Cabinet’s popular legacy

Speaker Prince Guduza’s end-ofterm speech was a masterful summary of the arrogant way that the Ninth Cabinet has treated the other parliamentarians in the Ninth Parliament, even to the extent of sending in armed police officers to arrest MPs accused of corruption which, while being a laudable goal, showed the contempt this Cabinet has shown towards the office of its fellow parliamentarians.

Most obviously arrogant has been the way Cabinet members have been conspicuously missing from the House throughout the past five years, often even delegating their reports to Cabinet colleagues who were therefore unequipped to answer the detailed questions that are necessary to perform an effective oversight role.

By the standards of Cabinet, they have done a magnificent job; by the standards of the nation they have, indeed, been the failures the Speaker described. Despite the many new social initiatives Cabinet has introduced to better the lives of the people, such as Free Primary Education; when one looks closely it becomes clear Cabinet was often only a reluctant participant in pushing them and failed to implement them in a way that made them effective and minimised corruption. Instead, corruption has blossomed over the past five years and this Cabinet has failed to convince the public that they were, indeed, prioritising the rule of law.

In governing, so much depends on the perception of the people. The political philosopher Machiavelli advised that leaders should ignore the general grumbling of the populace (as people always grumble) but should take note when specific concerns were aired about specific incidents or people. Cabinet has ignored every attempt to rein in its excessive spending, cunningly manoeuvring a largely gullible Parliament into agreeing to Circular No.1 of 2012, for example, just before the biggest economic crash the world has seen in 80 years.

This circular remains a thorn in the side of the nation as politicians enjoy perks at a First World scale in comparison to the realities that most of the nation live with. So much depends on perception, and the stubborn defence of this circular by almost all parliamentarians has poisoned the relations between the government and the populace to the extent that now the ordinary Swazi simply assumes Parliament is the place to go to pick the low-hanging fruit, rather than a place that ensures law and order.

It is important to note Parliament’s passive role in enabling the Cabinet to run rough-shod over them with the mere mention of the King’s name. By allowing Cabinet to be the only intermediaries between the people and the King, Parliament has elevated the Cabinet to a role they did not enjoy previously.

And although Prince Guduza’s statements were of heroic proportions in this close-mouthed society, there is little that Parliament has really done to encourage the rule of law in this country; indeed, often the incompetent way they approached their oversight role (the vote of no confidence being a prime example) resulted only in ensuring the divide between Cabinet and the people’ representatives grew larger.
It is this divide that needs to be addressed by the next government. The people need to be able to trust their government again – Cabinet, the House of Assembly and Senate.

 They need to be able to feel that we are all part of the same nation, sharing the same burdens and working together towards a common goal, rather than struggling among themselves for scraps. It is Parliament that is meant to guide and advise Cabinet; and that is why the upcoming elections are of such paramount importance.

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