing a serious shortage of motor
vehicles in many police stations.’
In July 2018 it was
reported police, fire and other emergency services in Swaziland
were set to grind to a halt because of a fuel shortage for vehicles after the
government failed to pay suppliers.
The Times
of Swaziland reported at
the time that a source revealed, ‘It was highly likely that all government cars
could soon be grounded, something which would affect essential services like
the police, health sector, Fire and Emergency Services, among others.’
It added, ‘Furthermore, the insider alleged that the
shortage of fuel had been caused by government’s cash flow challenges which had
been experienced by the country since the economical meltdown started some
years ago.’
The Times
reported, ‘Sources from some of the government departments which provide
essential services in the kingdom attested to the looming crisis.’
In May 2018 it was reported that Swaziland was so
short of resources that police were unable to secure voter registration centres
and do their routine work at the same time. Police officers were said to have
been left stranded at registration centres in the evenings because there were
no vehicles available to take them home.
Police were unable to respond when a five-year-old was
abducted and raped because they were on election duty, according
to the Swazi Observer at the time.
It said a toddler was with her mother at Mahlalini,
an area in the outskirts of Nhlangano, when a man grabbed her and disappeared
into a thicket where he raped her.
The Observer reported, ‘The mother said police were alerted but the
excuse they gave was that there was no vehicle at the police station as they
were all assigned to the ongoing elections registration process.’
It added, ‘Police
spokesperson Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed the incident and further
stated that there has been no arrest as the suspect managed to escape when
means were made to apprehend him.’
Swaziland is broke and as of 30 June 2018 owed
a total of E12.9 billion, the equivalent of 20.8 percent of the
kingdom’s GDP. Of that nearly E3 billion is owed to suppliers of goods and
services. On 1 August 2018, the Swazi
Government announced
it had frozen all job hiring,
promotions and creation of new posts because it was broke.
Despite the funding crisis, the Swazi Government still
found US$30 million to buy the King a
second private plane earlier this year. It also earmarked E1.5bn to build a
conference centre and five-star hotel to host the African Union summit in
2020 that will last only eight days and it has budgeted E3 million to build
Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini a retirement house. There are also plans for a
new parliament building that would cost E2.3 billion.
The World Food Program has said it
cannot raise the US$1.1 million it needs to feed starving children in the
kingdom in the coming months.
Meanwhile, King Mswati III
who rules Swaziland as one of the world’s last absolute monarchs wore
a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
beaded with diamonds weighing 6 kg, at his 50th birthday
party in April. Days earlier he took delivery of his second private jet, a A340
Airbus, that after VIP upgrades
reportedly cost US$30 million. He received E15 million (US$1.2
million) in cheques, a
gold dining room suite and a gold
lounge suite among his birthday gifts.
Seven in ten of Swaziland’s
1.1 million population live in abject poverty with incomes less than the
equivalent of US$2 per day. King Mswati has 13 palaces, two private jets and
fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars.
See also
Swaziland
Nurses Picket, Drugs Run Out, Lives Put at Risk as Government Fails to Pay
Suppliers
Swaziland
Freezes Govt Recruitment and Promotions as Cash Crisis Bites, But PM Will Still
Get Retirement Home
Swaziland
Admits it is Broke
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