Conducive time illusion

IKNOW prudence is such that no State will ever give into the demands of terrorists. That would set bad precedence and will always open up the country to vulnerability to such acts of terrorism. I am specifically attempting to address the concerns raised by the Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini in that we cannot be held at gun-point to call the dialogue. Allow me to venture into this contentious and controversial issue, not because it will make me popular, but because it has to be said. It is time that we address the elephant in the room as a nation before things get worse, yet we need to restore the balance.

One man’s terrorist idea

In my opinion, the pertaining status quo has been a long time coming. As I write, I am reminded of the academic notion that the ‘idea, that one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter cannot be sanctioned. This is in sharp contrast of the fact that most of the liberation movements in Africa were once classified as terrorists by those that held the power.

Closer to home, the ANC was once classified as a terrorist movement. If there is one thing we can learn from history is that classification of these entities as terrorist entities did not stop the calls for change, instead they persevered to attainment. Let me move from the history lesson and bring the discussion back

EVERYONE is in the business of making scams, either they are on the benefitting end or they have caught the wrong end of the stick and both are unfortunate, but only one is likely to suffer from the transaction.

The dynamics of employment continue to create and leave room for diverse ideas to bring food to the table, and time has shown us that the construct of suffering paves way for creative and innovative ideas out of poverty. The unemployed have taken the chance into the fashion industry and the wake of ‘runners’is upon us. To explain in simple terms, a runner is someone that will run your errands and get you all your fashion and shopping needs in Joburg or Durban and other cities known to be the peak of supplying retail for reselling. Is this necessary? Why this line of business?

There are many Emaswati that wish to start businesses selling things they stock up from neighbouring countries, and some just want to buy things for personal use from to economics by linking what is now happening in Sri Lanka. Basically, I will be addressing the issue of whether or not it is necessary for people to protest, whether peacefully or not to show discontent with the current discourse. I will use Rawl’s reasoning around justice and Musgrave theories of public finance.

Based on these theoretical foundations, I will contend that the ‘conducive time’ argument is a sign that the leadership is not concerned with the welfare of the citizens and therefore misplaced within the public service.

The Sri Lanka equivalence

A couple of days ago, the people of Sri Lanka protested until the then president was forced to resign.

This is what one would expect based on the foundations of public sector economic reasoning. Musgrave contends that in the event that the population feels that the incumbent bearers of office are not safe guarding the welfare interests of the public, the people will vote with their feet that is move away from that locality or ensure that the incumbent government is voted out. What is required in this case is good public sector systems and good systems to hold the bearers of public office accountable.

Duty lies with the bearers of public office to ensure that there exist means for the public to hold the bearers of public office accountable. In the modern setup, protests are a legal mechanism to voice discerning opinions and it becomes a mechanism that leads to addressing the issues and make for better decisions and better economic outcomes for all.

The people in Sri Lanka were protesting poor economic decisions, which led to the country’s bankruptcy. Ideally, if the systems were fair and responsive to the needs of the people, the protests should not have lasted even 100 days.

However, because the bearers of public office tend home items to simply clothes and shoes, but lack the time, resources and knowledge to buy for themselves so runners solve the problem. One might not have the money, car, or time to constantly travel for themselves and buy their own stock, having a full time job could be a reason among others preventing one the liberty to leave as they please or not being financially able to cover the costs that include transport and customs. The runner will therefore show the interested party what is available in the city they specialise in and send the item pictures and prices so that they can pay for the items and do the shopping for them. Knowing the right factories, the discounts, the customs costs, the transport and transport fee is all for the runner to worry about. The buyer simply worries about getting their things on time and that too without any problems.

Benefit

How does the runner then benefit from all of this? They impose a percentage fee on the items bought, meaning that for each item a person orders and pays for they pay a 20 per cent to 30 per cent fee depending on the runner which is the money they use to gain profit and cover the costs of everything. This seems smooth and everyone benefits, because it gives employment to the runner and also gives employment to the buyer who will come back and sell these items with a mark-up for profit.

However, every good thing has a bad side, whilst this has provided a solution for employment for even the man or woman that does not hold a qualification, it has also opened room for the innocent to be scammed in the gist of this business and it has also made it hard for shop to think that they are above the will of the people, the protests dragged, the bearers of public office need to understand that they are not there to push their own mandate, they have duty to ‘satisfice’ the masses. Do the bare minimum to keep the masses content. The same thing we are observing here in Eswatini, the people have spoken, change is requisite and change must come and change will come eventually. I hope this article will be a soft reminder to those in public office that tenure in public office is only guaranteed as long as the people still give you mandate, anything beyond that is autocracy.

The conducive time

The conditions will never be conducive as long as we have not talked about the issues that bog us as a country. I will borrow on Rawls theory of justice to agitate why we should have the meeting. The theory of justice as fairness describes a society of free citizens holding equal basic rights and cooperating within an egalitarian economic system.

The crux is that all members hold basic rights and participate in an economic discourse if they so wish. The nation calls for the dialogue not because we do not understand that conditions are not conducive, but because we know and feel that the dialogue will contribute to restoring social order.

The means to an end

We see the dialogue as a step towards restoring some social order in Eswatini. If we are not talking to one another and solving issues, then I am afraid waiting for a conducive time will take us forever, while we devolve to a nation of radical minds and poor economic prospects. The longer we take to dialogue, the more radical the people become. I worry if we will be able to arrest the radicalisation of the nation once we eventually dialogue, it is a real issue for concern.

owners who have all along traditionally stocked up and made available the same items because a cheaper alternative has been made available for people as the 20 per cent to 30 per cent difference in comparison to the store mark-up difference. So in this venture, while some make a win, others a slightly losing and it has also shown that competition is necessary for price regulation on the basis that shops have made the pricing of the items available for purchase from runners reasonable and not marked with a 100 per cent profit margin. The siSwati saying konkhe lokuhle kuhamba konakale has shown true to this field because many have also stood up to stage themselves as runners and take money from innocent and trusting people hoping to start selling and making a living from this only to scam them and never return. Many stories have been narrated about runners that go AWOL after receiving payment and cannot be found nor do they return with the items. Others have become a target for thieves who wait near the border for runners to swindle the stock money and sometimes even the stock.

This has brought to my attention the need for government, the business sector to be specific to identify the growing demand and reliance of emaSwati of entering this market and monitoring it. Monitoring means placing measures and regulations that will protect buyers from runners and creating a system in which runners like hairdressers or other small businesses can be accredited and easy to track by authorities. This will also help decrease the chances of anyone posing themselves to be a runner and allows that people are able to safely continue with this business without the challenges that currently overshadow it. If something good pops up, let it be the opportunity for government to nurture it and support it as an initiative to eliminate unemployment.