THE HARD TRUTH

Sir,

The popular view that we need to fix our politics first in order to get the economics right may be fashionable but is largely dangerous.
In as much as we have issues with the manner in which governance and accountability is played out, the reality is that what keeps me and you going is the economics and not necessarily the politics.

History has proven that countries which have recently sought to provide rapid economic solutions have found it easier to then progress to a utopian society where ethics and morality takes precedence leading to a sustainable political dispensation.

Eswatini is a landlocked country which is highly dependent on South Africa and the SACU community for its survival. South Africa is considered to be a shining example of democracy and affluence, however, we must not forget that South Africa remains highly volatile with pockets of evident uprisings relating to the ruling party’s imposition of leadership at local government level.

In a common monetary area, one would expect that the economic fundamentals between the countries would be comparable, however, the reality is that South Africa in our case has a tight control and influence on the basic fundamentals.

The fact that South Africa has a developed infrastructure implies that quality labour and high salaries remain attracted to it while the peripheral economies have to make do with the remaining quantity of cheap labour scavenging on the perimeters of a vibrant economy. This kind of situation is not sustainable in both political and economic terms.

The idea that we continue to import such basic things as bottled-water from South Africa in the name of a free-market economy continues to baffle me.
If Eswatini does not improve its salaries, which will improve spending, while South Africa increases salaries within this ‘common monetary area’, the long-term result is that the kingdom will remain poorer while South Africa gets richer and therefore the SACU share of Eswatini will forever shrink until someone wakes up to smell the coffee.

This is the hard truth that every one of us needs to address regardless of our political beliefs and inclinations.

Skeptical economist

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