WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, HOW IS FIRST WORLD STATUS POSSIBLE?

The possibility of South Africa stopping their supply of electricity to the Kingdom of eSwatini, remote as it may appear right now, begs the question of whether the Kingdom has its ducks in a row as it pursues First World status by the year 2022.

The grim reality is that if the Democratic Alliance (DA), now the official opposition party, were to win the forthcoming national elections in South Africa, it would certainly stop the electricity supply to this country.  That is the sum total of the paper drafted by the DA in which it seeks, through Parliament, to stop South Africa supplying electricity to this and other neighbouring states.

Of course, the DA’s position is an unimaginably terrible scenario considering that this country imports 80 per cent of its electricity from South Africa, with the remainder generated domestically. No one needs to be reminded of the importance of electricity in the day-to-day grind of living, not to speak of its magnitude in driving the development of this country towards achieving the much-talked-about Vision 2022, that First World status that is dominating the speeches of every public figure within the echelons of the Swazi leadership.

As I see it, the dream of achieving First World status cannot be achieved if this country were to suddenly become a sea of darkness, save for the few who could be fed off of the 20 per cent that this country is able to produce. The reality of the situation that every one of us – specifically those behind the First World dream – must face is that an electricity supply that is dependable and sustainable is an integral, if not THE integral, component towards the realisation of Vision 2022. Without electricity, that vision will remain a pipe dream.

In fact, considering the importance of electricity not just in our daily lives but also in driving the country’s developmental aspirations, how on earth could anyone have overlooked this strategic asset on the list of national priorities? This country, whose size is just over 17 000 square kilometres, has been independent for 46 years this year; yet it is still dependent on other nations when it comes to this strategic resource that, apparently, is not only vital in terms of our daily lives but also overlaps with and embraces the security of the nation.

Relative to other nations, especially our giant neighbours Mozambique to the East and South Africa to the West, the Kingdom of eSwatini is but a village requiring a daily electricity supply of under 400MW (megawatts).
As I see it, it is not a matter of a lack of resources that this country, during all its 46 years of independence, remains dependent on this very strategic asset that should be at the heart of our national imperatives. Unfortunately, the blame has to go to the Swazi polity; specifically to those who decided to monopolise political power, thus effectively making it impossible for the citizenry, particularly those opposed to the obtaining political oligarchy, to exercise their God-given faculties; ostensibly because those in power would exercise these on their behalf.

The sum total has been the underdevelopment of this country, as graphically portrayed by the fact that we cannot generate enough power, even a paltry 400MW or less, for this tiny country.
Unfortunately, the question of electricity is not the only impediment to the realisation of the First World dream that has become the preoccupation of those in the echelons of power.

There remains a plethora of other challenges that have to be overcome. Factor in last week’s story of the old man who plunged down a waterfall in Ngwenya while fetching water for domestic purposes.
Yes, the majority of the people still use river water for domestic purposes because they have no access to properly reticulated water owing to the absence of proper infrastructure.

The old man who plunged to his death at a waterfall in Ngwenya is indeed the face of the 69 per cent of people living below the international poverty datum line.
These faceless people are expected to be riding the crest towards the much-desired First World dream. But the question no one within the echelons of power has answered is where these people, the majority of the population, factor in this First World notion. This is particularly so since the United Nations puts people at the centre of every development. Yet here we are talking about the majority of the people who still use untreated water from rivers for all their domestic requirements, among the many challenges they face from day-to-day.

We are about eight years from 2022; there is still time for the architects to do the right thing so that every Swazi from every nook and cranny of this country has a buy-in into this vision. The one sure way of doing so is to bring the majority of the impoverished people up to the same economic status as the minority within the echelons of power, otherwise First World status will merely become a political slogan come 2022.

        

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