Swaziland: Parliamentarians go on 'strike'

Swaziland's parliamentarians have embarked on an unprecedented stayaway to protest against Cabinet's inability to get grants paid to the elderly. "These people [Cabinet ministers] are well-paid to do some work, but they are doing nothing," said MP Marwick Khumalo during a raucous meeting of the House of Assembly on Wednesday night (8 November 2006), when the members of parliament (MPs) gave Cabinet one week to start paying out stipends to people aged 60 and over, and voted unanimously to suspend all parliamentary work until then.