TOLERANCE APPROACHING ZENITH

United we stand, divided we fall!  This popular motto is commonly used by a group of people to express solidarity, unity or collaboration in the face of adversity, challenges or threats posed by a common enemy.

Tracing back the origins of this motto; it is said a tale relays how a lion used to prowl in a field inhabited by four oxen. Each time the lion tried to attack the oxen, they would turn their tails to warn each other and the lion, whichever way it tried to attack, it would face the horns of each ox. Sadly, as time went by, the oxen quarrelled and each one decided to graze on his own - and the lion attacked! Moral of the story? United we stand, divided we fall. How true!

People of Algeria, in their hundreds of thousands including students, doctors, university professors, health workers etcetera have been protesting on the streets for weeks now against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was seeking another term in office after having ruled the country for 20 years. The 82-year old president has rarely been seen in public office since he suffered a stroke in 2013.

back off and not interfere

It is reported that a new group headed by opposition leaders and activists have told the country’s army to back off and not interfere. In the face of a united front portrayed by a disgruntled people against a corrupt and greedy leader seeking a lengthy and unconstitutional term in office, President Bouteflika has finally bowed to the will of the people and has indicated that he will not stand for another term.

Sadly, like all corrupt leaders, especially in our cursed African continent, he says he will not relinquish office until a new Constitution is adopted - a classic case of “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” For Pete’s sake, the power-hungry oligarch is wheel chair-bound, very frail-looking but still clinging to power instead of giving way for younger blood to take the country forward. Power, it seems for some leaders, acts like an opium drug. They lose all sane faculties in their bid to cling to power, driven by greed.

Corrupt political leaders never learn from the lessons of history that people may be ruled under a repressive and undemocratic political dispensation for years, but once the threshold of tolerance is crossed, all hell may break loose. The African continent, for centuries, has experienced many political upheavals - some bloody because leaders relentlessly clung to power and made life misery for their own people. Once repressed people finally decide to unite and say “enough is enough”, the end result is more-often- than-not, not a so rosy one.

The people of Algeria have crossed the Rubicon of tolerance and have decided to unite and act. The footages on television showing a united people, drawn together to a common purpose and marching against injustices, should be a lesson to all African leaders - inclusive of our very own, unique kingdom of Eswatini - that do not take the silence of the masses to mean consent  in the onslaught of evil.

I am privileged to have been part of a breakfast meeting to launch a People’s Budget Campaign at the George Hotel on Wednesday last week,  hosted by a coalition of concerned socio-economic groups over the contentious Budget Speech which was tabled by the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg a couple of weeks or so ago.

The occasion was graced by among other high-profile people, the EU Ambassador, people from COSPE, the Secretary General of the Trade Union Confederation of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice (FSEJ) and a host of other brilliant minds, intent on finding solutions to a common adversary.

Minister Neal’s comment

I did not take kindly to Minister Neal when he labelled the outcry of the people over his skewed and biased budget, as ‘hysteria’ in his ‘right to reply’ article a couple of weeks or so, in the Times of Swaziland.
Such arrogance coming from someone purportedly representing the people’s interests, someone whose paycheque is funded by the very taxpayer he despises so much, is so downright despicable and I offer no apology for that.

The top-down style of leadership so prevalent in this country and incessantly being displayed with sheer arrogance by our executive - past and present - has set it against the people and the signs are increasingly becoming evident that the people’s tolerance is fast approaching its zenith.

EmaSwati are famous for resolving issues amicably and around the round table. Sadly, the outwardly docile and amenable nature of the people has been taken advantage of by an executive who treats us as primates.
There is a skewed and corrupt misuse of the country’s resources by a select few. The people are not blind or oblivious to the abuse of the taxpayer’s monies. The unfolding saga presented by the Auditor General’s report reads like a movie script. Public funds are abused at a whim with no one called to account for the misuse.

The E556 million Sicunusa-Nhlangano road wastage seems to be a tip of the iceberg. There is more we are not told of in the deeply rooted abuse of public funds in public projects.
Seemingly, it is free-for-all to dip fingers in the cookie jar. Instead of heads rolling, it seems they in ecstasy rolling in the opposite direction - deep into the cookie jar. In the end, who bears the brunt of fiscal recovery strategies? Save your breath and do not bother responding to that one. Our politicians need to understand that they are no longer dealing with a people possessing the gullibility of kindergarten children and the faculties of retards. EmaSwati are smart and can see beyond the ruse being dangled to the public - that of government being broke. Read the AG’s reports very meticulously every financial year end to get a feel of how money is recklessly spend by the lucky ones, like drunk sailors on a vacation. Iyadliwa  imali kulelive and strong.

misuse of public funds

No one is taken to task and called to account for the misuse of public funds. The people can no longer tolerate to look the other way when their livelihoods are incessantly being eroded by corrupt leaders and people entrusted with using public funds with thriftiness. They want a say in compiling a budget. A clarion call is being sounded that only deserving ministries get the lion’s share of the budget.

They are tired of contributing to salaries for ghost employees, who spring out from nowhere to claim paycheques at month-end as result of being connected to the high and the mighty, where policies and or procedures are manipulated - to benefit scoundrels who fail to work for a living.

You see, the problem with some of our leaders is that they think they are the only intelligent emaSwati in this country. This has derailed development because more often than not, positions are availed in many instances to a privileged few by favour, not by merit. These are the people who abuse their responsibilities because they are not accountable to anyone.

We trust that the campaign will raise awareness in our leaders not to do things as they please. We all belong to this country.
Shalom!

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