LET’S TALK E4.8BN FOR ESWATINI’S TOP 1%

Clearly the tendering system is rigged in this country. Eswatini pays more on each square metre of any government construction project than any other country in Africa. The government tendering system is just a cesspool of corruption and greed that exists to service the financial needs of a few lucky individuals, who have now turned it into their personal ATMs to cash-out as much money they can from our inept government.

The E4.8 billion that the Government of Eswatini will splash on the construction of the International Convention Centre and Five Start Hotel (ICC and FISH) down the valley is the biggest pyramid scheme of all time in this country, taking into consideration that our government will not be able to account for every cent that will be spent on this outrageous bill.

Perspective

To put things into perspective, the E5 billion that will go down the drain just so Eswatini can keep up with the Joneses is actually more that the revenue government collects on value added tax (VAT) each year. In fact, this E5 billion bill is almost equivalent to the total revenue government has been collecting from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts in the past couple of years and every liSwati knows how tight that income has become for our supposedly cash-strapped government. It is unfathomable, therefore, that government could without hesitation just burn E5 billion just like that when all sources of revenue are drying up faster than our government is able to swindle more money out of our pockets as taxpayers.

Here is why the E4.8 billion is really a hard pill to swallow for the heavily taxed emaSwati. First and for most, there are no measures in place to account for every cent spent out of the E4.8 billion budget.

Actually, a huge chunk of this money will go straight into the wallets of the lucky individuals who have scored tenders in the construction of the ICC and FISH. Note that not all the money goes to payment of real goods and services, this is why government ends up spending E78 million just on toilets!

Tenderprenuers

Secondly, government will take out yet another E1 billion loan to ensure that construction does not stop, which is more good news for the tenderprenuers because they will be kept liquid as they continue supplying goods and services at over-inflated prices.
If we use the 10 per cent rule of thumb, which comes with a simple handshake on all secured government tenders, that is at least E100 million going straight to people’s pockets just from this E1 billion loan.

Thirdly, bearing in mind the history of the Government of Eswatini when it comes to unaccounted overspending, it won’t be long before it has spent beyond the tabled E5 billion mark. The country can rest assured that in the next year or two the cost of the ICC and FISH would have easily added another E2 or E3 billion, pushing the bill to the sums of about E10 billion while construction would still be going on.

Fourthly, Parliament will on the last minute put together another useless committee of its members (MPs) to probe the spending on the ICC and FISH and we all know that absolutely nothing will come out of that probe. Government simply probes and shelves.

Last but not least, is the ultimate billion Emalangeni question; how will government afford to repay all these loans? And how long will it take to make a proper return on investment on the ICC and FISH before government runs the whole thing into ruins?

Now the sad reality is that government no longer needs a wake-up call or anything of that sort to do the right thing. It just does as it pleases even if history keeps teaching us a lesson to do otherwise. Capital projects such as luxury hotels should be left to the private sector while government should focus on constructing more hospitals, clinics and schools.

Difficult

Even so, it is now incredibly difficult to trust our government to touch any capital project because even on the construction of necessary infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, schools and clinics, it always ends up being a drain to the economy and more money taken out of our empty pockets.

How about the Government of Eswatini starts putting the needs of emaSwati first before constructing mini-Dubais that the country cannot afford and certainly does not need?

Even the parastatals such as the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA) and the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) have followed suit by constructing their own BurjKhalifas and Taj Mahals at the back of heavily taxed emaSwati.

It is a travesty what government is trying to keep up with the Joneses while the majority of emaSwati - 58.9 per cent - still live below the national poverty line! Kwakhalanyonini!?

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