Communist Party ofSwaziland: Mswati’s HIV-Aids idiocy highlights our bitter
struggle Swaziland’s absolute ruler, [i]MswatiIII, adds a grotesque twist to
Marx’s observation that history repeatsitself, first as tragedy and then as
farce. Mswati and his regime manage to combine both qualities in equalmeasure:
the tragedy of autocracy imposing poverty, disease and degradation onan
oppressed population; the farce of the bumbling Mswati’s vanityconstruction
projects, deluded self-image of omnipotent divinity, graspinggreed. The latest
demonstration of this tragi-comic narrative isMswati’s declaration that he
would “personally” eradicateHIV-Aids from Swaziland by 2022, a deadline he has
already set for the countryattaining ‘first world’ status. Swaziland is now
classified as a lower-middle income country, ranking141 out of 187 on the Human
Development Index. The richest 20% of the population own and control
practically all thecountry’s wealth. The IMF – hardly a progressive social
policy advocate – haslong observed in its country reports on Swaziland that
spending on the royalfamily drains the economy, and that there is a need for
more social spending(health, education) to nurture the economy. There are for
now no high-income economies in Africa, by World Bankmeasurements, so Mswati’s
bombastic first-world status pledge looks bothridiculous and cruel. Farce and
tragedy. Swaziland’s economic prospects are hampered by many things, butthe
main one in terms of our people’s capacity is the HIV-Aids pandemic.Some 26.5%,
or about 290,000 of our population have the virus, the highest ratein the
world. But the 26.5% figure is an average for a total 1.1 million of our
people.The prevalence of HIV-Aids among 19-24 year-olds in Swaziland was 40.8%
in2010.More than 80% of people with HIV-Aids also have TB. Anti-retroviral
treatment is reckoned to reach 85% with advanced HIVinfection. But many
thousands do not receive treatment at all. And this 85% figure is too neat. It
is the regime’s figure forhow well it is doing. It doesn’t take into account
zigzags in theavailability of ARVs, the numbers of people who fatefully drop
out of thetreatment programme, the effects of inadequate counselling, the
numbers who goto South Africa to receive treatment. Mswati’s nonchalant pledge
on eliminating HIV-Aids in our countryover the next seven years is meaningless.
Last year, 2014, the regime pledged to cutmother-to-child-transmission, or
PMTCT, of HIV by 95% by this year, 2015. Thiswould have required a great
acceleration of earlier ostensible PMTCTcommitments and stands as an empty
Mswati promise. The same goes for his 2022 HIV-Aids eradication deadline.
Andhere’s why. One reason – the farce – is that Mswati either thinks thatnone
of our people who have HIV-Aids will be alive after seven years, or thatthere
will be a universal cure by that date and so everyone will be fine.Assuming
that treatment is properly available, the hundred thousand or sopeople on ARV
treatment will, we hope, still be with us after 2022, and theywill still need
treatment and care. Mswati’s cut-off date is asnonsensical as is his rich
country-status fantasy. The real reason – the tragedy – runs deeper. We often
think that channelling all of Mswati’s ill-gotten cashto public needs would
solve our problems as a potential ‘developmentalstate’. But at most, this would
restore some balance and fairness to thestate budgeting and fiscal process. And
it would unleash a steady flow of muchneeded moola into the treasury. But it
would not solve all our problems, notleast in combating HIV-Aids. If all the
money that was wasted on the monarchy, all the funds wronglydiverted to the
bank accounts of the king, his wives and children, and hisextended family; if
all the revenue from land and resources held by the kind“in trust for the Swazi
nation”; if all the Swazi money held by theking in foreign tax havens and
secret bank accounts – if all that was putwhere it belongs, into the Swazi
economy under a system of democraticrepresentation and accountability. Then at
most we might be in a betterposition to take charge of most of the spending on
anti-retroviral treatment(ART), which currently is some 60% dependent on
foreign donors. We might also be able to cut costs of treatment by opting
forWHO-recommended first and second line combinations. Currently,
treatmentexpenditure in Swaziland works out at about $509 per person per year
for theroughly 110 000 people on ARVs. It should be much less, as little as
$172 perperson per year for first-line single pill combinations, and about $303
forsecond-line treatment. According to Forbes, in 2008 Mswati was worth $200
million (now E2.3billion). ARV treatment costs from national and international
sources runs toabout E6.2 billion ($56 million) a year. Mswati’s savings would
not cover this for long. But if we were tochannel the E550 million ($50
million) Mswati counts as personal income,according to Forbes, and if we were
to ensure that Swaziland followed the WHOrecommendations on affordable
treatment regimes, we would be able to severelydent treatment expenditure. And
thisonly concerns pharmaceutical treatment costs. It doesn’t touch on thecosts
of the rest of the work to tackle HIV-Aids, all of which needsoverhauling and
improving. The point is that our HIV-Aids pandemic is a massive battle. It is
onethat demands vast resources and strategizing that will take years to enact
sowe can gradually reduce the incidence and burden of the disease. As the CPS,
wedo not trust the Mswati regime’s pledges of solving this or that facet ofthe
crisis by any particular date. We have seen the regime’s budgetary deceptions
all too often inthe past to trust that the information it provided – especially
thestatistics and projections – for the Swaziland Global Response
ProgressReporting 2014 (UNAIDS). The regime plays fast and loose with revenue
and donated cash. We haveevery reason to doubt its rosy descriptions of what it
is achieving in combatingHIV-Aids. Our emergence from the pandemic requires
emergency action geared towholly scientific and candid approaches, and much of
this is impossible as longas the autocracy remains in power. Mswati’s asinine
remarks on ending the pandemic in seven yearscomically unmask a hard reality
that we are still very far from beating. END By CPS
[i] Africa’s last absolute monarch is more wellknown for his relationships with
women (he had at least 15 wives at the lastcount), and for his flamboyant
parties. He turned 46 recently, with hisbirthday coinciding with the Christian
Easter holidays. Not willing to sharethe spotlight with Jesus, King Mswati
postponed his birthday celebrations for five days so that a proper national
holiday could be held in his honor.American R&B artist Erykah Badu performed
for the King during the expensivecelebrations, irking thousands of human
rightactivists. Reason: The poverty rate is escalating –more than 65% of the
Swaziland’s population gets by on less than $1.25 aday, while unemployment
rates are as high as 40% — but the King remainsunaffected. The King is one of
Africa’s wealthiest royals. His personalnet worth is at least $50 million,
based on the annual $50 million salary thathe is paid out of government
coffers. He also controls TibiyoTakaNgwane,an investment holding company that
owns stakes in sugar refining giants UbomboSugar and Royal Swaziland Sugar
Corporation (RSSC), dairy company Parmalat Swaziland,spirits manufacturer
Swaziland Beverages and hotel chain Swazi Spa Holdings.The company has assets
worth over $140 million, but he holds it in trust forthe people of Swaziland.
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[SSN Forum] Mswati's HIV AIDS idiocy
'Cyril Masilela' via Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:39:22 -0800
- [SSN Forum] Mswati... Communist Party of Swaziland
- [SSN Forum] M... 'Cyril Masilela' via Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum
