RSTP A WHITE ELEPHANT? - MPS

WHEN I read this article in the Times of Eswatini my heart was bleeding for emaSwati and His Majesty The King in particular. The RSTP Website states and I quote -The Royal Science & Technology Park (RSTP) was established through the vision of His Majesty King Mswati III.  The park came to fruition via an Act of Parliament in 2012. The vision is the first comprehensive effort to promote science, technology and innovation, in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The RSTP aims to provide steadfast support for basic research and innovation. In doing so, we provide a coherent approach to maximising the innovation dividend.The idea to develop a science and technology park started in 2007, with the creation of an initial concept. In 2008, a team of experts conducted a study to decide the feasibility of establishing such a park.

They completed the study in 2009 and found that the idea was feasible and that it would be a gain in stimulating the economy of Eswatini. A master plan was developed in 2010. Then RSTP was founded through the Royal Science & Technology Act of 2012. It was then designated as a Special Economic Zone through the Special Economic Zone Act of 2018. My dear reader, you can see that a lot of hard work was put into establishing this institution. The King, at the official opening said, the RSTP must make an initial annual turnover of about E10 billion, but nothing has been realised. Years later, where did we go wrong?

Indian T-Hub duplicate

The RSTP was designed and funded through a soft loan from Exim Bank with the assistance of the government of India. The building design, layout, and interior design right down to furniture within the RSTP at Phocweni resembles the building at T-Hub in the city of Hyderabad in India. These two organisations, namely RSTP and T-Hub, are so similar that as I was walking around the T-Hub in India, I thought I was at RSTP Phocweni. Yes, I did get to tour the T-Hub in India courtesy of the Indian Government, and you need to google contact@t-hub.co. to see what I am talking about.  Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to also tour RSTP with my brother, former Member of Parliament Sibusiso Scorpion Nxumalo.

The physical appearance and similarities in the service provided and overall objectives of the two institutions did not unfortunately for emaSwati translate to similar financial benefits. The T-Hub has assisted more than 2 000 local and international startups and technology transfers with a value of US$25 billion (E445 billion) since its inception in 2015. Other such centres can turn over US$200 million (E3.54 billion) per year. They are dealing with international corporations like Boeing Aircraft, Defence, Aerospace, healthcare, digital health solutions and patient-centric care. Partner with startups in pioneering innovations fuel advancements in Electric Vehicles (EVs), autonomous driving, and sustainable mobility solutions

First World a reality
through RSTP

Until my tour of RSTP coupled with my travel to India, I was one of these skeptics about this First World ‘dream’ His Majesty the King kept promoting. However, upon the realisation of just how much money in cash Dollars the RSTP alone can bring, I changed my mind. The data storage alone has the potential to partner with Google, Yahoo and serious international players within the technology space to bring in one to three billion Dollars per year.(E18 Billion to E54 billion Emalangeni)  We brought in a South African multimillionaire who specialises in data storage for the likes of Nedbank, and others to talk with the RSTP officials some time ago, Unfortunately, RSTP was not ready with the data recovery base, but everything else was highly impressive. This is the billion-Dollar potential we were looking at. This is just data storage, we have not gotten into the innovations startup including the biotechnology and other income streams. A  small country like Eswatini can cash in on this in a big way.

Leadership matters  

When we go to T-Hub in India, the average age of the innovators and the general leadership was youth below 35 years of age. There are those in their 20s but so educated in the IT space programme such that you could not believe it. Young people, we are working on innovations within the Indian space as we speak. Financial incentives are there for young people who can solve complex industry problems. The public of Eswatini is told that the RSTP has not made any money since its inception, when a similar institution in India is talking of billions of Dollars. We are told that some E100 million Emalangeni is unaccounted for instead. What is even more disturbing is that the people implicated are part of the royal family. This must be particularly disappointing for His Majesty the King, and I hope he will allow the new Firebrand Minster Savanna Maziya to get to the bottom of this and get this institution running like it was designed to do. We need the money.

Loyalty vs professionalism

His Majesty the King seems to have put too much value on loyalty above Professionalism. His appointment of Major V the self-proclaimed healer /Prophet and social media ‘influencer’ for the lack of a better description, says to me that loyalty comes first to him. I can only assume he was appointed advisor because of his open defence of the King during difficult times of unrest. There are times when loyalty is important and there are times when you need professionals who know their job and you pay them according to set deliverables. Professionals are loyal to the money, and pay they deliver.  If I were the Chairman of the Board of RSTP I would organise a trip to T-Hub in India for all the board members, some  Members of Parliament, and some senior ministry staff members.

Once there we would try to understand the institution and then recruit some of the young Indian professionals to come and run this Institution. The exposure needed to run this effectively might not be available locally. The other element of T-Hub is its international Connections. Even working with T-Hub management directly would be helpful.  
They work with companies in the US, within the EU and all over the world. The Board of directors needs to know that RSTP needs serious international intervention to succeed. septemereswatini@gmail.com  
   

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