INEQUALITY A RECIPE FOR DISASTER

A recent study revealed tiny Eswatini as one of the top 10 unequal societies. Simply put, a colossal amount of the wealth in the country is concentrated in the hands of a few. Seldom do these studies base their findings on thumb-sucking or wild guesses.

The evidence for that is not too difficult to find. Our poverty rate remains one of the highest in the region at way over 50 per cent, as does our unemployment rate. This is very scandalous and accuses our leaders of institutionalised unequal distribution of wealth. As a country, we remain classified as a lower-middle income country, meaning the numbers should not be as scary as they are.

Hardships

These are not just numbers, they reflect real hardships for the overwhelming majority of our people. Believe it or not, there are thousands of emaSwati to whom three meals a day, of nutritious food, is nothing but a far-fetched dream.

Many would just not survive if wasn’t for handouts from the country’s development partners. At events where food is served, it’s always painful to see how emaSwati behave when they see food. It’s as though they are seeing gold.

A country so rich with arable land, flowing rivers and a huge youth-based working force has been reduced to a nation of beggars. Juxtaposed with the excesses of the privileged few, this is nothing but scandalous and a huge recipe for disaster.

We have, as a nation, been accustomed to surviving on handouts from development partners. Cycles of administrations at Hospital Hill have failed to deal with this and have only exacerbated the country’s dependence on aid.

A leadership that fails to feed its own people, provide quality education and healthcare, among other things, is not worth respect. We confuse our development partners sometimes due to the way we structure our priorities as a nation.

On the one hand, we are happy to splash resources on vanity projects and live lavishly.  

Digging

Cultural activities, whose value in nation-building and cohesion is not in doubt, are however seemingly digging too deep into the nation’s pockets. This cannot be sustainable.  We have started a trend that has a huge potential for misuse, corruption and monetisation of participation in cultural activities.

While some effort is being done by the government to fight poverty through programmes such as the Regional Development Fund, the rate of systemic plundering of the fiscus is way faster than the rate at which we are alleviating the poverty our people are suffering from.

We are giving with one hand and taking with the other. Sooner or later our people will fail to contain themselves and this might break out into something we never thought could happen.

 Our leaders’ solution to this, it would appear, is simply to invest heavily into the security apparatus.  The recent budget is clear as day to substantiate this. As a bona fide liSwati, it is my earnest prayer and plea to the country’s leadership that we seriously need self-introspection as a nation to see if we’re not headed to disaster.  We keep testing the patience of our people through ignoring their plight and flashing their taxes through never-ending lavishness right in their faces. Through once-off festivities, we hope we can buy their loyalty and patronage.

Ramifications

Eventually, people do get tired and start pushing back, often with far-reaching consequences. We honestly do not need this as a nation. The ramifications tend to be dire and expensive at so many levels. So if we can prevent this, then let’s do so by all means. This feature article has time and again addressed the pervasive culture of impunity in the country which kills accountability and engenders corruption. Unless we deal with that as a country and root it out at all levels, we are not going anywhere. Our investment environment is not looking good either.

The dominance of a few elites in the private sector, if not addressed, may cause serious problems for us in the future. For the economy to thrive, we need a competitive and thriving private sector, free from over-regulation, State interference and pecuniary interests that can create and maintain jobs. It’s still not too late to do things differently as a nation.

Our story can change and we can be a beacon of hope and source of envy for many African nations. We live in a land of plenty and there is enough for all of us, but certainly not to satisfy greed and the needs of the masses at the same time. It all stands and falls on leadership.

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