TOO MUCH PR

I reference my thoughts on the change of fortunes that befell a couple of emaSwati post meeting with the King. Though fortunate for the two people who will receive the assistance, I do weep for the plight of the unemployed in Eswatini. I argue that government must do better in addressing the problem of unemployment in the country.I would like to think it is not the intention of government to place the King in such situations every time he makes a public appearance. This is not good for the image of the sovereign and not good for the long-term stability of the country. We observed similar occurrences in South Africa, when President Ramaphosa was on the campaign trail; however, the responses to the pleas are in stark contrast.

Ramaphosa

On his campaign trail he met a young lady who asked for a job. President Ramaphosa advised the lady not to give up and keep looking. Also, he met an old man who asked for a fridge; again he did not offer the man a fridge. One would ask the question why did he not offer the lady a job? Why did he not buy a fridge for the old man? I believe he could have personally hired the woman in one of his many businesses and he has the resources to buy one small fridge for an old man.However, he did not do anything for anyone. This is because he is president of the republic, and the problems of unemployment and lack of resources to afford some of life’s luxuries are pervasive, not just isolated to the two people he met. As president he is responsible for the fortunes of the entire population.

One should not have to have an encounter with him for them to lead a better life. As head of government, he ought to ensure that the business environment is ripe and allows for businesses to grow and create employment opportunities. Acting otherwise, would create an expectation that if you need a job, one needs to lay way the president and they would get a job. Also, this would have created precedent and an expectation.

Precedent and expectation
Domestically, the response was different and we saw a lot of PR around that, which in my view was just too much PR, we really have nothing to celebrate. In my opinion, this is also not good for the image of the crown. The DPM and those in government should have assisted without making noise around this. We do not want to send a message that if you need a job one must look east where the sun rises.
The government is responsible for all citizens of the Kingdom of Eswatini. The role of the government is to create an enabling environment, with concerted efforts to significantly lower the rates of unemployment in the country. Furthermore, it should be incumbent on the government to seek to eradicate poverty in line with the sustainable development goals.

We cannot for the love of God, have a government that will decide to hire 1 person and leave the rest of the 59 per cent of the youth without jobs. Also, we have created an expectation among the people that once you meet the King and explain your plight, a job shall follow immediately after. We do not want a situation where the sovereign is forced to hide from the people; we need government to protect the image of the sovereign.

Problems

The country battles with high poverty levels with 58 per cent of the population living below the poverty line. Furthermore, above 50 per cent of the youth are unemployed. These are national problems requiring strategic interventions, not providing a job to just one liSwati. Also, the country is battling with a high wage bill within the public service; I do not believe it will be sustainable to offer jobs to those who need jobs within the public service.Government needs to protect the sovereign by doing the needful, implementing the right strategic policies to ensure that we bring down the unemployment and poverty levels in the country. We need to ramp up implementation of the economic recovery strategy, revisit the National Development Plan and the Poverty Reduction Plan and Action strategy.

Structural reform

It is imperative that we support critical reforms in the economy, we need to strategically invest such that the size of government in business is reduced, paving way for private sector-led growth. The economy needs to grow outside of government and government must only be a catalyst to that growth and not be the growth in itself. To attain this, we need to rethink access to finance, support to SMEs and access to global value chains.The country is at a crossroads, ready for a takeoff. I argue that this take off should be led by private sector and improved access to opportunities for all emaSwati, may be call it the Eswatini Dream. Let us strive to build an economy where every citizen of the kingdom can be supported to reach the summit regardless of background.

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