Future remains uncertain
REFLECTING on the state of the emaSwati nation, which by all accounts is not a pretty one, I recalled from the recesses of my mind the profile of a leader as articulated by John Quincy Adams – the 6th President of the United States (1825-1829). This is what he had to say about a leader: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” The question is, can this be said of our Swati leaders; do they inspire us in any way?
The depressing state of this country says it all. Poverty is on the ascendancy and unemployment, especially of newly graduated youth, rising like a tsunami and the political establishment having no clue how to get this country, all of just over 17 000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 1.2 million people, on a trajectory of political and socio-economic bliss. Regrettably, the socio-political upheavals convulsing the kingdom since June 2021 is a direct product of and classical example of how not to govern a nation.
As I see it, instead of being an inspiration to the nation by, among others, doing the right things to inspire the people to greatness, this country’s politicians have been fixated with the accumulation of personal wealth while also creating a superficial image of a country good enough to join the league of First World nations, an objective that was never going to be achieved even if mankind had not been challenged and paralysed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently the majority of emaSwati, always looking up to these politicians who were otherwise fixated on themselves, fell into the helpless and hopeless abyss of poverty and deprivation.
Not even the wealth of mineral resources in the bosom of the land they call their homeland could rescue them from their plight because it is monopolised by the political elites and their phalanx of hangers-on. That is why the mining licensing regime is not as transparent as it ought to be, giving rise to the real possibility that the elites have created front and proxy companies for themselves.
Absurd as it may appear, the political elites derive political mileage from poverty, which they created by pursuing wrong policies and wasteful and uneconomical projects, the latest addition to an ever growing list being the revival of an airline when this industry is asphyxiating at the global level, to create an environment of dependency wherein they would emerge, either directly or through conveniently created charitable organisations and foundations, with handouts and other freebies to project themselves as humane and caring to buy the loyalty of the people.
Governed
That is why, for a small country and an equally small population, this country has an abundance of charitable organisations and foundations which should not be necessary, had this country been properly governed and its resources prudently employed for the direct benefit of all emaSwati. A United Nations expert once suggested that if this country was properly governed it would indeed be the Dubai of Africa; best road network infrastructure; E1 million for each and every citizen, every budgeting cycle; universal free education from cradle to the grave; a literate and highly mobile population; free and the best health service money can buy good enough to attract medical tourists, etc. But here we are; a sorry impoverished nation dependent on handouts.
To imagine, therefore, that the politicians would willingly abdicate the trappings of power and their First World lifestyle by volunteering to convene an all-inclusive national dialogue that would possibly deliver a new political dispensation where political power would vest on the people is a bit naive. This explains the delays in hosting the dialogue while the political elites engaged in tactics to reclaim the political high ground so that they can influence the nature and content of the so-called national dialogue. Their answer is the discredited Sibaya forum monologue that the constitutional delinquents conveniently rally behind as the only forum allowed by the constitution for the purpose. Then would follow a vusela populated by relatives and beneficiaries of the largesse from the political elites, which is unlikely to ruffle the feathers, but deliver a pre-determined outcome - further entrenching the obtaining polity.
Budget
As I see it, the budget delivered by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg on Friday, that has been praised in some quarters as pro-youth, is but a set of numbers which, in Swati polity, is open to manipulation and diversion given the architecture of the Tinkhundla Political System in which absolute power is vested in one institution, the monarchy. The budget is always diverted in line with the fancy and desires of the political elites, which are not always in tandem with the aspirations of the people. Consequently, the budget is nothing but a ruse to project a false façade that, like all modern and functional countries, this country’s politicians also subscribe to global ethos of doing things when this is further from the reality on the ground. The long and short of it being that this country is governed like a ‘fiefdom’ where rights and privileges are for the enjoyment of the social and political elites.
But whatever machinations government and the political establishment are conniving to address the current political imbroglio, the one certainty is that this country will never be the same again. What has been broken will remain broken even with the dawn of a new political dispensation. The future will become even more uncertain if the leadership believes that the albatross that is the Tinkhundla Political System will remain unchanged. At least even the budget suggests that there is no commitment to political reformation in light of the money budgeted for the security cluster, especially the military.
In conclusion, I am wondering how Deputy Prime Minister Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku would like to be remembered in the annals of Swati history.