Grants for people with
disabilities in Swaziland / eSwatini are to be cut because the government has
run out of money.
Now, only 20 people in each
political constituency (known locally as tinkhundla) will get benefits.
There
are 59 tinkhundla in the kingdom for about 1.2 million people. In 2016 the then
Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini estimated 114,000 people were living with
disabilities in Swaziland.
E8.7 million (US$600,000) was
set aside in this year’s national budget for the grants. In 2017 that figure
was E25.5 million, according to budget estimates for 2019 – 2022.
President of the Federation
of People with Disabilities in Swaziland (FODSWA)
Sipho Dlamini said he had been told by Swaziland’s Deputy Prime Minister Themba
Masuku the cutback was because of the ongoing financial crisis.
He told
the Times of Swaziland (28 May 2019) his organisation would work closely
with local leaders to choose who gets the grants.
Sipho Dlamini said people
with disabilities were not adequately represented in parliament. The Times reported he said it was because of
this that issues of people with disabilities were not given the attention they
deserved.
People with disabilities in
Swaziland are poorly treated. A report
published by SINTEF Technology and Society, Global Health and Welfare
in 2011 that studied living conditions among people with disabilities in
Swaziland, found, ‘There is a general belief that those who have a disability
are bewitched or inflicted by bad spirits.
‘Many believe that being around people with
disabilities can bring bad luck. As a result, many people with disabilities are
hidden in their homesteads and are not given an opportunity to participate and
contribute to society.’
It also found that people with disabilities had been
abandoned by the Swazi Government. The report stated, ‘The absence of any comprehensive
laws and policies to address people with disabilities’ access to equal
opportunities reflect a lack of political will and a failure to recognize
disability as a human right issue contributes to the devaluing and dehumanising
of people with disabilities.
‘People with disabilities have the same rights as
able-bodied people and they are entitled to enjoy all citizenry rights.’
Since that report the
Disability Act of 2018 introduced financial grants, but the kingdom, ruled by
King Mswati III as an absolute monarch, is in economic meltdown. Public health
centres and hospitals have run
out of medicines, schools are without supplies and children are going hungry because feeding programmes have stopped. All because
the government, which is handpicked by the King, cannot pay suppliers.
See also
Disabled
people ‘treated like animals’
Sick
kids ‘hidden to save Swazi image’
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/sick-kids-hidden-to-save-swazi-image.html
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/sick-kids-hidden-to-save-swazi-image.html
More
deaths in Swaziland as government fails to pay medicine suppliers
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