The Prime Minister of Swaziland (eSwatini) has
announced all informal border crossings with South Africa will be closed in
an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The crossings are used every day by people who live in
Swaziland and go to South Africa for schooling, work, trading or to shop.
PM Ambrose Dlamini made the announcement after the
first case of coronavirus was reported in South Africa. As of Tuesday 10 March
2020 no cases had been reported in Swaziland itself.
The Times of eSwatini reported the closure of
the borders would affect thousands of people who regularly crossed. It said
many people who lived in the area did not know that Swaziland and South Africa were
two separate countries.
Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III as an
absolute monarch, was left out of the list of countries the World Health
Organisation to benefit from personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves
being distributed to poor countries.
The Swazi Minister of Health Lizzie
Nkosi told media the exclusion was because eSwatini was not considered to
be a poor country.
In Swaziland nearly seven in ten of the estimated 1.3 million people
live in abject poverty.
Meanwhile, the King and the royal family live in
luxury. The King has 13 palaces and two private jet aircraft. In November 2019
he purchased
between 13 and 15 Rolls Royce cars for himself and members of his family at
an estimated cost of US$4 million.
Swaziland also bought him 126
BMW cars and motorbikes to escort the Royal family around the kingdom.
These purchases prompted
Lisa Peterson, the United States Ambassador to Swaziland to speculate that
in future the US might not be keen to give Swaziland development aid.
On Monday (9 March 2020) the Swazi House of Assembly approved a budget of E48
million towards the cost of tackling the coronavirus. The Ministry of Finance
had asked for E100 million. Swaziland is broke and cannot pay its suppliers. Recently
a number of government offices had electricity disconnected because bills were
unpaid.
The government also owes millions of emalangeni to medical suppliers and
medicines of all types
have run out or are in short supply in public hospitals.
The President of the Swaziland Nurses Association Bheki Mamba has
advised health workers not to deal with patients who have the coronavirus. The Saturday Observer
newspaper in Swaziland reported Mamba said government had not identified
quarantine centres and had no strategy in place to deal with the virus. He
added that health workers had not been trained to deal with the virus.
He added this posed a great danger to the lives of health workers.
See also
Swaziland
King buys himself fleet of 15 Rolls-Royce cars but there’s no money for public
ambulances
Swaziland
cancer patients refused treatment because Govt. has not paid hospital bills
More
deaths in Swaziland as govt fails to pay medicine suppliers
Swazi
Royals spend, spend, spend
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