Let’s walk the talk

ONCE again, our Cabinet ministers are sending the right kinds of signals as they continue to set the tone and develop high public expectations for their tenure. Some have gone as far as admitting the sins of government, which is commendable, but it is now time to remedy the wrongs of the past by putting public money where their mouth is.

The Minister for Information, Communication and Technology, Savannah Maziya, stated emphatically that the time had come for parastatals under her portfolio not to rely on government subsidies to operate. She seemed keen to put an end to this reliance, telling her workers; “We should move away from always asking. There are several ‘children’ in this ‘family’.” Exactly!

Initiatives

She has called upon each of them to submit self-sufficiency initiatives within the next several weeks and has scheduled bi-monthly meetings to work on these strategies so that they realise their goals in the next 24 months. The minister stated the obvious regarding the level of competition in the ICT field and how industry players must either shape up or ship out. The lack of fresh blood at the helm of these organisations was also viewed as a mismatch, especially in a youth-dominated population that consumes a lot of ICT products and services.

The same goes for the vast majority of our parastatals, some of which rely on import tariffs to generate revenue. This is counterproductive because less emphasis is placed on developing local industries, such as farmers in agriculture, which would allow the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard) or the National Maize Corporation (NMC) to thrive on the high demand for their services from local farmers at reasonable prices.

The Eswatini Water Services Corporation (EWSC) and Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) are two of the few State firms that are self-sufficient. However, there have been numerous concerns concerning the fees for their services. They too need fixing.

Topic

The ubiquitous curse of corruption was also identified as a focus topic for the ICT minister, who invited personnel to report it as well as bosses who intimidated or bullied staff. She stressed that the efficiency of these organisations could only be achieved through effective leadership. Are we going to see some heads roll soon?

Hopefully, they deserve it, because many chief executive officers (CEOs) in these parastatals have grown more important than the services they should deliver, making them untouchable owing to their standing.

So, minister, first and foremost, we fully support your intentions to stop the corruption and squandering of whatever funds are allocated to these public enterprises. Secondly, adopt the advice of the national consultants, the Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC), who were paid by taxpayers to determine the value for money for all of these parastatals that rely heavily on subsidies. ESEPARC discovered that there were too many cooks spoiling the broth and recommended reducing this number to 30 instead of 49. In the process, taxpayers would save approximately E2 billion.

This is a massive amount of cash for which no services are forthcoming. We might direct this money towards critical needs such as health, where we are now told that the much needed Phalala Fund has been emptied, leaving people in need of specialised care to find their own way. Some are rushing to save their lives at one of the country’s best-run health facilities, The Luke Commission (TLC), only to discover that the institution is also on the verge of financial collapse due to the heavy load it has carried as a result of an influx of patients fleeing a failing health system. Unfortunately, the previous government was too preoccupied with politics to recognise the importance of paying the institution for services it is rendering on behalf of government and keeping it fully functional while it (government) works to address its numerous challenges in the health sector. Why not issue a tender waiver for providing crucial health services? We’ve seen such waivers applied to a variety of projects that government believes are critical for the country’s survival and demand immediate attention. The health problem is an emergency.

Praise

We should also praise Education Minister Owen Nxumalo for exposing government’s hypocrisy in requiring firms to follow employment regulations while it is flouting the same legislation. This is in reference to the continuous renewal of contract employment for teachers, which can last up to 10 years in some cases.

However, placing teachers on contract should not be the only solution. In order to guarantee that public servants offer the public high quality service, it must go hand-in-hand with a specific level of performance output.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Prince Lonkhokhela, has also struck the appropriate tone by questioning the benefit of providing a mining licence to green chert prospectors. He also advocated for market-related compensation above the gazetted minimum wage in the mining industry.

We are tired of exporting raw materials just to import completed products at a high cost. Overall, the ministers are talking the talk. Now they must walk it because we deserve public enterprises and institutions to play an important role in our country’s economic and social growth. They must reduce the burden on taxpayers while also ensuring that public services are affordable and efficient. Is this too much to ask? Of course not. This is the minimum return we expect from casting our votes.