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MEDIA, GOVERNMENT NEED EACH OTHER-MINISTER SAVANNAH

22/09/2024 16:27:00 Ntombi Mhlongo

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MBABANE - Despite the current tensions that emanated from the recent Editors Forum Breakfast Meeting, Minister of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya believes that the media and government need each other.

This she said during an interview with this publication which was aimed at sharing some of her plans and new initiatives her ministry has introduced since she was appointed into the position last year. Even though she requested not to dwell much on what transpired during the breakfast meeting, she said from a general perspective, she believed that government will work well with the media. “I know we will because if we all claim to really love this country, and want the best for it, it is incumbent for us to figure out a way to meet in the centre. It does not serve anybody if we all go to our corners. We have to meet at the centre. We are almost like divorced parents so we have got do what is best for the child. The child is the country,” the minister said.

Elaborating, the minister said there was a need for all to put aside their feelings and come to deal with things maturely and focus on the end game. “We all have got to show what it is to be great. To be great is small things including how you deal with human beings. To be great means that even when I do not agree with you, I am civil. To be great is to understand all sides and appreciate that we all don’t look at the world from the same prison. And to be great is to rise above a lot of things. If we are the dog that chases every car, we are not going to win. Some things you have got to withstand and let time and distance deal with them,” the minister said.

She emphasised that the current times call each individual to be greater than the self and the egos that come in and want to play with them and make them look not so smart. “We have to be great, and that is what we have to work towards achieving. Greatness is a funny thing, very few achieve it. But it is not impossible to achieve it,” she said. With the interview more focused on the minister’s plans to turn the country’s digitisation fortunes around, she explained in detail the initiative themed ‘Government in Your Hands’ plus her recent visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where she signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between that country and the Government of Eswatini.

She mentioned that both the initiative and MoU are meant to strengthen the strategy that her ministry is implementing.“The strategy that we have is to say; first we look at how government interfaces with the citizens of the country. Government offers 200 services, some are more in your face like passports but they are still offered by government to the citizens. Our plan, if they allow us, is to be able to make it possible for you to access those services in the comfort of your home or from tinkhundla, post offices or anybody else we will be able to bring on the network,” she said,.

Elaborating, she said all that her ministry is trying to do is ensure that all citizens of the country get network coverage and are able to pick up government services easily. “The thinking is that let us make things convenient, people are limited financial-wise and it becomes a challenge taking the limited funds to travel to Mbabane and be told that the system is down and you have to come back another day. Also, standing in queues is a dignity killer especially for the elderly; we’ve got to have more dignity for these people and for just the general citizen”.

Basically, she said all that she is trying to push right now is more of a foundation offering for the country, something that will need a strong fibre optic because that will become the backbone of everything else including the ‘Government In Your Hands’ initiative. “We want to say, if we can have the fibre optic and cover every area of the country and cover those areas that are a little tricky to reach, that will enable us to lower the cost of data since it is very crucial to the people.” While she makes it known that this is a huge investment, the minister explains that she is trying to think of more clever ways to do it.

She explained that about E2.8 billion will be needed to get the fibre project done and this, she believes, will be done despite the fact that her ministry received around E500 million, most of which covers salaries. “One of the advantages is that having lived as long as I have and the people that I know, will be able to help us on how we get around this. We have a strategy and we will announce it once it is finalised. If this works, we will get to the market within a year and that will be wonderful for the country and then we will be able to bring in other fibre from outside”.

She said what people need to understand is that the implementation of the ‘Government in Your Hands’ initiative is just meant to get the word out there but that it will take a while, like 24 months. “There is a need for change management because the officials need to be trained and change is not easy but this is crucial because the fibre and the ‘Government in Your Hands’ is a foundation to attract the investments. Asked to share more about the decision to sign the MoU with the UAE, the minister said such did not happen before the signing of deals.

“I do not work like that. First I do the deal, and then I sign the contract. So the MoU is just a way of allowing us to have a relationship. We have already talked to investors and people who are interested to invest in the country. It is very difficult to get investors. We are a small country, some do not even know us, we have our challenges so you have to, as a minister yourself, be credible and talk to the friends who know your history”. She said the UAE is a perfect choice as she has worked with investors there before and understands clearly that it takes a long time to get their trust but that once they see it, they become assured of credibility.

“People like a situation whereby when you present to them, you do not come with a charity story but a business proposition, and I am used to that. We’ve got to get to a point as emaSwati where when we get to these people, let us treat them well. Let us use the opportunity of having them here to expand the local investors so that they grow, let us build our human resources capacity and opportunity to get jobs for our youth”. For her, the MoU is not just a document she signed but an opportunity that allows her to deal directly with major investors and make it a point that they get incentives.

In her view, it is important to make sure that the incentives are there and workable. “We must make sure that when the investor walks through at the border, we are ready, we have vetted them, they are incredible and they have the money. The investor must not be running around different departments, we show them that they are important. We also must show them that we are serious about them. This means we must treat them as professionals and not abuse them”.

… to make tough decisions on EPTC, RSTP

MBABANE - For Minister of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya, tough decisions have to be taken to rescue some of the parastatals under her portfolio.

The minister was responding to a question on what she was planning to do to assist the parastatals under her ministry as most of them have faced challenges in recent years. The minister singled out two of the parastatals, the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP). “First of all, it is unfair to think that someone can change these institutions overnight because there have been years and years of damage, bad behaviour, lack of future planning and staying in the past. Also, there was a problem of allowing things that were not supposed to happen,” the minister said.

Maziya mentioned that globally, post offices are dying , which means that there is a need to find a way to make EPTC work by taking hard decisions.“Some hard decisions have to be taken and I am not afraid to take them. You need to get involved so I am working to make EPTC an infrastructure company so that it generates revenue all the time and ensure that it is able to work on minimising the price and cost of data.

How we go forward I do not know right now but what I am certain about is that it is going to be hard before it gets better.” Elaborating, the minister said she was of the view that EPTC just needs attention, and that leaving it as it is will destroy it once other markets open in the country. Regarding the RSTP, Maziya said there was a need for a re-organisation of the parastatal. “It just needs to be dealt with because by now it should be a producer of income and the best in the world and attract investors. At this point you wonder what has been happening for the past 12 years and you get people scratching their heads yet so much money has been spent. So we need to be able to re-look RSTP and do that quickly. Again, a hard decision has to be taken and further respected,” said Maziya.

She said if one wants to make something grow and be successful, they needed to change their mindset. She likened it to someone who earns a salary but continues to struggle. Such a person, she said, needs to do introspection and check where the salary is being spent on.“In order for you to change, you have to sit down and check what you are spending your money on. Do I need to have a cappuccino every week? Perhaps not! That is some true introspection after which you have to discipline yourself, you need discipline every day. We always talk about the success story of Singapore, what they did was apply discipline and sacrifice. It is like when you want to lose weight, stop eating too much, exercise more, that is just how it is.So I have to make really hard decisions, there will be a backlash; it is unfortunate that it will only be appreciated when I am not around what I am trying to do”.

I am work-driven, not ego-driven

MBABANE- “I am work-driven, not ego-driven. I like to start something and see it to its natural conclusion.” This is what Minister of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya said when asked to share where she wants the country to be by the time her term of office comes to an end.

She first mentioned that her wish is to make Eswatini a data hub for Southern Africa if not the continent and bring in global names to store their data in the country. Her other wish, she said, is for the Kingdom of Eswatini to be a semi-conductor manufacturer. “That is my dream and I know I am going to make it happen. The other one is to be able to build robotics and components for robotics. And then I want us to be the most digitised country in the world because that makes it easier for emaSwati as it makes the country attractive to the world as it makes government accountable. Obviously, if cannot measure it, you can’t manage it. There are so many systems that we have which we can just plug in play to make government efficient,” she said.

She said anything else that the country will achieve during her term, including space and artificial intelligence (AI) will be the cream. “I can see that happening within a short space of time, if I am left alone to do it. We may have to break a few eggs to make this omelette. My position is you do not do things the same way and expect a different outcome, which is a definition of crazy! You have to do things differently. If you do not change some of the foundations, you cannot then be shocked when they come out a mess. If you do not manage the government in a commercial manner, everything must have a cost return”.

She said other countries are introducing new strategies and made reference to neighbouring South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU). In her view, it is crucial for Eswatini to become self-sufficient and find its own things that have opportunities. “We are small enough to have our own thing. We have a monarch that has consistency and certainty for business. What do we do with the commercial fights that people have? Yes we have the Commercial Court over there at RSTP but we need to take action because there are certain questions that all investors are asking. What is your law like? If you and I as business people are involved in some kind of fight, where do we go to find someone to adjudicate? I cannot, and you cannot, stay for 5 years waiting for a case to go to court.” In jest, she said she is lucky because she is not privy to some of the controversies in the country as all she does is work on what needs to be done.

…says she is a people’s servant, wants youth prioritised

MBABANE-Looking at how she is a businesswoman of note, who oozes elegance and confidence, one would expect Minister Savannah Maziya to be all over social media sharing her successes and soft life.

But that is not the case as she says she is more focused on her work and success that she is not on social media. “I am not on social media but I am humbled when people stop me and commend me for the job that I am doing. It is a thing that I look at as God’s grace. EmaSwati have given me all the love and I will always be grateful. I am talking about when I meet them on the streets. Whatever it is, I am really thankful and it will always be an honour for me to be a servant for them,” she says.

Perhaps the reason why she has no time for social media is because she says always wakes up and wants to be someone who introduces something better. “I am not the solution provider for all but to serve my country is the biggest honour. Even the hard times, I appreciate”. The minister says in all her plans and hectic schedule, she wants the youth prioritised. She made it known that her target market is 35 and under and that someone who has worked in government for 20 or 30 years, it may be difficult to change. When asked exactly what the youth is going to benefit from the projects she is undertaking, the minister said first of all, government will use the RSTP as an engine room.

“We have about 200 programmes; some of them do not have software. So we are going to produce that software and bring in expertise they can learn from. One of the things we do not appreciate is that some of our children are already smart and already producing solutions,” she said. Specifically, she said she is looking into bringing together the youth and have a boiler room of the ideas. “Also, I want us to reach a point where we will take our youth to different countries, for them to see what is going on out there. There are great areas where they can succeed even if they do not possess PhDs but I am not saying our kids should not bet the best education. I am saying ICT has an interesting entry position. You can really hit your entry and work. The youth to me are the broiler room and the foundation.”

She said time has come for Eswatini to create an environment where the youth does not go to school to get jobs but be the job creators. Meanwhile, the minister said in all her work she loves how she is underestimated as some people feel like she is crazy and most of the projects will not happen. “What I am here to do is to work with everyone, the people to understand that it is not about me but all of us are writing our own history, good or bad. This job is a thankless job but it must be done. You sacrifice but can be abused at the same time and you have got to stand because you made a commitment. And I will see this commitment through because it is not for those who abuse me but those who need it.”

The minister said she strongly believed that government can work and that she will play her part. “We have a great country which we all claim to love. But love is a verb. It is not ‘I love you’ but there is a need for action. When you love, you act. I am absolutely clear that I am a different individual; I’ve always been like this. I have always been a person driven by success, one who has lots of empathy. I’ve got more empathy than I should have.”