Land reform, industrialisation of Eswatini

THE tax break given by government has done what many governments have failed or simply been unable to do. I cannot even begin to express the excitement within the business community. It is so wonderful that some businesspeople still don’t believe it’s real; with some saying there must be a catch somewhere. Our government can actually writeoff billions of Emalangeni to give us a second chance. The tax tribunal was a great start and then this made our day. When the economy is not doing well, paying statutory requirements becomes that much difficult. Unfortunately, with the accumulation of penalties and interests, these statutory requirements can soon strangle a struggling business to death.

May I commend our prime minister, the minister of Finance and the minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade because I know that this incredible achievement caused them sleepless nights and many days and months of hard work and anxiety. To ask the head of State to approve a write-off of more than three billion Emalangeni is no child’s play.

I take my hat off for them and the rest of the Cabinet team. If the nation does not have their confidence now, then I don’t know what will. A friend was almost in tears when he received the news that his multimillion Emalangeni business, which had been locked up by the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) for almost two years, would soon open. He was constantly repeating that this was his second chance, and he will not mess up this time.

Taiwan lesson on land reforms

The economy of Taiwan is a highly developed free-market economy. It is the eighth largest in Asia and 18th largest in the world by purchasing power parity, allowing Taiwan to be included in the advanced economies group by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is gauged in the high-income economies group by the World Bank. Taiwan is the most technologically advanced computer microchip maker in the world. We need to learn, as emaSwati, from this small island nation that has become an economic giant through the efficient use of its land to get the capital needed to industrialise.

Taiwanese industrialisation

The first step towards Taiwanese industrialisation was land reforms, a crucial step in modernising the economy, as it created a class of landowners with capital they could invest in future economic endeavours with. Eswatini youth can now have assets to use as collateral in the effort to get funds for business startups. It was particularly exciting to note that a Bill is presently in Parliament which seeks to deal with land reforms, even though it is for agricultural land only currently. EmaSwati are sitting on millions in capital which can be used for development. Their assets on Eswatini Nation Land are worthless despite the millions spent on the infrastructure simply because they don’t have a title deed or a lease-hold on that land. Yes we have been protected against bank foreclosures but we need to use the land to industrialise, modernise and grow the country.

Eswatini Constitution on land

It is useless to talk about land in Eswatini, or any other country, without making reference to the Constitution. The country’s Constitution, at some point in time, will have to be amended to reflect the present realities, particularly around land ownership. The older generation might not mind 54 per cent Eswatini Nation Land being held in trust, but the younger generation will not accept that, so we best deal with this issue now. This is what our Constitution says;

CHAPTER XII

LAND, MINERALS, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT

211.

(1) From the date of commencement of this Constitution, all land (including any existing concessions) in Swaziland (Eswatini), save privately held title-deed land, shall continue to vest in iNgwenyama in trust for the Swazi Nation as it vested on April 12, 1973.

Save as may be required by the exigencies of any particular situation, a citizen of Eswatini, without regard to gender, shall have equal access to land for normal domestic purposes.

(3) A person shall not be deprived of land without due process of law and where a person is deprived, that person shall be entitled to prompt and adequate compensation for any improvement on that land or loss consequent upon that deprivation unless otherwise provided by law.

In my interpretation of the Constitution, His Majesty, as iNgwenyama, holds all non-title deed land in trust of me and you, if you have built your house on national land. It further says iNgwenyama or the government can take it at any time, but you must be compensated (211/3).

Lease hold option

The easiest way to empower emaSwati through land reforms, would be for His Majesty, working through bobabe tikhulu (chiefs), to give bankable (45 year/60 year /99 year) leases to all emaSwati on national land. The constitutional Land Management Board, working with a formal government department or office in the King’s Office, would be tasked with issuing these leases. Obviously geological surveys would have to map out these areas to avoid disputes in the future, hence government involvement. This would be better with the African belief that you never own the land but borrowed from future generations.

Sale of national land

The other option would be for His Majesty, through the chiefs, to actually sell the land and issue title deeds. This would be totally against the African spirit on land ownership. Land tenure is broadly of two types in Eswatini; Swazi Nation Land (SNL) and Title Deed Land (TDL), which account for 54 and 46 per cent of land area respectively. The unfortunate reality is that the same African spirit allowed our colonial master to own the bulk of the 46 per cent title deed land through huge unproductive farm estates dotted throughout the country called emaplazi. They got them for nothing but now are worth billions of Emalangeni.

The local traditional authority, bobabe tikhulu, are not paid but they render a very important service with councilours (emabandla). They need to modernise and develop into professional bodies with proper structures and appropriate infrastructure like offices and conference facilities that financial institutes can deal with when using the land as security for funding on national land. Please send your comments to septembereswatini@gmail.com