The 2010 world soccer extravaganza could not have come at a more convenient time for enterprising Swazi dagga “merchants” than the month of June, when the crop is at its prime.
While environmentalists are praying for a “green” World Cup, dagga-growers are going for (Swazi) “gold”.
Zanele Mkhaliphi (33) is head of a nine-member household. She is a single parent, “widowed” when her husband headed to Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa to find work as a migrant labourer.
She had hoped he would send money home to sustain the family.
But, since he left five years ago, she has not heard a word from her husband. “I just had to presume him dead,” she says.
Mkhaliphi is the sole breadwinner. Her dependants are all of school-going age.
With limited education, Mkhaliphi has found it impossible to get a job. Her only way to survive is to eke out a living from the soil. But, with no money to buy expensive seeds, and persistent drought, she’s one of many caught in an untenable position.
Instead of taking it lying down, she decided to do what many others in her position in northern Swaziland have done: she started growing and selling dagga. For the rural folk of Nkomanzi and other areas of the northern town of Pigg’s Peak, growing and selling dagga is the only source of income. It’s the only means of fighting the high unemployment rate and abject poverty.
But her decision was to have dire consequences for her.
Mkhaliphi was caught plying her trade. Now, instead of looking forward to riches from the 2010 World Cup, she faces four years in jail.
Passing sentence Mbabane magistrate Siphosini Dlamini decried the abuse and waste of arable land for harmful substances. He also noted the serious effects of drugs on society.
A police officer from the Royal Swaziland Police Force’s crime prevention unit, Siphiwe Shabangu, echoed the magistrate’s words. She told a gathering that there were more dagga fields in Maphalaleni than maize — the country’s staple food — fields.
In fact the dagga problem is so serious that it’s even starting to interfere with the country’s education system. Learners in some parts are said to be abandoning their studies so that they can guard their parents’ dagga fields. Everyone wants to ensure that there is a good supply for 2010.
Northern Swaziland’s mountainous terrain is the perfect spot to grow illegal crops. The “farmers” penetrate deep into the valleys and it’s not easy for trespassers or unwelcome guests to get close.
Even the police find it difficult to deter the “farmers”. There have been numerous raids and crop sprayings, but they have had little success.
While most of the dagga — known as Swazi gold — is sold to local users, there are reports of it being smuggled into South Africa, the rest of the Southern African Development Community region and overseas.
Just two weeks ago local police stopped two Botswana nationals in their tracks at the Ngwenya border post (Oshoek) when they were about to leave the country with a consignment they had bought from dealers in the Maphalaleni area, also notorious for its dagga crops.
Hot on the heels of this news was a report of a suspected drug-related shooting close to the border post.
About two years ago the wooden sculpture of a giant fish, stuffed with Swazi gold, weighing 30kg and destined for Italy, was intercepted by cops at the Matsapha International Airport.
Local police have always had a “zero tolerance” attitude to the dagga trade, doing whatever they can to stop the menace.
Police public relations officer Vusi Masuku is on record in the Times as saying: “The drug issue is a global problem which poses a threat to human life. We call upon all people with information with regard to people engaged in drug-related activities to assist us with information.”
At national level there has been a high-pitched debate about legalising the green gold of Swaziland, but so far authorities have not bent to pleas by local farmers. Proponents of legalisation include renowned local educator Dr Ben Dlamini, a retired civil servant who has called for the regulation rather than restriction of hemp production and distribution to allow the country to reap benefits from the export revenue to be derived from sales to countries that use the plant for industrial purposes.
The matter was also raised in Parliament, where emotions seemed to override motions. Most legislators identified with the notion that the herb was detrimental to the country’s economic growth.
Meanwhile, one magistrate has blamed the escalating number of vagabonds who roam the streets on increased recreational use of the herb.
Manzini, the country’s industrial capital, was recently brought to a standstill as “lunatics” who had escaped from a local mental institution stormed the city, with some taking the opportunity to roll a joint to get high.
They were, however, later rounded up and placed back in their enclosure in a “joint” operation between police and hospital authorities.
Andile Nsibande is a journalist and is studying political science through Unisa. He lives in Mbabane