MBABANE: Lucky Lukhele, the Spokesperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network(SSN) came hard on His Majesty King Mswati’s Government after reports emerged that an alleged coronavirus patient who was neglected by nurses has died.
The Swazi Observer, a newspaper owned by the King reported on Wednesday that an alleged coronavirus patient allegedly died after being dumped by nurses and this disclosure came in the midst of allegations that government was allegedly hiding and refusing to confirm suspected cases to mitigate criticism over the collapsed health system.
The State linked newspaper did not disclose the name of the patient and the hospital as the media remain restricted to freely report about such cases with government hiding crucial information regarding the real situation on the ground.
But the prominent pro-democracy activist alleged that more Swazis who were not tested are dying of coronavirus as result of collapsed health system adding that these cases were being hidden by the government.
“This is a result of an uncaring government, you can’t blame these nurses for refusing to handle or to assist these patients because they don’t have all the necessary equipment. However, we are told that the King and the royal family have all the testing equipment and safety measures to protect them from the coronavirus were put in place.
The political activist further expressed concerns that government deals with such issues from a class perspective saying the poor are being blocked from seeking medication treatment as the public transport has been stopped from normally operation, yet private cars are allowed to move freely.
“Public transports are not allowed to move freely yet its business as usual for those with private cars. This tells you that only the poor are being subjected to harsh conditions in the midst of the outbreak“ he said.
The sentiments from the SNN Spokesperson comes after Bheki Mamba, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) also warned that the staggering by government to implement strict measures and control the spread of the virus might soon manifests into a disaster for the whole country as more people will die. Mamba was concerned with the continued operations of some textile factories despite that government announced a lockdown.
“Matsapha is densely populated and should the virus strike there, it will spread like wild-fire and we won’t be able to manage it thereafter judging from our limitation in terms of budget and our weak health-care system” said the SWADNU President.
SNN Spokesperson