Parliament has resumed its sittings and legislators are making fiery submissions on everything from service delivery and political disputes to economic challenges.
Yet, as emaSwati watch and listen to the proceedings, they understand that passionate speeches in the House will not provide food for their families or electricity for their homes. What counts are concrete actions that ease the daily burden on ordinary families.
The results people are waiting for are clear. They want government to act on the national directives His Majesty the King laid out in the Speech from the Throne last month. The first encouraging sign of delivery has come in the cost of electricity. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini announced that Cabinet has approved special funding of E100 million in 2026 and another E100 million in 2027 to the Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA). This intervention, we hope, will bring direct relief to households and businesses affected by the 13.61 per cent tariff increase announced earlier by ESERA and the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC).
The announcement is a positive and timely step. Many emaSwati are already struggling to pay their current bills. An additional 13.61 per cent rise would have pushed thousands deeper into hardship, especially with fuel prices expected to climb further because of the ongoing US-Israeli war in Iran. The government’s decision to step in shows it listened to public concerns and acted in line with the King’s call for sustainability and citizen welfare.
The statement also commits the country to aggressive energy self-sufficiency by 2030, with projects lined up to deliver 188.6MW from solar, biomass, hydro and other sources. We are told that more licences for an extra 1 400MW are being considered. These long-term plans match the vision of reducing reliance on imports and supporting industrialisation under the Nkwe Government Programme of Action.
While we commend government for moving quickly on the electricity tariffs, we are alive to the fact that one swallow does not make a summer. The King’s directives cover several urgent areas, and the people now expect the same speed and seriousness across the board.
Top of the list must be the directive to end drug shortages in health facilities with immediate effect. The Budget Speech delivered by Finance Minister, Neal Rijkenberg, last month has made provision for this. Legislation turning the Central Medical Stores into a stand-alone statutory entity has also been passed and the new Eswatini Medical Stores will have end-to-end visibility over procurement, storage and distribution. This reform cannot be good on paper. It must directly tackle the root causes of stock-outs that have left patients without essential medicines for far too long.
Food security is equally critical. The King spoke strongly on the need to address foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which is a contagious viral disease affecting livestock. While resources have been set aside for the elimination of FMD, which continues to threaten livestock and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, only swift implementation here will protect the agricultural sector and stabilise meat and dairy supplies, as well as contribute to the broader goal of national food self-sufficiency.
The King’s bigger economic directive of raising GDP per capita from E78 238 to E480 000 (equivalent to an economic value of E40 000 per liSwati per month and pushing total GDP to E576 billion) underpins all these efforts. As explained in a recent analysis in the Times SUNDAY, this is not about handing out cash, but about creating more industries, more jobs and higher incomes so that poverty has no place in a First-World Eswatini.
The 2026/27 budget attempts to support this vision through increased capital spending of E7.78 billion, factory shells, renewable energy projects, road infrastructure worth nearly E2 billion and reforms such as the Integrated Financial Management System.
None of these ambitions can succeed without resources. Government must generate the revenue to fund them. This has jolted the taxman out of his office for door-to-door collections. There is, therefore, an understandable outcry over the Eswatini Revenue Service’s (ERS) drive to close tax collection leaks and widen the base.
No one likes tighter enforcement, but the alternative is higher taxes on those already compliant or cuts in essential services. We have no choice but to open the door to the taxman or visit their offices, where he has repeatedly opened their doors for dialogue. Taxpayers facing genuine challenges should use that channel to explain their situation rather than risk the closure of businesses. Business shutdowns would destroy jobs, which is exactly the opposite of the King’s directive on employment creation and economic transformation.
The coming weeks will test government’s commitment.
The electricity intervention proves that when government acts decisively, relief reaches the people. The same urgency must now be applied to health, agriculture and the full set of directives. Only then will emaSwati feel the true impact of the ‘agape love oath’ we all took in the Speech from the Throne.
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