BY LINDELWA MYENI
MBABANE– Eswatini needs to develop a sense of urgency in using research, education and innovation to transform the country before global changes leave it further behind, Minister of Information, Communications and Technology Savannah Maziya has said.
Speaking during the official opening of a four-day global workshop on the operationalisation of the Eswatini National Research Council, Maziya challenged researchers and policymakers to stop postponing solutions and start turning knowledge into action.
“We need to have a sense of urgency about how we’re changing our country,” she said.
Mazya warned that the world is set to change drastically over the next decade, making it critical for Eswatini and Africa to use research and innovation to leapfrog into a stronger economic position.
She questioned whether the country’s education and research systems were producing people capable of creating jobs and transforming society or simply graduates who leave with certificates and spend years searching for employment.
“What are we doing as professors and policymakers to ensure that we are opening up opportunities, not creating bottlenecks?” she asked.
Maziya said research should not be pursued merely to produce PhD holders, but should help create jobs, grow economies, improve healthcare, strengthen democracy, solve conflicts and address hunger.
She challenged researchers to ensure that their work contributes directly to making Eswatini and Africa better.
The Minister also raised concern that Eswatini spends less than one per cent of its budget on research, calling for greater attention to research investment despite competing national priorities.
She urged participants to examine emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and consider how they would affect research, employment and the future of African researchers.
Maziya further challenged Africa to use research to transform its abundant mineral and plant resources into industries and finished products instead of continuing to export raw materials.
She said the establishment of the National Research Council represented an important opportunity to strengthen the country’s research ecosystem.
Maziya recognised the African Centre for Technology Studies and the Ministry for their contribution towards establishing and operationalising the council, saying the development had been a long time coming.
She also called for stronger participation of women in science and technology, pointing to social and workplace barriers that continue to limit women’s progression in scientific fields.
As she officially opened the four-day workshop, Maziya urged researchers and policymakers to act with urgency to ensure that research becomes a practical tool for transforming Eswatini and positioning Africa for the future.
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