What is there to fear?

Comment 

The suggestion of a 30 per cent raise in the pay of junior police officers would be a welcome move, especially if it was coupled with a more stringent approach to the quality of the officers.

More pay means brighter, more educated and hardworking applicants, which in turn would allow the management of the police service to get rid of those officers who embarrass the police service with their negligent disregard for the law.

But this is not an ordinary situation. In the context of a wage freeze on the civil service which failed to stop the controversial salary raise for judges, we now have overstaffed security forces, 10 per cent of the budget being allocated to the security sector and Correctional Services staff rewarded with illegal tenders at the expense of legitimate businesses and the way in which the government dealt with the strikes of the last two years.

The message being sent by government to the ordinary Swazi on the street is that the government is hiring more officers to put down dissent, paying them comparatively well to ensure their loyalty, rewarding the commissioners with luxury vehicles - all while protecting the three armed forces (army, police and warders) from prosecution.

The last time the government acted like this, padding the pockets of the legislators with Circular No. 1 and beefing up the army, among other preparations, it was followed by a year in which the nation struggled without food, medicines and money and the security forces were instrumental in battering down our cries of protest.

This is the message that the Swazi on the street is getting, loud and clear, from government. And it appears that government is either oblivious to the consequences of its actions – which would denote an order of incompetence so serious it would be criminal – or planning for a security threat which the rest of us know nothing about but perceived to be coming from the general public.

So what security threat does government know about that we don’t?

COMMENTS:

- Well said. Clearly the Swazi Govt's mission is about silencing the needy through batons and enriching those at the top, not service delivery to the nation.Police raises are long overdue since the force worked well last year in beating Waya waya teachers who were only asking for a 4.5 raise.
March 1, 2013, 10:00 am, MAGEBA

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