MBABANE – The Senate Portfolio Committee has given the Minister for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) three days to table the Google Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
She has been informed that failure to adhere to this directive could result in her facing contempt of Parliament.
The Ministry of ICT Portfolio Committee has stated that Minister Savannah Maziya failed to submit the MoU between the ministry and Google as promised during the ministry’s budget deliberations.
In its recommendations, the portfolio committee said the minister should table the MoU signed between the ministry and Google before Parliament within three days of the adoption of the recommendation, or risk being found in contempt of Parliament.
This is contained in the responses from the ministry tabled by the portfolio committee yesterday during a Senate sitting.
The report was presented in Parliament during the same sitting.
This follows concerns raised by Senator Princess Ncengencenge during the recent debate on the ministry’s annual performance report and budget estimates, where she called for urgent clarity on the monetisation of digital content in Eswatini, warning that the uncertainty is creating false hope among young people.
She noted ongoing confusion surrounding the Google MoU, with conflicting narratives about its purpose and expected benefits. “What exactly has Google promised emaSwati? We need clarity on the agreement and its practical implications,” she said.
Ncengencenge revealed that previous engagements with ESCCOM indicated that Google considered Eswatini’s population too small to support direct monetisation opportunities. “They advised that Eswatini should collaborate with SADC as a bloc, as the numbers would then be commercially viable,” she said.
She expressed concern that the current messaging may be misleading young content creators. “It becomes dangerous when the youth are made to believe opportunities exist when, in reality, they may not. This creates false expectations,” she warned.
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