Swaziland in the News

Our Country Director forwarded these two articles on to us on March 28th. Interesting, interesting. Not a word of these protests are reaching my community. Peace Corps is, of course, preparing us if something should happen on the 12th, but it is highly unlikely. The third item here is the announcement and bio of our new Country Director, Steve Driehaus from Ohio.

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"Swaziland: Officials Cut Salaries"

Swaziland’s cabinet agreed to 10 percent salary cuts, a week after a huge pro-democracy protest in the tiny nation’s usually quiet capital. The cuts, in addition to three-year salary freezes for cabinet ministers, will save the government $34.9 million over the next three years, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini said Thursday. An antimonarchy movement has gained momentum since the government proposed freezing civil service wages while King Mswati III gave himself a 24 percent increase in his budget allocation. The proposed wage freezes brought 7,000 demonstrators to Swaziland’s capital city of Mbabane, one of the largest protests ever seen in sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. The crowd marched to the prime minister’s office and was peaceful.

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"Swazis call for change"

A groundswell of anti-government feeling, including calls for an uprising next month, has gripped Swaziland after more than 8000 people staged a demonstration last week demanding that Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini and his Cabinet resign.

The march - the largest of its kind since the country's general strike in 1997 and comprising about 6000 teachers -- brought the capital of Mbabane to a standstill and sent a strong message to King Mswati III that his subjects want change. Now there is talk of a major uprising taking place on April 12, the anniversary of the controversial 1973 decree that outlawed political parties and made Swaziland the autocracy it is today.

Maxwell Dlamini, president of the Swaziland National Union of Students, one of the few organisations to identify itself publicly with the April 12 campaign, which began anonymously on Facebook, said the plan was to stage "an Egyptian-style occupation of Mbabane".

"We chose this date because it was when our freedoms were taken away from us; now we want to have those freedoms back," Dlamini said. "We're planning the biggest demonstration possible and we'll occupy the streets of Mbabane until our demands are met, this government resigns and we have democracy for the people of Swaziland."

Events in North Africa may offer a model, but the country's own economic crisis is the immediate catalyst. A 40% drop in revenue payments from the Southern African Customs Union has plunged the landlocked country into a fiscal crisis, with the central government deficit on course to reach 13% of gross domestic product by April.

In a country where 40% of citizens are unemployed, 69% live in poverty and one in four between the ages of 15 and 49 years are HIV positive, the shrinking of public services is keenly felt.

The government, led by Mswati, is now actively engaged in crisis talks with the International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank in a bid to secure an emergency loan to plug the widening deficit. Muzi Masuku, Swaziland programme manager for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, said Swazis were starting to feel the pinch financially.

"There has long been a tradition among labour movements and students to challenge the government, but not so much among ordinary people," he said. "But now, with the economic situation, more people are starting to connect their problems to governance and there is growing support for change." Masuku said people in rural areas were starting to voice their concerns, which was something new in a country where most fear challenging the government.

Organised by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, last Friday's march was officially authorised and passed peacefully, with no arrests of protesters.


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Steven L. "Steve" Driehaus is the former U.S. Representative for Ohio's 1st congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. He previously served as the Minority Whip in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Driehaus, a 1984 graduate and class president of Elder High School in Cincinnati (the same high school his father graduated from in 1951), studied political science at Miami University while earning a B.A. in 1988 and holds an Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Indiana University earned in 1995. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal where he worked with village groups and local schools as a natural resource volunteer to promote sustainable environmental practices from 1988 to 1990.

Driehaus then served as Associate Director of the Center for International Education and Development Assistance at Indiana University. While serving in this role, he coordinated the South African Internship Program, which was sponsored by the United States Information Agency that is the largest professional exchange program between the United States and the "new" South Africa.

Driehaus formerly directed and now serves as a consultant to the Community Building Institute, a collaborative effort of Xavier University and United Way & Community Chest that promotes citizen-led, asset-based community development. Driehaus is a member of the Price Hill Civic Club and serves on the Board of Seton High School. He was also a part time political science instructor at Xavier University.

Steve will assume Country Director duties after completing Overseas Staff Training and being sworn-in in late July or early August.