New year and new projects for Grandmothers

The Mariposa Grandmothers will be starting the new year with exciting plans. Our book exchange last year was such a success that we will be bringing it back by popular demand. It will take place on Friday, Feb. 19, from 10 to 11 a. m., at St. Paul's Church in Orillia. Another new project will be a Nationwide Walk in support of the African Grandmothers, in the spring of 2010. Details about that as they are firmed up will be in future newsletters. (The Mariposa Grandmothers' newsletters usually come out on the last Saturday of the month, by the way.)

At our last meeting, it was reported that in his book,The Betrayal of Africa,Gerald Caplan made particular mention of the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers program as one of the few projects that is truly making a difference in Africa. We are proud to say that the Mariposa Grandmothers are doing their part. We received a thank you letter from the Stephen Lewis Foundation, recognizing our work and the amount of money we raised this past year. This money was raised through the sale of our Lucinda pins, (still available), donations, and individual members' sales of craft items.

March will see an important gathering in Swaziland. African grandmothers have decided to move ahead with an African Grandmothers' Gathering, to share their struggles, triumphs, challenges, grief around living at the epicenter of the ravages caused by HIV and AIDS, and to work toward a common agenda and purpose in beating back the pandemic. The Swaziland African Grandmothers' Gathering will be hosted by a project the SLF has supported for five years -- SWAPOL, led by the indomitable and inspiring Siphiwe Hlope. (She organized a brilliant Grandmothers' March for International Women's Day in Swaziland last year.) This is a gathering planned for African grandmothers by African grandmothers and promises to be an historic and moving event.

The organizers have asked that the SLF facilitate a Canadian delegation of up to 40 women who belong to Grandmothers groups here, as representatives of the entire Grandmothers' Movement in Canada. Mariposa Grandmothers' member Ellen Dennig is applying to go as a representative of our group. She has been to Swaziland in the past, and we are hoping that she will be among the delegates chosen.

All in all, 2010 promises to be an interesting and exciting year.

The Mariposa Grandmothers meet on the third Friday of the month at 9:30 a. m., at St. Paul's Church in Orillia. All are welcome. We also have a speakers' bureau that will provide speakers to organizations that would like to learn more about the work of the Grandmothers-to- Grandmothers projects.

Source:orilliapacket.com/

Botswana airways-Swazi proposed deal questioned

MBABANE – Questions have been raised over gover-nment’s move to negotiate with foreign airline companies, including Air Botswana, to service Swaziland.

The proposed deal was to possibly replace Swazi Airlink should the need arise following questions that have been raised on its safety.
According to media reports in Botswana, especially the Botswana Gazette online edition, the Tswanas have maintained ignorance on the developments.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Louis Malikongwa said he was not aware of the issue.
“We have not heard anything to that effect and the Swazi Government has not engaged us in talks over the matter. Maybe they are still in the process of coming to us,” Malikongwa said.
Mphi Tlhomelang, who is the Acting General Manager of Air Botswana, acknowledged she had heard the rumour, but there was no official communication, either from Swazi Airlink or the minis- try.

“I will have to get in touch with the ministry to confirm it. The Swazis have not yet come to us, or maybe it was a suggestion and they are still to make a proposal, but as Air Botswana, we are open to discussions,” she said.
Swazi Airlink is 51 per cent owned by the Swazi Government and South African Airlink owns 49 per cent. The reason to negotiate with the two airlines, according to the minister, has been necessitated by the ongoing probe into the operations of South African Airlink.

The questions about Dlamini’s statements come after he was quoted by this publication as having confirmed the ongoing talks, but refused to go into detail on the negotiations.
“We’re engaging Air Botswana and the South Africa Airways as possible alternative airlines to replace Swazi Airlink,” the minister said.

Following that the Tswanas have registered their ignorance on the matter, when the minister was called, his phone was unavailable on the MTN network and when the Principal Secretary Paul Nkambule was called, he said he could not comment on the matter.
His reasons were that if there was something being done the Civil Aviation Authority board would be the best to comment.

Nkambule said since government was in a marriage with Airlink, he did not think it would be right to talk about the matter without involving the company.
When South African Airways headquarters were called, this reporter was asked to leave a message which by the time of compiling this report, had not been returned.

Source:times.co.sz/

Fourth sugar mill for Swaziland

MATSAPHA- Government is currently investigating possibilities of setting up a forth sugar mill in the country.

The proposed sugar mill is earmarked for Sidvokodvo. Currently, Swaziland has three sugar mills namely, the Mhlume, Simunye and Illovo sugar mills.

Minister of Agriculture Clement Dlamini said government had already started with the feasibility study to investigate the possibilities of setting up the sugar mill.

“Government is currently looking at setting up a forth sugar mill in the country because we have realised that farmers need it. We are currently doing a feasibility study of the possibilities of setting up the sugar mill at Sidvokodvo.


Project

“We have heard that sugar cane farmers under the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP) have called for a sugar mill at Siphofaneni partly because they want to reduce the costs associated with producing sugar.

However, as I have said before, it is not possible to establish a sugar mill to accommodate them because Illovo Sugar set aside an expansion programme and they committed E1.4 billion that will accommodate the sugar produced by the farmers at LUSIP. Illovo Sugar wanted assurance that government would safeguard their interest when this commitment was made and we gave it to them so it in this regard that government believes it is not possible to establish a mill for the farmers at LUSIP,” Dlamini explained.
Elaborating on the proposed sugar mill, Dlamini said the proposed site was chosen because it had proven to have arable soil that was suitable for sugar cane growing.


Construction

“Following the construction of a dam near Mkhondvo River, we thought it would be a good idea to establish the sugar mill at Sidvokodvo because the farmers that will use the sugar mill will utilize the water from the dam. In this way, everybody benefits,” he said.

He also said government would rope in experts to assist in the roll-out plan for the establishment of the mill.
“Government will take the lead in this project but we will engage experts to help us in whatever field we need assistance. We are actually working with Tibiyo TakaNgwane on this project and we are looking forward to when the mill is finally opened because it will help a lot of farmers in the country.

We have already started with the feasibility study into the establishment of the sugar mill and we already have investors who are interested in setting up the mill,” he said.

Source:times.co.sz/

SWAZILAND: Floods wash away the drought

MBABANE, 30 November 2009 (IRIN) - After two decades of drought the urgent prayers in Swaziland's annual incwala ceremony, a month-long ritual in which ancestral spirits are petitioned for good rains, have been answered with weeks of torrential downpours. Floods now threaten food security.

On 17 November the sacred water party left for the Indian Ocean to collect items required to celebrate the 'Festival of the First Fruits', and now Swaziland's 13 rivers are all overflowing. The last time such rainfall was recorded was 25 years ago in 1984, when a cyclone struck. Too little rain in recent years has left most of the country's roughly one million people dependant on foreign food aid.

Andrew Nsibandze, an agriculture ministry extension officer who travels the country assessing crop performance, said floods were threatening newly planted crops. Small-scale farmers in rural areas were particularly at risk.

"There are farmers unable to enter swamped fields," Nsibandze told IRIN. Pumps to remove water from agricultural land and irrigation equipment had been washed away; roads were out and bridges had collapsed.

Sipho Simelane, Senior Agricultural Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, told IRIN: "Most definitely the rains are going to have an effect on agricultural production. We are getting reports ... about flooded fields - newly planted fields that have been washed away."

Smallholder farmers struggled to pay for inputs for the first planting, so buying new seeds and fertilizer for replanting would be beyond the means of most, and the cash-strapped government was in no position to help. "The farmers are on their own," Simelane said. The agriculture minister has not indicated that he would seek emergency assistance for affected farmers.

Transportation and Public Works Minister Nthuthuko Dlamini said the November downpours had caused US$6.7 million in damage to roads and highways - 19 bridges had been destroyed - and the network of rural roads farmers used to bring their crops to market had been severely compromised. Dlamini said only $270,000 was available for infrastructure repair, and he would ask parliament for emergency funding.

"This is unprecedented," said Trevor Shongwe, Chief Water Engineer for the Ministry of Natural Resources. "Those who use river water to water crops should ensure that the water pumps are situated far from the river bank because they may be swept away."

He also cautioned residents whose homes were near rivers to monitor rising water levels - hundreds of traditional mud-and-stick homes had already literally dissolved in the past few weeks of continuous heavy rainfall. According to the UN development Programme, 70 percent of Swazis live on less than a dollar a day.

Fears of anticipated water shortages this summer have been allayed. The abundant rainfall will also raise underground water levels and some boreholes that were dry for years might be revived.

While the sudden excess of water may mean good news for food production and security in months to come, it will bring bad news in the short term if waterlogged crops do not recover.

Excess water has been cascading down the spillways of Maguga Dam in northern Hhohho Province, the nation's largest; the Hawane Dam, which provides water for the capital, Mbabane, was also at 100 percent capacity. Dams in the previously drought-prone eastern lowveld region were between 70 percent and 80 percent full.

However, Jabulani Hlatshwako, Deputy Director of Swaziland's Meteorological Services, noted that "Of concern are new storm fronts that can bring more water after a break."

Source:irinnews.org/