CPS logo.png Mswati regime must be forced to act on drought disaster 24 November 2015 The Communist Party of Swaziland demands that the Mswati regime declares the entire country a disaster area owing to the severe drought that is hitting much of Africa hard. Emergency measures are crucial to save the population, particularly the very young and very old, from the effects of the drought. Swaziland’s ravaged resources and depleted human capital, owing to decades of enforced underdevelopment, are making the country doubly exposed to the destructive effects of the drought. The regime’s self-enrichment at the expense of the country is a main reason why the impacts of disease (HIV-Aids and TB), poverty and insufficient infrastructure are wreaking havoc on our people. Livestock are already severely depleted due to the drought. Priority must be given to immediate human needs for water, including if necessary at the expense of livestock farming and the sugar plantations. Tanked water must be delivered to all communities in need and water rationing established. Emergency food aid must be sought from feasible potential donors, in particular the People’s Republic of China. There is a pressing need for short, medium and long-term planning to deal with drought, including revamped bilateral relations for food aid and infrastructural aid, as could be done with the PRC. Drought and famine exacerbate inequality, and the rich tend to benefit the most as poorer people sell off livestock and land to make ends meet. Strong measures are needed to prevent water wastage on gardens in wealthy areas, and particularly at royal residences. Pressure must be put on the Mswati regime to properly allocate the full budget amount pledged to agriculture, 10 per cent of the state budget. So far only 3.5 per cent of the budget (or E1,5 billion) has been channelled to agriculture. This budget could be used for emergency measures to tackle the drought and assist hard hit agricultural communities. The CPS appreciates that the El Niño–driven drought is plaguing all countries of our region. We do urge, however, special attention to be give to the situation in Swaziland due to its particular vulnerability before the drought leads to a full blown famine. Contact: Kenneth Kunene General Secretary Mobile: +27 72 594 3971 Email: cpswa....@gmail.com El Niappreciates that the El Ni~Nino stigations are needed to see if Swaziland could benefit from the Highlands Water Project in
--- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus -- -- NEW!!!! SSN FORUM IS ON FACEBOOK!!!! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum Google Group. Visit the group home page at http://groups.google.com/group/sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum for more options, pages and files. To post to the group, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum@googlegroups.com or reply to this message. To unsubscribe, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
