Study on sexual orientation suspended
MBABANE – A study meant to ascertain the perceptions of people to sexual orientation and gender identity in the Kingdom of Eswatini has been suspended.
The study, which was conducted by a South African company, was suspended by the Eswatini Health and Human Research Review Board, headed by Rudolph Maziya.
The South African company is known as AfricaScope and according to its website, it has implemented quantitative and qualitative research studies across Africa.
The website states that the origins of AfricaScope are in the advertising, market research, social science and GIS fields.
Commissioned
It has been gathered that the company was commissioned by an international organisation to conduct the aforementioned study and went through the exercise of securing a clearance certificate from the Board to be able to conduct the research.
It was said that the clearance certificate was granted but that halfway through conducting the research, the company was officially informed by the Board to stop working.
The reason, it was alleged, was that the Board had received concerns of alleged anomalies in the manner in which the study was being conducted.
It was alleged that the Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr Vusi Magagula, reviewed the situation and advised the company to continue with the research but that the Board issued a ruling that the issue had nothing to do with the ministry.
It was gathered that a committee was established to do the review to determine the veracity of the concerns made by those who reported the alleged anomalies.
It has been alleged that the review was expected to take at least eight weeks but that it has been over three months and the company has not received feedback.
AfricaScope Director Craig Schwabe confirmed the matter and said the treatment they had received from the Board was not only highly unprofessional but disgusting.
“The length of time we waited for our clearance certificate and now the post- approval review was contrary to the policy established by the Ministry of Health and as a consequence, we have come to the belief that this Board has gone rogue.
Rioting
“We have raised this matter with the Ministry of Health but because of the rioting in Eswatini we assume that the nil response is because of that. The overall situation is that our company and our funder have had significant damages as a consequence of this Board’s unprofessional behaviour and it is our intention to seek recourse either from the Government of Eswatini or to bring it to the attention of the South African Government,” Schwabe stated.
He said his biggest concern was that since they were conducting a study on sexual orientation, there were moves to stop it from the beginning.
“Our study was stopped halfway and it is highly likely that we will not be going back in. We will be taking the necessary steps because the treatment is unacceptable,” he said.
He claimed that the research team had worked for about a month in the country and was expected to do about 1 200 interviews.
According to Schwabe, the research team had done about 57 per cent of the interviews when they were stopped.
He said he did not understand how the Board could say the issue had nothing to do with the Ministry of Health when the policy document used was signed by the substantive minister of that ministry.
“This Board has to report to someone. They did not create themselves. They were supposed to have given us feedback. I have been writing to the Board and there is no response,” he said.
He mentioned that the research team followed all the procedures set out for the study and that it was unfortunate that the so- called whistleblowers felt there was something they were not doing right.
Also, he mentioned that they had about 35 young emaSwati whom they assigned to conduct the research and were earning an income from it. “I am passionate about this and that is why I am angry,” he explained.
Furthermore, the director said they conducted the same study in other countries such as Malawi and Botswana and did not