Swazi civil servants took to the streets this week in a strike organised by the national association of civil servants, who were demanding a 4% wage increase as well as housing allowances. This follows strikes by teachers and nurses which have taken place in the past few weeks.
The Swaziland government maintains that its wage bill is already eating deep into its pockets, but Finance Minister Majozi Sithole revealed during this year’s budget presentation that corruption was costing the government between R30-million and R40-million a month.
Last week the International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report titled Swaziland: The Clock is Ticking. The report says: “While such waste is not the cause of national poverty, it steals resources from what should be priority areas for government spending.”
The report details the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions’s challenge to the Industrial Relations Act, which curtailed trade union activity. The International Labour Organisation had to assist the government in drafting a new Act that allows organised labour to engage in protest action.
The ICG report accuses, among others, South Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union of paying insufficient attention to the problems in Swaziland.
It urges South Africa, as Swaziland’s major trading partner, to exert pressure through the South African Customs Union and SADC to encourage Swaziland to implement its principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.
The United States and the European Community should use their economic leverage to promote democracy by indicating that trade preferences and developmental assistance will be tied to political reforms, the report stated.