Eswatini faces leadership crisis
Sir,
I have been learning and hearing from the media about the current situation in the country, political and economical, corruption included. The biggest question we are asking as concerned citizens of the country is what has gone wrong. I have heard debates and discussions, from the streets to boardrooms, bars to church halls, restaurants to shopping malls, of concerned individuals trying to voice their views as to where the problems emanated from. Others are saying the political system has failed the country, thus it needs to be changed.
In my view, what is being said by many emaSwati are just symptoms, not the cause of this ruckus. What we have come to term political crisis, economic crisis or judicial crisis is just an after effect. Whether you take the Tinkhundla route or multiparty route, all is a waste of precious time, money and effort, if the root cause of these problems is not dealt with in a wise and educated manner. The major problem this country faces is not politically related, neither economically attached nor judicially linked-up, but it is leadership crisis. Unfortunately this is a common problem throughout the African continent.
The recycling of one and the same faces within substantive positions in government, Board membership and the rest, is a clear indicator that the country is faced with a leadership crisis. It is the function of leadership to unearth leadership; leaders begat leaders.
Rewards
Good leadership rewards people because they genuinely deserve to be rewarded, not because of any other reason. The country has intelligent and highly educated people but unfortunately some of them are enriching foreign economies because they are not recognised in their own country. Leadership crisis will always show its ugly face when those in charge fail to drive the ship towards the right direction. In such a scenario, the ship will always land at a wrong port if not shipwrecked by an iceberg. Leadership demands foresight and forecasting, not leaving things to chance. Companies with strong and vibrant leaders, and strategists, never leave the success of their organisations to chance. But weak, indecisive and short sighted CEOs successfully lead their organisations to demise.
We all know that real and strong leadership never pushes followers away regardless of diversity in opinion. Actually good leaders ride on the opinion and creativity of their followers to accentuate their organisations. In Eswatini those with dissenting views are never allowed to use government facilities such as the electronic media to air their opinion. King Sobhuza II once said even a drunkard should be listened to, and we all know why. I suppose, instead of being denied and opportunity to voice their view point, they should be encouraged to do so with respect. Unless the leadership crisis is addressed in this country, defending the Tinkhundla system or canvassing for the multiparty system of governance will be a fruitless endeavour. The success of any governing system depends on sound leadership, not the system per se. A good constitution does not make up for bad leadership. Finally, it needs to dawn on everyone, small or great, that we are a country co-existing with other countries. What happens in Eswatini can no longer be hidden under the mat, let us accept that, period!