Swaziland Final Presentation

Problems Swaziland is facing today

Background

Swaziland is a small landlocked nation surrounded on all sides by South Africa and on the east, it borders Mozambique. The Swazi nation came from Mozambique during the Bantu migration, but fled from the Pongola River valley in KwaZulu Natal in the 19^th century which was their original home. They fled under the leadership of Sobhuza I to the Ezulwini Valley which is now known as Swaziland today[1]. Under the reign of Sobhuza I they were able to drive away the Sotho groups making Sobhuza I the most powerful ruler in the area. Sobhuza I was a talented diplomat and warrior making him able to avoid many conflicts with the Mfecane and Zulu groups, and he reigned until 1868 leaving Swaziland secure.

Colonization

However, the security of Swaziland came into question later in the 1800’s when European settlers, traders, missionaries and hunters began moving into the area making it their home [2]. The heaviest influence was from the British who annexed them in 1877 and even though they were ensured their independence by the Swaziland Convention of 1881 that was just paper. In 1894, they became a protectorate of the Transvaal Colony and later after the Second Anglo Boer War was under British control. Swaziland would remain under British control until 1968 under British control it was relatively peaceful, but after gaining independence Sobhuza II they were still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations and the king. After gaining their independence the constitution the British had created was suspended by Sobhuza II in 1973 and created a new one in 1977 making him the absolute ruler of Swaziland[3]. Sobhuza II remained in power until 1982 when King Mswati III came into power with his self-elected advisors.

Problems Begin

By 1992 things in Swaziland were beginning to change even while under the rule of Great Britain they still lived a relatively calm life not many quarrels, but after gaining their independence and King Mswati III taking over things turned for the worse. Severe drought plagued Swaziland and Swaziland is known for their natural resources especially their forests. However, in 1992 due to the drought their crops struggled, and the country’s cattle had died during the drought and half of their population relied on international food aid. Along with the drought came political unrest in the country in the 1990’s there were riots and protests especially by the Swaziland Youth Congress who were not happy with the government. The people wanted to rid their nation of the absolute monarchy that was established under King Mswati III and set up a democracy. The Youth Congress set fire to the national assembly in 1995 with strikes becoming a normal occurrence[4]. King Mswati III had and still is promising to make changes to the government but so far has not kept his word, and has in fact down the opposite. In 1997, some of King Mswati’s powers were reduced but he still predominately holds most of the power. He has banned opposing parties which in turn just causes the union to continue more strikes and bans on imported goods. The result is King Mswati III holds the power and no one has a way to really stop him. We continue to see droughts occur the most recent one in 2002 where the UN had to get involved and give food this drought had continued into 2004 where it was declared a humanitarian crisis[5]. Unfortunately, the droughts, disease, and the King are what Swaziland’s biggest problems are with AIDS and the King at the top of the list.

As I explained before the droughts have caused a shortage of water and being a nation that is landlock with no major water sources droughts hit them hard. The droughts cause the water to become scarce, crops to fail, and the cattle to die. So, with the droughts brings on sickness and disease. Swaziland has the highest incident rate of TB which is Tuberculosis at 7% but the disease that is the most prevalent is HIV at 31% of the those who have Tuberculosis 80% of them are also infected with HIV. This makes Swaziland the world’s highest prevalence rated for HIV-infected adults[6]. In fact, King Mswati III made a law prohibiting men have sex with teenage girls for 5 years to stop the spread of AIDS. There is a dance called the Umhlanga or “Reed Dance” that occurs every year and is an eight-day ceremony. At the reed dance the girls who participate cut reeds and present them to the queen mother and dance. The stipulation is you must be a virgin and unmarried to participate, and before they participate they must be checked to see if they are still virgins. This dance to supposed to preserve girl’s chastity, pay tribute to the queen mother, and produce solidarity by working together[7]. On the last two days of this ceremony the king attends and is in fact able to pick one of the girls to be his next wife because polygamy is practiced there. Another reason HIV/AIDS is so high and the King created the no sex with teen girls law.

The final problem we see with Swaziland is the King himself. While the poverty level is so high in Swaziland due to the droughts, and lack of food King Mswati III lives lavishly even considered one of the top 15 richest monarchs in the world. He acts as if he is benevolent and his word is all if any opposition occurs he will put them in jail. He has no care in the world and women hope for a fling with their King in hopes to get out of poverty[8]. There are many problems in Swaziland and without taking King Mswati III out of power or a change of heart for him the people of Swaziland will continue to suffer. There are groups however as far as disease and control are concern that have come to Swaziland to deal with the many medical problems in the country. One group is the Luke Commission a medical missions group that I hope you will all pray for them in their battle in helping this nation physically and spiritually.

Bibliography

"CULTURAL RESOURCES: Swazi Culture." Swaziland National Trust Commission. n.d. http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/umhlanga.asp (accessed February 7, 2017).

"Global Health- Swaziland." CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. n.d. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/swaziland/default.htm (accessed February 7, 2017).

"History of Swaziland." History World. n.d. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad30 (accessed February 7, 2017).

"Major problems facing Swaziland." AricaW Africa of the World. n.d. http://www.africaw.com/major-problems-facing-swaziland-today (accessed February 7, 2017).

"Swaziland." South African History Online. n.d. http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/swaziland (accessed February 7, 2017).

https://youtu.be/0UzFFInJ9lc

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[1] South African History Online. http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/swaziland (accessed February 7, 2017)

[2] South African History Online. http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/swaziland (accessed February 7, 2017)

[3] South African History Online. http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/swaziland (accessed February 7, 2017)

[4] History World. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad30 (accessed February 7, 2017)

[5] South African History Online. http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/swaziland (accessed February 7, 2017)

[6] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/swaziland/default.htm (accessed February 7, 2017)

[7] Swaziland National Trust Commission. http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/umhlanga.asp (accessed February 7, 2017)

[8] Africa and the World. http://www.africaw.com/major-problems-facing-swaziland-today (accessed February 7, 2017)

British succession

Swaziland is a small nation on the borders of Mozambique and South Africa. Swaziland was first discovered by the Nguni clans who were originally from Eastern Africa and moved to southern Mozambique and eventually into modern day Swaziland in the 15th century. Then in the 1830's the Swazi's had their first contact with the Boers and the British where most of the land was given to the Transvaal Boers and later in 1881 the Pretoria Convention for the settlement of Transvaal defined Swaziland's boundaries and independence. Then in 1903 Britain seized control of Swaziland until Swaziland gained its independence again in 1968.

They really do not have any struggles politically besides South Africa trying to gain land in Swaziland due to the forest and other resources, but the only tensions that Swaziland suffers from is with the Europeans especially the British over land successions.

Bibliography

"Swaziland." Countries and their Cultures. n.d. http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Swaziland.html (accessed March 6, 2017).

Missions

When looking up information on missions in Swaziland I will be honest not much popped up which was frustrating to say the least, but what I did find was the earliest reported missionaries were in 1844. The missionaries that came to Swaziland were the Wesleyans who though they had a late start became the most dominant missionary group in Swaziland. Their churches started out small but continued to grow and expand over the years, and later in the 1920's we see the Catholics show up in Swaziland. There was a gentlemen's agreement among the missionaries since there were so many that they would take away any converts from each other.

With Swaziland a predominately Christian nation we continue to see missionaries in the small nation, but more medical missions. One of the biggest reasons for this is because of HIV/Aids this small nation has the highest levels of HIV cases in the world. So you see medical missions popping up to help combat this by treating those with HIV and teaching them ways to prevent getting Aids by changing their lifestyles from a spiritual perspective. These medical missions treat other problems as well since affordable medical care is hard to come by. One medical missions I follow is the Luke Commission because a friend of mine works for them. The miracles I been able to read about and the smiles they bring to those people is amazing and I hope God continues to bless them and help them grow to help save more people for his kingdom.

Bibliography

Swaziland Digital Archives. n.d. http://sntc.org.sz/sdphotos/photo.asp?pid=626 (accessed February 26, 2017).

The Luke Commision Compassionate Medicine. n.d. http://lukecommission.org/ (accessed February 26, 2017).

First Contacts

So Swaziland had initial contact with the Europeans in the 1830's specifically the British as the Boers who were Dutch from northern Africa. I could not find the main reasons for the British in coming but they were already in South Africa at this point and were taking up land in Swaziland. One of Swaziland's main natural resource is their forest so this  and territorial expansion could have been the reason for them coming to Swaziland. Relations between Swaziland and the British had been strained because of this land succession and the administration from Britain.

The British appeared under Mswati's reign after his death the Swazis, British, and South Africans reached agreements on independence, resources, authority, and security. The end result was South Africa had control from 1894-1902 when the British took over. The British remained in control for over 20 years under Queen Regent Lobatsibeni, Sobhuza II  Swaziland established its first legislative body where in 1944 it was said only the King or chief had the authority over Swaziland.

So in the 1960's during the apartheid Britain expected Swaziland to become apart of South Africa and worried the increase in racial discrimination would cause problems for them so they began preparing Swaziland for Independence. So on September 6, 1968 Swaziland declared their independence from Britain.



Bibliography

"A Brief History of Swaziland." about education. n.d. http://africanhistory.about.com/od/swaziland/p/SwazilandHist1.htm (accessed February 20, 2017).

"Swaziland." Countries and their Cultures. n.d. http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Swaziland.html (accessed February 20, 2017 ).

Natural Resources and Trade

Swaziland has many natural resources but the ones they are most known for are their forest and coal.

The forest of Swaziland are known for their pine and eucalyptus and home to some of the largest planted forest spanning 397,839 acres.

The main colliery in Swaziland is the Maloma colliery and it produces anthracite

There are many other natural resources such as asbestos, gold, diamonds, quarry stone, talc, clay, cassiterite, and hydropower.

The forest in Swaziland has been the biggest change over the years in the fact they have decreased while the number in other countries in South Africa have increased in 1990 it was said there were 160,000 by 1995 135,000 and that number has for the most part stayed the same. These forest help create financial capital for Swaziland. However, South Africa is the main driving force for domestic commerce, and the most developed distribution routes connect to South Africa. Even in foreign trade most imports originated or were transit through South Africa.

Bibliography

Bikalemesa, John Muhaise. "Natural Resources of Swaziland." Fortune of Africa. n.d. http://fortuneofafrica.com/swaziland/2014/02/07/natural-resources-of-swaziland/ (accessed February 13, 2017).

Gale, Thomas. Swaziland. n.d. http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/africa/swaziland-political-geography/swaziland#DOMESTIC_TRADE (accessed February 13, 2017).

Industrial Tree Plantations Invading Eastern & Southern Africa. n.d. http://wrm.org.uy/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-10-Plantations-in-ES-Africa-TW-WRM-med-screen.pdf (accessed February 13, 2017).

Swaziland Religion

Swaziland is predominately a Christian nation with about 40% of its population as Zionist. Zionist are a mix of Christian and indigenous ancestral worship. Roman Catholicism makes up 20% of the nation and 10% Muslim. There are many other Christian religions practiced in Swaziland, but the few I named are the main ones.

In going back to religion and some of their practices many in Zwaziland go to the tinyanga pictured above which are traditional healers those who use natural medicines and rituals for their cures. The Diviners known as tangoma are said to be more powerful than healers and are possessed.

Also witchcraft and sorcery are big in Swaziland pictured above is a witchdoctor and a snake for a ritual.

Finally a strange ritual that goes along with the witchcraft and sorcery they have in Swaziland is the practice of Muti murders. This is where animals or people are killed for their body parts for spells and medicines.

One of the most important traditions to them though is the practice in staying in touch with their ancestors dealing with the supernatural. The head male of the home is the one who stays in contact with their ancestors.

Bibliography

"Swaziland." Countries and their Cultures. n.d. http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Swaziland.html (accessed February 6, 2017).

"Swaziland-Religions." Nations Encyclopedia. n.d. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Swaziland-RELIGIONS.html (accessed February 6, 2017).

Swaziland Art and Music

Swaziland being the small country it is may not have a crazy art collection or well known music, but they do have a place called the Nsangwini Rock Shelter is the biggest example of San art in the country and the most comprehensive display in Swaiziland.

It is said that 4,000 years ago the San people used the area for spiritual rituals and recording important moments of their lives here. Even the most publicized image is from the Nsangwini Rock Shelter. It a painting of two winged creatures that are part human part insect or bird. So what is interesting about this is that you have to go outside to see it and not in a museum like most art.

Nsangwini Bird Men Cave Art, Photographer: Bob Forrester

A Tradition that is known for its controversy is the annual Reed Dance. This tradition is where the virgins of Swaziland dance in front of the palace for their king basically nude with reeds. This tradition is based that no one woman will have intercourse until they are 18 and a chance for the king to choose a new wife. This dance has been under scrutiny due to the graphic nature of it and what it really stands for.

As I am learning more and more about this country is the strange traditions they have in their country that may be offensive, degrading, and controversial to them this is normal. I like being able to learn about other countries to get a different perspective on things. This traditional dance I am very thankful we do not have.

Bibliography

James, Jheri St. Common Ground 191- Journal Swaziland. n.d. http://commonground191.com/journal/swaziland.htm (accessed January 30, 2017).

Swaziland National Trust Commission. n.d. http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/rockart.asp (accessed January 30, 2017).

The Kingdom of Swaziland a royal experience. n.d. http://www.thekingdomofswaziland.com/pages/attractions/the_attraction.asp?AttractionsID=16 (accessed January 30, 2017).