Food price increases cause frustration in Swaziland
In his annual budget speech, delivered to Parliament recently, Swaziland Finance Minister Majozi Sithole noted that 665,000 Swazis out of a total population of just over one million now require food assistance due to the severe drought the country has been experiencing for the past few years.
Aids is another contributing factor to the death of food in this country; at 33,4%, the country's adult HIV prevalence rate is the highest in the world. "There are no able-bodied people to tend the farms; the surviving elderly people and children can't do it," says Nonhlanhla Simelane, an HIV counsellor in Mbabane. Aids groups see the nation's food shortage very much as a health issue, and they doubt that production will return to normal before the pandemic has been brought under control.
SOS Children's Village Swaziland national director, Dudu Dlamini, says: "In Swaziland SOS mothers have started overspending on family food allowance as most of the basic food stuff has increased 40% in price. This is depriving children part of their clothing allowances. The worst necessities include rice, cooking oil, maize meal, meat, bread, flour, butter, toiletries and transport fare."
SOS Children's Village Mbabane in Swaziland
SOS mother Sitakele cares for ten children ranging in age from two to 15 years and she is battling to balance her budget. The rising food prices have affected the house budget as they can no longer afford to buy food in bulk to last them a month. Although nothing has been eliminated from the house budget, buying in small packs instead of bulk means food does not last till the end of the month.
"Our menu has changed as most meat meals are now replaced with vegetable soups and dairy products," said Sitakele. Although the children are eating healthier this way, it is a rather drastic change that is affecting them. As they slowly adjust to this new way of eating there are some complaints and some of the older children are even making excuses to miss some meals they find un-appetizing. The situation is stress-full to Sitakele as she finds it takes longer to prepare food that will remain appetizing to her children.
Sitakele also noted that the children's lunchbox food has changed. The children are now only provided with butter bread or peanut butter while they would have preferred a larger variety including cheese and cold meat as well as some fruits.
Transport fares have also become costly because of the rising fuel prices in Swaziland. The children have been made aware of the situation and are still in the process of making sense of it. "We are trying to reason with children whose thinking is more directed to what they want and are used to," said a frustrated Sitakele.
Swaziland is not the only country facing a food crisis and while SOS mothers around the world are looking at ways of stretching their budget SOS Children's Village management are taking steps to, hopefully, increase household budgets.
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