Swaziland / eSwatini Minister
of Education and Training Lady Howard-Mabuza met school principals as education in the kingdom
crumbles through lack of funding.
The Swazi Government has
not paid schools fees and support staff have been sacked as a result. Teaching
supplies have run out and in some school pupils have been without a teacher for
more than a year.
The Minister said that
plans for building new schools had been put on hold and hiring of teaching
staff was frozen.
More than
six in ten schools in Swaziland do not have enough teachers because of
government financial cutbacks, the Eswatini
Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome Mhlanga had previously said.
Howard-Mabuza said the
government was broke and could not afford to finance education.
The problem is not new as the
government, appointed by King Mswati III
the absolute monarch in Swaziland, has run the economy into the ground over
many years. Public services across the kingdom, including health, education and policing are
crumbling. The government owes its suppliers about E3 billion (US$215 million).
On Thursday (18 July 2019) teachers and school principals
marched
on government to present a petition calling for urgent action.
Despite the financial crisis, King Mswati continues to
live lavishly. He has two private airplanes, at least 13 palaces and fleets of
top-of-the-range cars. At his 50th birthday in 2018 he wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit
beaded with diamonds that weighed 6 kg. 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.
In 2017 King Mswati was named the third wealthiest
King in Africa by the international
website Business Insider. It reported he had a net worth of US$200 million (about E2.8
billion in local Swazi currency).
About seven in ten of the estimated 1.2 million
population live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2
per day.
See also
Swaziland
schools run out supplies, exams threatened, as govt financial meltdown bites
Swaziland
children forced to work as groundsmen as Govt delays funding their school
Chaos
and confusion across Swaziland as new school year starts
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