​ As we celebrate the month of June in remembrance of the Day of the African Child (DAC) which falls on the 16th day of the month, we are celebrating achievements of the children’s rights in Africa as pinned by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child under the theme, ‘Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First’ as commissioned by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
     The events of 1976 Soweto student’s uprising in South Africa in the apartheid era, whereby students marched in protest of the poor education demanding to be taught in their own languages serves as a reminder that children’s rights continue to be trampled upon. Nevertheless, the children in South Africa sacrificed their lives for the freedom of everyone.
     Sadly, such situations continue unabated nowadays. The Sudanese uprising could be reminiscent of that South African era whereby hundreds of protesters including students have been engaged in peaceful demonstrations since April with turn of events being the rising death toll by the day as hundreds have been slain by the Army and thrown into the Nile.
    We at CANGO applaud the decision of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the then OAU who in 1991 declared June 16 as Day of an African Child, an event to be commemorated by all AU member states.
As Africa, we must stand together with and for children affected by life threatening situations of continued sectarian wars and the presence of terrorist organisations pushing children to find themselves armed with weapons and turned into child soldiers against their will. 
     The child who witnesses the killing of the parents, and on daily basis wishes  that s/he could seek their mother’s counsel or hear their father’s laughter one more time; the child armed with weapons and turned into a soldier, itself a crime against humanity, according to international laws; over and above, children and women who are sexually abused during these conflicts are the one who have to live with the psychological scars and effects as they find themselves in such situations.
     These conflicts, no matter their nature, have an impact on children’s rights which include but are not limited to the right to life; the right to live in a family environment; the right to health; the right to education; and the right to survival and development.
   As we commemorate as a continent, we must draw it closer to home. We acknowledge that while the Kingdom of Eswatini is not ravaged by civil wars or armed conflict, the country has its fair share of crises affecting children either socially, politically or economically.
   At policy level, the country has taken positive strides by enacting the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act (2018) and the Child Protection and Welfare Act (2012) which both guarantee and safeguard the rights of all eMaSwati, especially children.
     While having made this commendable progress, the war is half won as a lot still needs to be done in the implementation of regulations guiding these laws.
Children continue to be affected by high levels of poverty, gender-based violence, neglect, lack of access to basic services such as water, education, health and social protection, impacted by HIV/AIDS and many more social ills.
Parents relations and wellbeing of children and failure to make proper decisions to promote the welfare and rights of children have potential dangers undermining the rights and welfare of our children. We are cognisant with the conflicts at family level that have negative ramifications on children’s rights.
     Children raised by violent parents and guardians are prone to emotional abuse and neglect. These leave deep-seething and lasting scars. Child abuse is not limited to bruises and broken bones, it goes further than that to ignoring their needs lack of supervision and other dangerous situations, making them feel worthless which result in serious emotional harm. This is the Eswatini’s child’s conflict.
     The conflict is not only limited between individuals. Couples engulfed by their personal conflict and strive also account for high rates of child abuse. relationships also. Some of these parents may be physically or mentally unable to support and care for their children. At other times, the economic and domestic violence caused by alcohol and drug abuse impair the parent’s ability to safeguard children.  
     While there is an array of issues affecting children at family level, the country’s financial situation leaves the state of health and wellbeing of the child worse-off, and further exposes children to opportunistic preying others who violate children in exchange for a meal a day.
     Therefore, we still hope for the provision of resourced institutions, personnel and programmes to support the comprehensive implementation of these legislations.
     The attempts by government and development partners is well acknowledged. It gives us hope that the country will cover all communities across the four regions with access to justice for children, the rehabilitation of victims of abuse and the protection from harm.
     As stakeholders, let us take a pledge to join hands towards expanding services and institutions for the African child.
 
Follow and support our commemoration activities on the CANGO website, facebook and twitter pages.

21 February 2019
The Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg is urged by the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) to deliver a pro-poor budget in his first budget speech. 
   “CANGO would like to see a budget which is responsive to the needs of the population especially as it addresses poverty, vulnerability of certain groups of the country and of course resources allocated to stimulate the ailing economy. 
In this regards resources to address social services to cater for the needs of the vulnerable is critical,” its Communications Officer Nkosingiphile Myeni said. 

   Myeni said CANGO as an umbrella noted that the budget is an important instrument government use to allocate national resources and have a role as NGOs to engage governments on national budgets and offer an alternative in order to amplify needs of communities in the grassroots they represent. 

   A pro-poor budget, he said, must be related to the extent to which expenditure is aligned to public policy with focus on the high levels of poverty alleviation aligned to the ‘leaving no one behind’ agenda. It is further characterised by significant allocation of resources to sectors which directly reach the poor and vulneurable groups. He said such policies in turn enable the poor to have access to economic, financial and social opportunities to reduce inequality gaps. 

   “It is therefore our hope that there will be significant allocations towards education through provision FPE, scholarships and OVCs, health and agriculture, job-creation as well as social protection to ensure an inclusive growth, we implore government to also allocate resources to institutions such as the Anticorruption Commission in order to fight the corruption.” he said.

   Government should ensure that revenue sources are diversified from the SACU pool to reduce dependency for its revenue as the pool is volatile, Myeni averred. However, increasing taxes in such as a state of the economy might be suicidal for the government. 

   He said the Minister of Finance who may consider increasing business licence fees, sin tax, fuel levy, set up tollgates, motor vehicle and driver’s licence fees and mobile telephone licence fees, to name a few must be done in a manner that don’t overburden tax payers who are already in financial difficulties. The Minister should also focus attention in productivity and human right centred delivery of services. 

   In contrast, he said, government must ensure that new jobs are created. He also said business activity must be encouraged through policies which enable business growth by prioritising SMEs and FDI as well as ensure that businesses which are already in the country stay and expand in order to see its tax-base increase.  

   “Government should also prioritise paying owed, review its tax regime to encourage the sector be of focus There is also a need for the country to focus on youth employment and entrepreneurship and expand accessibility to the youth fund as well as business incubators for youth. 

   He also said government must invest in agriculture in line with the Maputo Declaration where governments pledged to commit 10% of budgets be allocated to developing the agricultural sector to enable subsistent farmers who produce a surplus have access to markets.
   
   “It is time government delivered more with less resources by ensuring that accountability is high,” Myeni said. 

Some of the strategies to be considered

Implementation/Action Relevant Strategy 
1. Strengthen governance Uphold international human-rights based standards, as espoused in international instruments, Constitution. Respect for the Rule of Law and, separation of powers to strengthen accountability
2. Show commitment to eliminating corruption  Allocate resources for the Anti-Corruption Commission to effectively play its role 
3. Reduce the bloated civil service Introduce Early Retirement and freeze all non-essential posts in the civil service
4. Engagement of citizens in the budget-process to ensure relevant and cost-effective budget Implement the 2017/18 Open Budget Survey (OBS) resolutions by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) to improve previous score
5. Sustain social services, including elderly grants, VOCs, FPE and tertiary scholarships
6. Repeal all laws in conflict with the Constitution which have harmful customs and discriminate against women, depriving them of the right to equality before the law to ensure EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW Institute a law review commission 
Codify Swazi Law 
Custom to eradicate inequality and better protect the rights of women
Act upon SDG 5 indicators: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
7. Address the land issue to make land accessible to people in Swazi Nation Land and protect the dignity and human rights of farm-dwellers Implement the land policy in compliance with human rights standards and address Agenda 2030 land-related SDGs, 1, 2, 5, 11 and 15
Pass into law and implement the Farm Dwellers (Amendment) Bill
8. Reduce GBV through an integrated strategy Provide resources to the DPMO for the implementation of Gender policy 
allocate resources for duty bearers, including the police and courts to prosecute
9. Allocate resources to the DPMO to enable it to do civic education and campaigns on the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act (2018) in order to sensitise communities and citizens about the importance of the bill in order to reduce cases of domestic violence and gender-based violence. 
10. Commit to allocating at least 10% of the annual budget towards agriculture Commit to the Maputo Declaration
11. Commit to allocating 15% of the annual budget to improve the Health sector Commit to the Abuja Declaration 
12. Encourage climate smart agriculture Commit to the Paris Agreement
13. Address the issue of undocumented children and strengthen birth registration processes in order to reach out to children who have not been able to get access to FPE and other social services because of lack of Personal Identity Numbers (PIN)
14. Allocate and sustain FPE on age-base of 15 years than grade base (Grade 7) to enable children who have been out of school to still get education even if they start later than the normal age of entry
15. Create and implement a child-friendly campaign on the rights of children in order to make children’s rights be known to both children, parents and guardians.
16. Heed to the recommendations of election observers, local and external, on the recently held elections
17. Provide enough support and capacity towards women to empower them to participate in decision-making structures and remove barriers on women participation Allocate towards the mainstreaming of gender within government 
18. Review the quota on women in political participation from 30% to 50% SADC Protocol on Gender and Development; SDG 5
19. Ensure that EBC personnel are capacitated in equity-base principles from the time of nomination to give women, youth and disabled fare chances on being nominated, elected and represented Allocate resources towards the EBC
Institute a citizen’s budget.
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09 May 2019
MBANE: In a press statement released by Communications Officer Nkosingiphile Myeni on Thursday, CANGO has responded to comments made by the Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane’s dismissal of the credibility of the US State Department report on corruption in the Kingdom of Eswatini as follows:

“The Economic and Budget Forum (EBF) under the auspices of the Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO) is concerned by the alleged Government Press Secretary Mr Percy Simelane’s reactions to the USA-released report highlighting increased levels of corruption in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

“If anything is to go by the news articles carried out in Page 13 of the Times of Swaziland, of Thursday 9 May 2019, the statement by the Press Secretary seemingly denounces that corruption has in fact increased in the country to alarming rates, reaching endemic levels. No amount of spin to positively project the country’s image without acknowledging the reality on the ground that in fact corruption has blown out of proportion can remove such perceptions.
 
“Many events have decried the amount of corruption tolerance. He should just own up.

“This is despite national commitments through signing the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and Related Offences, and the SADC Protocol against Corruption, Prevention of Corruption Act (2007) which established the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Public Procurement Act (2010).

“A national corruption perception survey published in 2017 by the ACC found that 79 percent of respondents perceived government to be corrupt whereas 49 percent believed corruption to be sometimes beneficial. ACC representatives acknowledged a widespread public perception that the ACC was ineffective largely because of a lack of financial and human resources and the general backlog of cases in the court system.

“Also, the events of June 29, 2018 where hundreds of workers’ in demonstration led by TUCOSWA petitioning the government on many grievances including the high levels of corruption and anti-tax hikes; the sentiments by the national police Deputy Commissioner Mumcy Dlamini that E30 million was lost through banking fraud as well as the 2017 Auditor General’s report raising numerous government’s accountability irregularities point out a negative picture and that many perceive corruption to be rampant in the country. 

“In corruption prevention and education awareness efforts, the ACC conducts dozens of sensitisation workshops and meetings around the country, provide educational materials to schools, and conduct broadcasting programmes.

“It is worrying that there is slow prosecution of corrupt individuals. 

“Regarding the alleged comments that Emaswati are among happiest nations in the world, Mr Simelane seems to be living in another country where ordinary people’s struggles do not matter as long as a privileged few must enjoy life.

“Emaswati are facing many challenges. About 70% of the population live below the Dollar a day, there is high youth unemployment, lack of service delivery, elderly grants are delayed and the lack of implementation of decent minimum wage. 

“It is the poor who end up paying the high price if funds initially budgeted for services such as health, education, clean water end up illicitly diverted to the advantage of a greedy few. 

“While it is not uncommon for essential drugs stock outs, delayed social grant payments, to mention a few, often happening, this must not be a norm.  

“We as part of civil society and being cognizant of the struggles of the ordinary people are calling for a national movement against corruption. 

“Concurring with the report, corruption in this country is extremely high and perpetrators should be prosecuted. 

“We advocate for the ACC to be given the necessary resources to effectively do its work. 

“We call upon a responsive justice system, cognizant of the fact that no country can develop if it fails to tackle its challenges head on. 

“The report helps us as a country to reflect on our challenges prompting us to do better, not to dismiss it as a fake report. 

“If nothing is done, the country is not going to be able to achieve Vision 2022,” the statement said.
 
The EBF is a structure under CANGO whose objective is to advocate for a consultative dialogue, citizen participation and engagement mechanisms with national stakeholders in matters of the national economy and budget. EBF aims to strategically influence government budgetary process through activities which promote the principles of human-rights based approach.

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Contact Nkosingiphile Myeni
Communications Officer
2404 4721
​comunications@cango.org.sz