Times Of Swaziland: WHERE ARE THE ACTIVISTS, AMID CHALLENGES?

WHERE ARE THE ACTIVISTS, AMID CHALLENGES?
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Emmanuel Ndlangamandla on 15/07/2024 08:12:00


Civil Society including the non-governmental organisations, trade unions,
faith-based organisations in Eswatini, have made their mark in various spaces
and levels as they attempt to push for the respect, protection, promotion and
fulfilment of human rights in our country. This has been pursued through various
mechanisms including offering direct assistance to the vulnerable groups,
generating evidence, conducting civic education, engaging government through
dialogues, workshops and campaigns, to mention a few.
Advocacy and activism though related, differ in some aspects. Advocacy is often
thought of as ‘an act of publicly representing an individual, organisation or
idea’ and used as an umbrella term for many intervention tools.  It can
include active lobbying, including methods such as: Letter writing, meeting
politicians, running public forums, questions in Parliament and participating in
various consultative processes.
Reputation
Activism, on the other hand, often has a less favourable reputation even though
by definition, it can be viewed as a form of advocacy.  Activism is described as
taking direct action to achieve a social goal.  (Stephen Hall, 2018).
‘Activism’ can be a negative concept based on how activism is perceived and
how activists are depicted by the state and its systems and or agencies such as
the media and the legal framework. Activism can be seen as part of the advocacy
process or the action(s) that advocates take, such as organise a deliberate and
direct protest, to increase awareness and attempt to influence the political
process. In summing up, advocacy is often seen as working ‘within the
system’ whereas activism is seen as working ‘outside the system’ to
generate change.
Eswatini is going though serious socio-economic and governance challenges. Worth
noting is that Eswatini has scored low in the Mo Ibrahim Governance Index,
scoring 49 out of a 100 in overall governance, ranking 35 out of 54 countries.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation defines governance as “the provision of the
political, social, economic and environmental public goods that every citizen
has the right to expect from their state, and that a state has the
responsibility to deliver to its citizens”.
Threat
Even with the new administration following national elections, poverty levels
continue to worsen, unemployment especially among the youth at around 58 per
cent persist, the nexus of corruption and nepotism remains a public concern,
control of media and threat to control  social media space through cyber
legislation remain a major threat to freedom of expression,  deepening health
crisis,  looming  hunger triggered  by the Elnino phenomenon, inequality ,
gender-based violence and gender disparities to mention a few.  These problems
are affecting emaSwati children, women, youth, elderly, disabled and men as
well.
Unfortunately, those affected have no voice as there are no platforms to voice
their issues. Even the elected members of Parliament are not compelled to host
constituency meeting to listen to those who voted for them.  It is concerning
that since the brutal quelling of the 2021 civil unrest, which claimed dozens of
lives of emaSwati, including a prominent activist and lawyer, activism in
Eswatini seems to have taken a back seat largely due to fear of reprisals from
an uncompromising security organs of State.
Why civil society activism is critical?
The Eswatini governance system is based on individual merit. To this end, there
is no opposition voice in Parliament.  Of course the system is founded on the
belief that multiparty system is fundamentally divisive and, hence, the
architects designed a system where members of Parliament should to a large
extent should be seen to be pulling together. The reality is that if politicians
are not pressured to address the socio-economic challenges facing society, the
tendency is that they ignore the issues and hence they persist.  If I may ask,
why should the drugs shortage crisis be persisting even when the issue was
raised at Sibaya?
Why does it persist even with the new administration charged by His Majesty to
address national challenges with speed ‘nkwe’?  Why did the Cabinet Task
Team fail to turn things around?  The Right Honourable Prime Minister
established a high level task team to address rampant corruption after His
Majesty called for those who are involved in corruption to be held accountable.
To date, no one has been prosecuted. Why?
Civil society is, therefore, seen as an increasingly important agent for
promoting good governance like transparency, effectiveness, openness,
responsiveness and accountability; civil society has a role in enabling the
voiceless and unorganised community’s interests to be represented; civil
Society  engage in policy analysis and in the design of strategies; it monitors
government performance  as well as  actions and behaviour of public officials;
civil society also build social capital and enable citizen to identify and
articulate their values, beliefs, civic norms and democratic practices. Civil
society activist must find their voice again.  Our country needs you!