MBABANE – “The country’s healthcare workers have become mortuary attendants because the hospitals have become butcheries.”
This is according to the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) President, Sibongile Mazibuko, who was speaking during the petition delivery to the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration offices yesterday. Mazibuko was part of the mass democratic movement (MDM) members, who included members of Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU). Others were Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and the Political Party Assembly (PPA).
Justified
She justified her statement by explaining that a number of emaSwati were dying, following the shortage of drugs and medical supplies in the various hospitals. Mazibuko wondered what kind of government used force against patients, in their hospital beds, protesting against it. She warned those who were participating in the 2023 General Elections to bear it in mind that they were walking over their dead relatives, who died as a result of the June/July 2021 unrest. “The country is still in mourning and not ready to host elections as there are unresolved issues. Some people who lost their relatives have not had the chance to bury them,” said Mazibuko. She alleged that some of those who died had not been buried as they went missing and were never found.
Suffering
The NNLC president said those who would win the elections would not gain anything out of it but suffering. Mazibuko said now was the time for emaSwati to choose between ‘Baraba and Jesus Christ of Nazareth’, which she described as ‘the elections against those emaSwati who died and the incarcerated MPs’. Mazibuko alleged that after the elections, the incarcerated MPs would be sentenced to 65 years imprisonment. “You have no guns, no weapons but the power to render these elections undemocratic,” she said. TUCOSWA President Bheki Mamba said they were giving the Commission on Human Rights a rope to hang itself through the delivery of the petition. Mamba said the commission would not be able to defend their position if they did not act.
He said with the coming 55th independence celebrations, the situation was going to be even worse in hospitals. Mamba alleged that the health system was not deteriorating due to the lack of funding but a deliberate move by the government that wanted to turn health into a business venture. “In order to be successful in doing that, the government wants to render the public hospitals defunct, so that the public can access services only in the private hospitals,” he alleged. Mamba said health was a right to be enjoyed by all, further urging the nurses’ union to compile data for all deaths that were recorded in the hospitals. He alleged this was genocide.
Explode
Mamba noted that what was currently taking place in the healthcare facilities was a bomb waiting to explode, which government should take note of. He said the health crisis was a recipe for another uprising. The president added that emaSwati were being pushed to choose between life and death as a result of the health crisis.
