Nurses are to join teachers and civil servants in the growing public sector strike in Swaziland. They will strike from 18 July 2012 in pursuit of a 4.5 per cent salary increase. Teachers have been on indefinite strike for nearly a month and civil servants joined them last week.

People in the Swaziland lowveld have died of hunger, a member of the Swazi Parliament has reported. Nkululeko Mbhamali, Matsanjeni North MP, said hunger was rife in his constituency and some people had died at Tikhuba. Crops have failed this year due to poor rains. Mbhamali said a ‘food-for-work’ scheme organised by World Vision that was supposed to distribute food supplied by overseas’ donors had not been implemented properly and many people were not receiving food.

Swaziland soldiers sprayed the house of the kingdom’s main opposition leader with bullets in what pro democracy activist believe was a planned attack. The home of Mario Masuku, President of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), at Makhosini near Nhlangano was hit by bullets fired by members of the kingdom’s army, known as the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force.