Don’t neglect the signs

ASouth African-authored book, ‘The Unaccountables’, reveals how powerful politicians and corporations profit from impunity and provides valuable lessons from which we can build resilient structures to avert a possible collapse of not just our economy, but also the moral fibre of our society.

The book traces the source of the endemic corruption and economic crime carried out by various decision makers in politics, the government, SOEs, auditors and banks within the continent’s biggest economy, which is currently engulfed by an electricity crisis at power utility Eskom.

With up to 80 per cent of our goods imported from South Africa (SA), the rise or fall of our neighbour’s economy makes it inevitable that we always catch a cold when it sneezes.

One makes reference to this book and its content for the numerous similarities that can be made with what seems to be prevailing in Eswatini, which, if allowed to continue on without firm action to curb it, could lead us down a path best travelled by failed States.

If the structures and rules in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public funds were without blemish, we shouldn’t have to question a E12 million tender awarded to Slomoes for the local government elections when other bidders, such as the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) was at E800 000 and Wiz

IAFTER THOUGHTS GUESTWRITER was doing a community discussion on issues of gender-based violence somewhere in the Shiselweni Region and one of the submissions left me dumbfounded. It was a discussion about how sometimes young girls seduce older men, and it reminded me of a similar pairing in the novel Lolita, which tells the story of a middle-aged man abusing a 12-year-old girl. Disturbingly, a lot of people didn’t (and still don’t) see it that way. It’s been called ‘the only convincing love story of our century’, and another critic wrote that the book featured ‘not the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child’. I thought it was obvious that a minor can’t consent to such a relationship, as provided in the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act of 2018.

But adult men and women do not see this as a crime, and that’s my problem. Because this is what leads to cases where someone is acquitted of rape because the minor either seduced the man, or she

Tech at E1.2 million, were competitive bidders.

However, the lack of faith in the relevant structures and their officials is why Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for an investigation into the award of this tender, which reveals a significant discrepancy in pricing for the scope of work. It gives reason to why the public deserves a clear explanation in order to comprehend whether spending this amount of money is justified when only 28 000 people are enrolled to vote for councillors.

Adding reasonable cause for concern is what the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prince Simelane, allegedly informed the Chairperson of the Ministry of Housing Portfolio Committee, Manzini South MP Thandi Nxumalo. She told lawmakers that the minister voiced alarm about the ‘rot’ within the ministry. What rot?

Faith

We need to know this, especially because the ministry appears to have lost faith in its own institutions, such as the RSTP, where millions of Emalangeni have been invested to develop what should be our go-to place for any technology-related answers. The institution is led by a CEO with more degrees than a thermometer, and the bid valuation reflects the availability of the necessary expertise and staff at RSTP capable of carrying out the assignment.

Are we to believe that such an investment is still far from fulfilling its mandate, or that the institution displayed incompetence when it conducted the by-elections for the Siphofaneni Inkhundla, in which LaZwide triumphed? From some of the documents reviewed by this publication on this tender, the main reason seemed to be that the RSTP lacked ‘experience’.

These questions would not arise if tendering processes were more transparent, especially when

seemed ‘well-developed’ and didn’t act her age. One of the other excuses is that ‘she wasn’t a virgin when the violation happened’. Part of the reason why such a toxic culture exists is how young girls are sexualised in society. It shouldn’t be a surprise that this type of conditioning is harmful; it forces children to grow up too fast and reinforces the idea that preying on them is normal.

Some attempt to address this problem by attacking the girls involved, telling them to dress or act a certain way in order to not be victimised. This line of criticism, however, is futile. It’s not their fault that creepy older guys lust after them. And there is nothing a young girl can do to make an older guy not look at her in a sexual manner. If anything, we should turn our attention to the men responsible. Young girls have a right to enjoy their childhood, and no one should be able to take that away from them.

Pat

It worries me when a guy can nonchalantly poke fun at himself for almost committing statutory rape of a girl half his age and when men pat each other for ‘kudla li-V’. That’s probably a sign that we, as a society, need to be more vigilant and protective of our young women. Because while it’s easy to blame the digital age and the proliferation of sex as an advertising strategy, the cultural phenomenon of ‘indlu yekugugela’ has been around for quite some time.

This makes young girls to be perceived not only sexually by adults, but the girls are also (allegedly) actively cultivating such a perception, moving beyond innocent sexual curiosity and into deliberate ministries have the flexibility to use single source tendering or waivers.

The country has spent heavily in structures geared at safeguarding taxpayers against corruption, but they are useless if those responsible with making them effective shirk that obligation. In these circumstances, what good is ESPPRA?

Following multiple instances of public funds being committed to expenditure that was not budgeted for, the Ministry of Finance had to issue a notice to ministries reminding them of the need to adhere to procurement regulations.

Dominate

Not to mention the ongoing violation of the Public Finance and Management Act, which has seen irregular expenditure dominate the auditor general’s annual reports, which are utilised by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to hold the responsible individuals accountable. However, despite some success by the PAC in collecting taxpayers’ money, the punishment has failed to reflect the offence or serve as an inhibitor, so the rot persists. These are the signs and symptoms found in some of South Africa’s economic crime cases, as detailed in the book ‘The Unaccountables’, which is largely committed to ensuring that the sheer number of scandals in that country, as well as those who should be held accountable, are not forgotten.

To quote the book in part: “The looting of Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) relied on ministers, Board members at SOEs, global rail companies, global and local banks, mega consulting firms, businesspeople, auditors and politicians to pull it off. They all got a lucrative cut and walked away from the carnage while members of the public bore the great cost.”

It also emphasises that the situation they are in is not hopeless and that it contains potential avenues for accountability, as well as the applicable regulatory agencies or law enforcement that would make accountability possible. Can we say the same thing about Eswatini? We must act right away, before it becomes too late.

sexual intent. And thus, the cringe worthy phenomenon of society normalising men openly celebrating their thirst for high school girls started. This can also be a disorder called pedophilia, where an adult is sexually attracted to and pursues young children. A conversation with a man a few months ago opened my eyes to what they have termed the ‘young and confused’.

Confused

This is supposed to be young girls who men prey on in clubs after they get drunk and act all confused. I was shocked that a bunch of men would actually plan their weekends, spend money and actually travel to a place where such girls are in abundance and these men see nothing wrong with that. The fact that these girls are confused, the first instinct for you as an adult is to protect them at all costs, not take advantage of them.

These kids are normally considered minors when it comes to crucial areas in society, like voting. But it’s always fascinating to me how much effort we put into imagining the agency of a minor when adults have something to gain. The girl who would be viewed as a child in any other scenario suddenly becomes calculating and scheming as soon as adult desires come into play.

I’m willing to bet that the majority of men who thirst after high school girls don’t all just happen to have the same sexual proclivity. It’s a learned behaviour and a product of our society. As tempting as it might be to want to convince yourself that only a small group of people would actually take advantage of young girls, it’s a much more endemic issue. And that is exactly what needs interrogation!