“The people of Swaziland love their king and country, but the conditions that have created this crisis must not be disregarded by South Africa in considering a bailout.”
The Swaziland government has requested as much as $1.45 billion in aid. The country of about 1.4 million people has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world, at 26 percent, and the lowest life expectancy at 32 years. Its unemployment rate is 40 percent and rising, while 70 percent of its population lives on less than $6 per day.
A state of emergency in the country has also curtailed freedom of expression, association and dissent for the past 37 years.
The bishops said the South African government should make the loan conditional on Swaziland’s revocation of the state of emergency, its recognition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its establishment of a “democratic process” for writing a new constitution, and the amendment of the constitution to reinstate “the full range of human rights.”
The conference said the bailout should also require that King Mswati enter into “meaningful dialogue” with his people to “facilitate movement towards true democracy.” No bailout money, the prelates insisted, should go directly or indirectly to fund the monarchy.
The bishops’ concerns echo those of the South Africa government. The underground Swaziland Solidarity Network said Africa’s biggest economy would only agree to a bailout if Mswati allows the return of democratic rule, Reuters reports.
