MBABANE – The escalating disparity between the rich and poor in Eswatini is a direct consequence of individuals abusing power and authority to practice nepotism and corruption.

This strong assertion comes from civil society organisations, voiced amid Parliament’s directive to Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini to address the nation’s pervasive poverty, a situation that largely attributed to imbalanced employment opportunities.

Mayiwane Member of Parliament Sicelo ‘Khungankhosi’ Dlamini and Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini spearheaded a motion, compelling the prime minister (PM) to establish a National Employment Policy.

This policy aims to ensure equitable employment within the civil service, guaranteeing equal opportunities for all suitably qualified emaSwati.

At the core of this inequality, the MPs highlighted the stark reality of highly educated individuals struggling to find suitable work. “It is not easy to come across a Master’s degree graduate working in a textile factory because there are no job opportunities for what he was trained for,” the motion stated.

The motion, reads in part: “The policy should aim to give priority to people in rural areas, the underprivileged and marginalised groups. His Excellency should consider engaging traditional leaders and civil society organisations in his consultation.”

The unemployment rate in Eswatini is 35.7 per cent, while youth unemployment stands at 57.8 per cent.

Supporting the motion, MP Sicelo questioned the glaring disparities: “How would anyone explain a situation in which one family has eight police officers while its poverty-stricken neighbour has college graduates who are unemployed?” He unequivocally decried the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Both MPs urged the PM to provide an explanation for the rampant corruption in the recruitment of security officers, nurses and other government occupations.

Positions

MP Sicelo condemned the practice of multiple family members securing positions in security forces solely due to a parent’s employment, lamenting the utter lack of transparency in recruitment processes.He recounted a recent instance involving cordon guard job opportunities where, despite applications from his constituency, not a single resident was employed.

“People with Master’s degrees, who are willing to take any job just to feed themselves and their families, failed to secure jobs there. When you ask those who succeeded how they managed, they always say they were assisted by certain people in the echelons of power.”

MP Welcome, drawing on his past experience as a journalist, shared first-hand accounts of witnessing nepotism during an army recruitment exercise. He described how ‘undeserving applicants who did not win the race were recruited at the expense of those who had won’. He further illustrated the imbalance with a stark statistic: “At Skomu, there are about 40 000 people living there, but only four residents are police officers.”

The National Director of the Coordination Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO), Thembinkosi Dlamini, says the policy proposed by the two MPs is long overdue. “Its absence had led to an imbalanced society as the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer,” he stated.

Thembinkosi argued that the country has misdirected its efforts by focusing extensively on poverty alleviation, when the true concentration should have been on addressing the root cause of inequality. “Inequality is dynamic, while poverty is static,” he explained. He explicitly named the abuse of power as a major contributor to this inequality.

“People use power to enrich themselves and their immediate families. Eventually, there will be unequal income distribution in the country because you will eventually have a few families with high income while others have no family member in formal employment,” he elaborated.

He also highlighted the quid pro quo system prevalent within security forces: “One who is employed in the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) has a way of asking another employed in His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) to recruit two officers. The HMCS employee will do likewise.”

Communities

Thembinkosi further advocated for a national policy that prioritises vulnerable communities, such as women and youth, in employment. He criticised the persistent bias in top managerial positions, where ‘some companies still favour men, not by merit but by gender’.  “You walk into a Board meeting and find that a majority are men. These are the very habits that widen the inequality gap,” Thembinkosi asserted.

The National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) Secretary General Msimeto Malindzisa echoed these concerns, advocating for the use of private recruitment agencies to eliminate widespread corruption in security force hiring.

“What these MPs have revealed is very true because there are many instances where people are employed by favour. Perhaps we can end that by establishing an independent body, which may have only one representative from the agency that is recruiting.”

Malindzisa condemned the practice of asking recruits about their relationships with senior officials within the forces. He urged the government to revert to transparent job advertising and recruitment for all civil service positions.

“This habit of seeing new people everyday without an explanation of the recruitment processes that was followed must come to an end,” he demanded.  Furthermore, Malindzisa called for a practical end to the government’s hiring freeze to provide a future for thousands of unemployed graduates.  He noted that some jobs are unnecessarily deemed to require ‘rare skills’ when, in fact, individuals with lower qualifications could perform them.  He also suggested a slight reduction in the retirement age to accommodate jobless youth, emphasising that those who choose early retirement should receive full benefits without penalty to encourage their departure and create opportunities.

… difference too big 

MBABANE – Reports from International Fund for Agriculture and the Institute for Social Science highlight Eswatini’s severe income inequality, despite its relatively high GDP per capita.

The wealthiest 10 per cent control nearly half of consumption, widening the urban-rural divide. Poverty and unemployment are rising, with 84 per cent of the poor in rural areas, where per capita income is four times lower than in the urban areas.  Shockingly, 66 per cent of the population cannot meet basic food needs, and 43 per cent live in chronic poverty.  The Swaziland Unemployed People’s Movement (SUPMO) Chairman, Lucky Dlamini, notes Eswatini’s 35 per cent unemployment rate, the highest in the region, exacerbated by foreign work permits for local jobs, warning of uncontrollable social problems.