BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – The improvement of the economy is more important for Emaswati than any brand of democracy.
This was said by Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo. He said it was the economy that had to grow in order to create more jobs for the country’s younger population. “For without jobs, they remain a ticking time bomb getting ready to explode the same way it exploded in Haiti, in Kenya and in other countries,” Nxumalo said.
According to Nxumalo, it was the growth of the economy that would enable the working class to earn better and improved salaries in order to be able to cope with the ever-rising cost of living and to save and invest for their respective inevitable retirement. “On the high, an issue of concern for Emaswati is the economy than anything around a certain brand of democracy,” he said.
The Government mouthpiece was responding to criticism leveled at the country’s system of governance during South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) 11th anniversary, which was held in Kimberly, in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The event took place this past Saturday (July 27, 2024).
During the event, People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) President Mlungisi Makhanya, who was one of the invited guests in the event, said they were counting on EFF and its Commander in Chief Julius Malema to help them put pressure on Eswatini to implement democratic reforms, including the release of former MPs Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, who have recently been sentenced to 25 and 18 years in jail, respectively.
Makhanya said in October this year, they wanted to shut down the country, and they could count on the EFF to help them do that. Malema himself has been vocal in criticising the Tinkhundla system of governance in the country and he went as far as criticising the country’s general elections.
Responding to Malema’s criticism, Nxumalo said Malema never stopped to entertain and amused his audience with political rhetoric each time he got an opportunity to do so. Even in South Africa’s national Parliament, where he should be engaging in serious parliamentary business, he always goes for the low and entertained his audience. No wonder the party suffered a humiliating decline in the recently concluded national general elections,” Nxumalo said.
He said to begin with, Malema did not bother to tell his audience on how “shutdown Eswatini” would translate into the achievement of his brand of ‘democracy.’ Secondly, Nxumalo said Malema did not bother to tell his audience as how and why the political antics of the past could not achieve the desired results. “During its 11th anniversary celebrations, the EEF leader, listed a litany of challenges faced by the population of South Africa which their 30 years of multi-party democracy could not change or solve,” he said.
Nxumalo failed to understand how Malema, with all the South African challenges that still persisted, would have the luxury of indulging to internal affairs of other sovereign states. He was of the view that what was done by Malema was a joke. According to Nxumalo, some people, both inside and outside the EFF, were already accusing Malema of being a Dictator that was leading a ‘cult,’ and not a political party.
Nxumalo said Eswatini had a viable and people’s driven democracy. He called upon PUDEMO and like- minded formations to come back home to Eswatini and contribute to the economy of the country for the benefit of themselves and their families in the country. “Engagement with political rhetoric and bickering is counterproductive for them,” he said.
