The Swaziland (eSwatini)
Government will not send food to the starving and destitute in towns and cities
during the extreme lockdown that it has imposed in the fight against
coronavirus.
The decision comes as Manzini,
the main commercial city in the kingdom, has been locked down
by the army and police and is surrounded by roadblocks. People on the streets are
being arrested for loitering.
Unknown thousands of the
110,000 population have lost their jobs because of the lockdown and have no
money or food.
On 22 April 2020 the Swazi Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini announced the
government would feed more than 300,000 people
from 63,000 households across all four regions of the Kingdom. The total population of Swaziland is about 1.3
million. He pledged the assistance would be delivered within two weeks.
Now, National Disaster
Management Agency spokesperson Wandile Mavuso has confirmed that people in
urban areas would not get food from the government.
He explained
on state radio that the government was directing its efforts only to rural
areas.
The Times
of eSwatini reported people
including vendors who earned their living through selling fruits and vegetables
on the streets, car wash employees who earned E10 per car, drycleaners
employees, hair-dressers and salon owners, those employed at cellphone shops,
hotels, restaurants and security guards, among others, had no income and could
not get food.
It said, ‘A study has shown
that most of these people are tenants [living in flats] on the outskirts of
towns and cities and currently have no other source of income.’
It reported Mavuso saying, ‘We
will not include tenants in the relief plan. We will not be going to the flats.’
He added the government
would only work in places where there were ‘local structures’ in place. This
would include chiefs and those who worked with chiefs. Mavuso said this would
ensure that ‘deserving beneficiaries’ were identified.
Swaziland is ruled by King
Mswati III as an absolute monarch and he appoints the chiefs as his local
representatives.
Since the Prime Minister made his pledge to feed
300,000 people the Swazi House of Assembly rejected a plan put
forward by Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku to send people money instead of
food.
The plan was to spend about E270 million (US$14 million)
with government distributing about E45 million per month to 301,762 people across
the kingdom.
Masuku said the scheme
would give people the choice on what food to buy and stop them gathering together to receive parcels and risk
catching coronavirus (COVID-19). He said it would also save on the cost of
delivering food.
A number of members of
parliament thought the plan was open to corruption and money might not be
used for the intended purpose of buying food.
A final decision on how to proceed with the food
relief has yet to be made.
See also
Swaziland
Govt. pledges to feed 300,000 facing hunger in next two weeks as coronavirus
intensifies
People
face ‘imminent death from hunger’ in Swaziland as coronavirus lockdown hits
poorest
Army,
police close down Swaziland’s main commercial city in bid to halt coronavirus
spread
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