Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 31, 2006
MBABANE, 31 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - Government is blaming budgetary constraints for both its inability to provide education for the growing ranks of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and its failure to pay grants to widows and the elderly.
Health and social Welfare Minister Njabulo Mabuza told parliament recently, "The financial control advised that there were technical problems, and therefore it was not possible to pay the elderly," the latest grant, although he did not elaborate on the problems which had prevented its distribution.
Two-thirds of the country's about 1 million people live on US$2 or less day and many of those aged 60 years or older rely on the government's quarterly pay-out of R240 ($32), or R80 ($10.50) a month, to subsist, while bearing the burden of caring for HIV/Aids orphans. UNAIDS has put HIV/AIDS prevalence at 33 percent among sexually active adults, the highest in the world. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), by 2010, Swaziland will have over 120,000 orphans.
Mabuza could not tell MPs when the stipends, which are the only cash income received by most of the nation's elderly, would be resumed.
Earlier this year government announced to much fanfare a $234.7 million National Plan of Action (NPA) seeking to address the health and education needs of OVC and coordinate the efforts of NGOs and government agencies, to prioritise resources and prevent duplication.
Ministry of Education principal secretary Goodman Kunene blamed the unexpectedly large number of vulnerable children for draining available funds, although accurate government statistics of the numbers of OVC and elderly are not readily available. OVC and the elderly are supposed to register in the chiefdoms where they reside, or at government offices in urban centres.
Grants to primary and secondary schools to pay for the fees of OVC ended when government said it ran out of money for the programme, the lack of funds meaning that OVC hoping to sit for their year-end final examinations will not be able to do so, as there is no money available to pay the external examination fees.
Although some school headmasters have said they will forego graduation and academic awards ceremonies and use the money saved to assist OVC in finishing their academic year.
The finance ministry recently reported to parliament that almost $7 million is lost monthly through corruption, while the agricultural ministry told the legislature that it did not have funds to pay staff salaries.
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