WE ARE A BROKEN PEOPLE

THE ever-rising statistics of gender-based violence, even after numerous campaigns and the much-celebrated enactment of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, are a serious cause for concern.

he latter development was seen as the perfect panacea to the worrying trends of GBV; many were convinced that the tough ramifications that came with this piece of legislation would arrest the situation through the double-edged sword effect of deterrence and punishment.

Silence

Six years later, our girls and women are still being raped, beaten and killed while many boys and men suffer in silence. Of course, it will not take six years to rectify social ills of generations but we can be forgiven to have high expectations of a major behavioural change in our people after all the interventions that have been made.

This, in my view, points to deeper underlying issues in society that need the attention of everyone, especially our leaders. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are an angry, disillusioned society. Both our men and women are struggling in many areas of their lives and are failing to deal with issues. We are not at all a happy people and our mental health issues are manifesting in destructive behaviours.

In this country, as it is right now, it takes an extremely optimistic person to see any light at the end of the tunnel. With the economy performing as badly as it is right now, with the huge inequality and poverty; the only light many are seeing is that of an oncoming train. What further compounds that is the glaring lack of vision and a sense of duty within our leadership. We only see career leaders, hell-bent on keeping their jobs and so detached from the suffering of the people. Our leaders have demonstrated a confused, reactionary leadership that has a strong aversion to consultation.

Problems

If this state of affairs persists, our problems as a country will spiral out of control. Our leadership needs to think creatively about how we can foster social cohesion going forward. We need to see how we build our country, starting from the primary source of socialisation; the family. The nation can benefit hugely from a ‘Social Cohesion Indaba’ that will begin analysing our society from that basic unit of society; the family, to see where we are losing it as a nation.

From there, we can begin to understand, contextually, what makes up a liSwati. We will understand the social, cultural and political context that informs our behaviors and attitudes, as citizens and leaders. It is then that we can begin to unravel our complex nature and see how that affects us. I am convinced that such a reflective process will give answers to so many of our problems. From there, we can begin to understand why we have a huge leadership crisis.

We can understand and dissect the docility in emaSwati that festers the many human right violations which take place with impunity. Perhaps we can also understand why a select few among us feel so entitled to resources that belong to all bona-fide emaSwati that they are willing to use all means necessary to reserve them for their exclusive enjoyment. We can even understand why the life of a liSwati doesn’t seem to matter much in this country. A very good friend of mine is wont to say: “Lelive leli alimati umuntfu.’’ It is a very sad statement which I have reflected on many times and has proven true in many occasions.  

The point I am trying to make here is that we need to go back to the basics if we intend fixing our nation. Attempts to fix the economy and politics at the higher level will be an exercise in futility if we ignore the problems at the micro level. Let’s focus on building a nation of people who are highly patriotic and who desire to take the country to another level.

Leaders

When our people keep their end of the bargain and work to bulge the tax pool, leaders should reciprocate this with excellence in service delivery. As a people, we want to feel that we are not second-class citizens and that we have a fundamental role to play in nation-building, not just churners of the resources that are to be enjoyed by a select few, but as citizens who should be able to influence the direction of the country.

That way, we can breed a happy, prosperous society where social ills such as gender-based violence are so minimal as to be negligible. Morality cannot be enforced sustainably using law only. There is honestly no excuse for a nation with flowing rivers, fertile lands, mineral resources, fairly educated people, one language, no history of war and a little over a million people not to be envied by the world. 

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