The bite of Swaziland’s fiscal crisis claimed the scalp of the country’s Principal Secretary for Defence, John Kunene, who was sidelined on Friday after the army ran out of supplies.
This was the same day that thousands of protesters, among them civil servants and members of political parties, marched on the cabinet as a possible trial run for the looming April 12 action aimed at fostering democratic rule and opposing a 38-year-old decree that bans political parties.
During a pass-out parade for the army on Friday, King Mswati III minced no words that heads would roll following reports that soldiers, especially those stationed along the country’s borders, were no longer receiving their monthly rations.
“I was not even formally informed about this problem,” he said, while protesters in the capital city marched to deliver a list of demands to the prime minister’s office.
Soldiers monthly receive free packages of food that include mielie meal, samp, beans, cooking oil, vegetables, oats, chicken and other meat varieties
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At 10pm on the same day, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini announced a reshuffle of principal secretaries that sidelined Kunene.
King Mswati III’s decisive action followed the six-hour peaceful mass action protest that attracted thousands of demonstrators who were calling on the prime minister and his cabinet to vacate office.
Demands put on paper included the nationalisation of Tibiyo Taka Ngwane (TTN), a royal conglomerate established through donations from the Swazi people. TTN does not pay taxes because its managing director, Themba Dlamini, claimed its more than 20 subsidiary companies were taxed.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had indicated in its structural adjustment programme that a tax on TTN would make a difference in the national coffers.
The government froze salary increments after almost going bankrupt last year, following a 60 percent reduction in revenue from Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) receipts, which traditionally provide that much of the tiny kingdom’s fiscal budget.
“Civil servants have to make a decision between getting a reduced salary or 100 percent of their wages and get zero by the end of the year,” Finance Minister Majozi Sithole told economic experts last month.
The proposed wage cuts are part of the government’s Fiscal Adjustment Roadmap (FAR), a recovery plan backed by the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF is working closely with the government on a possible staff-monitored programme.
According to the IMF, the budget deficit is expected to reach 13 percent of gross domestic profit (GDP) in the fiscal year 2010/11 compared with 7.1 percent of GDP in 2009/10.
The widening of the fiscal deficit, noted the IMF in its March 1 statement, was mainly driven by a large shortfall in revenue transfers from Sacu, a 4.5 percent unbudgeted wage increase granted to civil servants and politicians in April 2010, and the supplementary budget of 350 million lilangeni (R342m) to finance expenditure overruns for the controversial Sikhuphe International Airport.
“The 4.5 percent increment is rightfully ours and government can’t take it back,” fumed civil servant Phumelele Zulu.
Through FAR, the government also proposed the freezing of annual salary increments until the situation returned to normal.
Friday’s demonstrations, widely supported by Cosatu, the ANC Youth League and the SA Communist Party, were led by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, National Public Service and Allied Workers’ Union, the National Civil Servants Union and the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.
By yesterday, there was no response from Swaziland’s government concerning Friday’s petition, except an assurance by Public Service Principal Secretary Evart Madlopha that the prime minister “would respond to their (demonstrators’) concerns”.
The Swaziland government is going ahead with plans to celebrate the silver jubilee to mark King Mswati III’s 25-year rule later this year at a date that has yet to be confirmed. - Business Report