PM: ALL IS WELL WITH TINKHUNDLA SYSTEM, BUT ...

MANZINI - Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini says politically, all is well with the Tinkhundla System of Government.

However, he said it needed to be strengthened administration wise, rebranded and modernised. The PM said this yesterday when he was officially opening the induction course of tinkhundla elected officials from the Manzini Region. The event was held at The George Hotel. The PM told the elected officials; Members of Parliament (MPs), constituency headmen and chiefdom councillors, that they should work hard for their titles. He said they should behave like MPs, constituency headmen and chiefdom councillors, not like thugs.

Thereafter, he said, constituencies were the backbone of government and development of the country and emaSwati. He said since the country successfully hosted the general elections, which were peaceful and that now they were inducting the elected officials, it meant that politically, all was well with the system.

Strengthen

“We need to strengthen its administration by taking government to the people, including development, jobs and what informs the budget, among other things,” the PM said. He said this should be done even if they need to pass a policy that would compel them to follow the same path.
He added that in order to strengthen the system of government, they needed to talk about it without fear and be bold about the fact that the Tinkhundla System was democratic.

“We also need to rebrand it (Tinkhundla System). But currently, the budget that goes to the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development is small and offices at the tinkhundla centres are dilapidated,” the PM said. He added that the rebranding should not only apply to the structures, but the manner in which government conducted its business. He said everything they did should demonstrate excellence. He said by doing so, everyone would want to be part of the Tinkhundla System.

Modernise

Furthermore, the premier said there was a need to modernise the Tinkhundla System in order to strengthen it. He said the system needed to move with the times and be taught in schools. Failure to do so, the country will have difficulty in making young people understand the system,” the PM said.
However, he said things did not just happen, but everything should be planned and implemented. In that regard, he said the elected officials should have a plan to strengthen the Tinkhundla System. He stated that government would do anything in its power to ensure that Tinkhundla developed and took its place in the country. Therefore, he said the elected officials should look at all development plans and programmes that would be brought by government and its partners, if they would be good for the country or not.

According to the PM, previously, the country took developmental programmes that were not good for the nation and deserted what suited them. For example, he said they were told to buy fertilisers in order to produce more and they deserted manure. However, he said now when they wanted organic food, which was produced by using manure, they had to buy it at expensive prices. He added that even now, there were developmental programmes or initiatives that would not be good for the country and emaSwati. He said the elected officials should not be afraid to speak up and stop such.

Prioritised

On another note, he said resettlement should been prioritised in constituencies and chiefdoms, because if the allocation of land continued like it had been happening, the country would resemble a shanty town, except for urban areas. He said there were areas like Kwaluseni, where there were no roads leading to certain homes and others did not have land to build toilets. He said communities should meet and agree on which land should be declared as grazing land, fields and for homes. This, according to the PM, should be done with the assistance of experts, who would inspect the land and determine what it was good for.

“This can contribute to achieving His Majesty King Mswati III’s vision for the country, of attaining First World status,” the PM said. Moreover, the PM said everywhere one could go there would be three types of people; minority, second majority and the majority. He said the minority were people who made things happen and made a difference. He said these were the people who did not complain about a given task and they were also known as innovators.

He said the second majority were those who thought they knew and they talked a lot, but did not do anything, while the majority were people who did not care about what was happening and they did not seek change. Thereafter, he urged the elected officials to be the first category of people (the minority), by being innovators and bring change to their communities and people’s lives.

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