Swaziland’s tertiary students are planning to march in protest of government’s proposed allowance cuts, saying this will affect many poorer families.
Cash has once again flown to Swazi royal family as social spending stutters along in a country which is near financial collapse.
Swaziland is on course to get R2.4-billion from South Africa without any political conditions via a one-off back-door payment.
Drug supplies are running low and a lack of funding could reverse important progress made in Swaziland’s HIV/Aids crisis.
<b>Louise Redvers</b> reports that ordinary people are losing patience because of the worsening economic crisis — but the king has no answers.
The IMF has warned that Swaziland’s fiscal crisis has reached a critical point and there is a high risk that the kingdom will be unable to pay wages.
In the face of the threat of load shedding, Eskom is being challenged to cut back on exports.
Coca-Cola has been accused of propping up Swaziland’s King Mswati III, said by activists to be looting national wealth at the expense of his subjects.
<b>Craig McKune</b> takes a look at all the hands that were caught in the cookie jar this year.
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/ 21 November 2011
A senior official has denied reports that King Mswati’s 12th wife has been banished from the royal household after quarreling with a guard.
The Swazi government is being tight-lipped over details of a bailout package that has enabled the tiny kingdom to stay afloat.
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/ 18 November 2011
Swaziland’s economic woes are intensifying as it struggles to meet its civil servant payroll, forcing it to borrow money from its central bank.
Swaziland’s economy could collapse within six months if drastic steps are not taken to reduce the country’s enormous wage bill and spiralling deficit.
Swaziland’s King Mswati III will fund a bailout of his government in a manoeuvre to acquire control of the local firms at knock-down prices.
The IMF says Swaziland’s economic growth will grind to near zero this year as the government’s fiscal crisis rocks banks and private businesses.
Cash-strapped Swaziland has pulled together enough loans from local banks to raise the $43-million needed to pay civil servants.
King Mswati III enters ritual seclusion as cash crisis deepens.
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/ 3 November 2011
Mesuli Mamba (29) is a prison warden and collage artist — roles he says complement each other well.
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/ 3 November 2011
A young designer is redefining what it means to be authentically Swazi.
The painter, Ray Berman, a South African struggle exile in Swaziland, has become one of the country’s best-know artists.
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/ 11 October 2011
Leaked videos obtained by the <i>M&G</i> show peaceful gatherings of Swazis, which contrasts with hints of the harsh police response that ensued.
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/ 11 October 2011
SA’s loan to Swaziland has been delayed because King Mswati III seems reluctant to accept South Africa’s conditions, which include economic reforms.
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/ 27 September 2011
King Mswati III is unhappy that Greece is being bailed out by the IMF, not Swaziland.
The International Monetary Fund should be helping impoverished Swaziland, not calling for budget cuts, King Mswati III said on Wednesday.
King Mswati III says the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must come to Swaziland’s rescue, just as they did for Greece and Portugal.
Cosatu says Swaziland will never be able to repay the R2.4-billion loan from the Reserve Bank, and South Africa should call it a gift.
Hundreds of Swazi protesters returned to the streets a day after violent clashes with police, as a funding crisis shut down schools in the kingdom.
Security forces and protesters clashed in two towns on Wednesday during a week of planned protests demanding an end to Swaziland’s absolute monarchy.
Swazi police have arrested Cosatu’s deputy president Zingiswa Losi after breaking up a pro-democracy march in Manzini with rubber bullets and teargas.
More than 1 000 people marched on Tuesday through Swaziland’s Manzini in one of the largest protests yet against Africa’s last absolute monarch.
Protesters on Monday danced and sang freedom songs in the streets of Swaziland’s capital Mbabane, at the start of a planned week of protests.
The Swaziland government has sought a court injunction to block a week of planned pro-democracy protests where political parties are banned.