Swazi Observer

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CABINET: ONE YEAR LATER

By PHEPHISA KHOZA | 2024-11-05

Today marks exactly a year since the Prime Minister, Russell Dlamini, took office.
Twelve months later, the prime minister is still to win over a distrusting public, which is frustrated for a number of reason, among which, is the lack of employment, health crisis and high poverty levels, especially in rural communities.

Being the youngest prime minister ever, his reformist approach when delivering his inaugural speech, he gave hope and excitement that things would change as he promised that his administration would deliver.

He rallied behind an ambitious agenda to reform the country’s creaking public services and economy.

While some people believe that this administration has done well, both in substance and style over the past year, most Emaswati are, however, not optimistic about the direction government is taking, mainly because the prime minister has demonstrated a willingness to be politically ruthless.

It is that part of his temperament that has made some people to be disgruntle with his leadership. This is hardly surprising.

politically
In his 12 months in office, he has been politically exposed with some analysts and political observers stopping short of betting on how long his term of office would last.

The only reason the bet has not been made is because he is appointed by the king. Some have said he is politically incompetent, from the spectacular responses from meetings he held in his early days in office.

Most of the people he met with were seemingly unsatisfied, highlighting his inability to deal with issues in a respective and professional level.

But it would be a mistake to believe that he has been torn down by self-inflicted wounds because he still has four more years to go.

I don’t believe his lack of success as some people behave at this point is because of failure to politically manage because changing the leader will definitely not change anything. It’s the policies that are the problem and the failure to implement these when done properly.

The prime minister’s appeal from his first speech on November 23 last year has always been based on reformism.

He positioned himself as someone more in tune with the country’s mainstream. A modern leader, who with his team, would lead with a different style.

They promised to deliver and they did. They deliver a Cabinet that to the eyes of the public is working in silos, failing to deliver on its promises.

The division is caused by the prime minister’s temperament, which has seen him also cross paths with legislators, who demanded that he respects them. Well, we also demand respect and accountability from them. The Federation of Business Community also came out of a meeting with him feeling belittled and disrespected.

Well so he knows what he wants and does not back down, no need to cry about that. This was much against the picture he presented in his maiden speech, which portrayed that they would continue in the same spirit as his predecessor, Barnabas Dlamini’s collective responsibility and call for accountability from his ministers.

The prime minister stressed the importance of each minister delivering on their pledge of office and maintaining the highest standards of probity.

He made it clear that, under his leadership, politics would be returned to a duty of service.
“From the outset, government will formulate and immediately start implementing a short to medium-term plan anchored on the Sibaya submissions.

“This plan will precede the development of the country’s long-term plan, the Grand Plan. The Grand Plan will seek to modernise the country based on the Tinkhundla System as a vehicle for development.

“Through this plan, we hope to create an environment that will attract investment, foster exponential growth, and nurture innovation ultimately ensuring sustainable job opportunities and well-being for all.

“We will work towards a society where every citizen, including persons with disabilities, women and children as well as the elderly feel safe and valued.

“We will improve the education curricula to reflect our African values and instill a winning mindset. The curricula of vocational institutions will be strengthened with business acumen.

finding
We will strengthen the healthcare system by finding a lasting solution to the current crisis and by strategically increasing the focus on preventive health.

Government will give due attention to social services on which the poor and vulnerable depend. Within the next five years, and building on the work of our predecessors, government, the private sector, our international partners and all Emaswati will together transform our economy, create jobs, reduce poverty, and build strong institutions to ensure efficient service delivery and ensure growth."

While it has succeeded in some areas, the ICT sector in particular, this administration seems to have bitten off more than it could chew, as it struggles to keep some of its prominent promises.
This plan seems to have gone nowhere.

But degrading the quality of the Cabinet through loyalist politics is just the latest mess the current government has made since taking office. The premier has been consistent in calling for patriotism, which he highlighted in both his maiden speech and Policy Statement, signalling its importance.

The Policy Statement and maiden speech are similar, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s the same document with different dates. Simply put, Cabinet has failed to live up to its promises to address the country’s many ills.

Worse is its failure to follow through on its promise to harness the potential of agriculture to create employment opportunities for the youth through large projects of commercialisation, mechanisation and building strong market systems that offer attractive returns to individual farmers.

It has failed to address youth employment, which is also prevalent among graduates including those from universities outside the country. Distrusted by many, Cabinet seems uninterested in any real reforms, whether on social and political issues or the rule of law and has been effective on selling itself on paper than making practical changes.

Increasingly dominated by promises and seemingly struggling with dysfunction, Cabinet has failed to tackle the concerns of a majority of Emaswati; poverty.

Cabinet had also promised to promote the rule of law and strengthen the capacity of the police service to enforce the country’s laws in particular in the fight against corruption. At the same time, doing nothing as the justice system continues to erode with the public, losing its confidence.

The failure to address the complaints against the chief justice raised by the Law Society dates back to almost just about the same time when Cabinet came into office.
accountability

All this is unacceptable but is sadly symptomatic of a government that pays lip service to accountability and then does all it can to delay scrutiny for its own political interests.
This adversely undermines the country’s image among many of its social partners.

Going forward, the prime minister and his administration will have to do things differently. What we need most right now is accountability. We know there are systemic problems, we expect Cabinet to do better.

We have been warning about waste, abuse and corruption. We have urged more independent scrutiny of ministers and government operations but the response has been the setting up of task teams with promises of results.

This confirms the desperate need for greater accountability and transparency and the need to stamp out waste, abuse and corruption and this is where the prime minister must start. This is where his temperament and political ruthlessness should be seen. It is his legacy that will be called to question.

He needs to forge a relationship with his administration with a clear call for delivery as per his inaugural speech and Policy Statement.

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