[Swaziland] Swazis just too poor

from African News Dimension

More than half the Swazi population is so poor it lives on at least E128 per month, according to statistics provided by the Swaziland Household Income and Expenditure Survey (SHIES).

The situation has deteriorated from that of a survey conducted in 1995 which said 66 percent of the country’s population was living on less than E71 per month.

This was disclosed by Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, the Director of the Co-ordination Assembly of Non Governmental Organisations (CANGO) during the World Press Freedom Day at Hlatikulu yesterday.

Ndlangamandla said statistics showed that the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer in the country due to the uneven distribution of wealth.

“Swaziland also suffers from a highly skewed income distribution where the richest 20 percent consumed 59 percent of national income compared with the poorest who consumed 3.9 percent in 1995. This was further confirmed by the 2001 SHIES report as the richest 20 percent consumed 56.4 percent whilst the poorest 20 percent consumed 4.3 percent,” he said.

Ndlangamandla said poverty was also found to be worst amongst the seasonal workers and self employed and 77 percent among those dependent on subsistence economic activities.

He said women were the worst affected, depicting the low status of women in society. At least 63 percent of female-headed households were poor.

“This situation looks gloomy. What is encouraging is that there is consensus that poverty is structural, inhuman and that extreme poverty must be eradicated. To this end, the global community committed itself through the millennium development goals to halve extreme poverty by 2015. This is possible if there is political will,” he said.

Ndlangamandla said it was unwarranted for donors to stop funding initiatives in the Kingdom whilst claiming that the country is a lower middle income.

“How can such a country where a quarter of population is in food insecurity, worst affected by HIV and AIDS, high unemployment, increasing number of child headed households effectively fight poverty without donor assistance”.

The Director said the media had an important role to play in spreading information about the poverty situation.

Source: Swazi Observer