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COLA TEST FOR PMâ€™S LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

By Alec Lushaba | 2019-01-19

About two weeks ago, I wrote about the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini being a tightrope walker.

At the time, I was only reflecting on the general nature of the job he was facing without being specific and only indicating that he would need to be that tightrope walker in order to succeed in his job.

Today, I intend to be more specific on the biggest test he faces and what he would need to do in dealing with it.

The few months have already indicated the challenges ahead and with each and every day passing by, the pressure or tempo seems to be rising.

From the few months, we have seen him trying to reach out to a number of sectors and appealing for their understanding.

But that alone is not going to be sufficient and we now need to see the man in action.

Firstly, let me state, as a Swazi citizen without claiming to know everything that his first three months only served to acclimatise or familiarise himself with the role of being a Prime Minister, nothing more.

This I say because immediately after his appointment, the King proceeded on seclusion to mark the beginning of the sacred Incwala festivities. During that time, we all focus our attention to that and nothing major gets done, even in our rural communities meetings are suspended.

It was the same case here hence serious Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLA) negotiations were not pursued beyond what was an obvious deadlock at the table.

The only major intervention which the Prime Minister took together with his cabinet was doing what was within their jurisdiction, to suspend a number of expenditure activities with the sole purpose of saving costs.

They literally closed what they perceived to be the leaks on the basis of their short assessment found to be amongst the causes of our fiscal problems.

In terms of addressing the fundamental standing issues, the CoLA for instance, nothing was done because we all accepted that before embarking on any major action, he would need to consult the Head of State.

Last Friday, the King and Ingwenyama dispersed libutfo, officially concluding the Incwala festivities and meaning we are now back for business.

One of the major businesses we expect the King to perform in the next two weeks would be that of officially opening the First Session of the 11th Parliament, whose preparations started this week.

It would seem everyone is already back on business, as public servants through their various associations executive, have declared a nationwide strike action, dubbed Waya Waya.

In the meanwhile, former politicians are literally sleeping on the floors of the finance ministry demanding payment of their gratuity.

Meanwhile, cabinet concluded its three-day retreat at Pigg’s Peak Hotel to plan for the New Year and also map a way forward in terms of their five-year strategic plan.

I want to believe that on top of their agenda was how they would deal or navigate the CoLA issue and payment of ex-politicians’ gratuity.

These two demands, including on how going forward government plans to reduce its expenditure, are valid and need proper attention and application.

What will set the Prime Minister apart from the previous administration of late Dr. Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini would be how he approaches these issues.

I am sure he wouldn’t want to antagonise the public servants so early in his first year in office and at the same time he wouldn’t want to be adjudged as weak.

With the previous administration, the late PM would not engage anyone, but face whatever comes his way by unleashing the full might of the security forces upon any element that would want anything contrary to what he orders.

Mandvulo so far has projected himself as someone who is more consultative and wants all partners to buy into his vision.

So, how does he deal with the planned waya waya strike of January 28, 2019? I think the approach, firstly, has to observe that this call is genuine irrespective of the reality on the ground that government has no money.

It is a fact that public servants have not been paid any CoLA for the past two years hence the value of what they now claim to be their salary has diminished by almost 10 per cent.

The Central Bank Governor Majozi Sithole has already hinted how that is affecting the economy and this is adding to the economic woes we are trying to avoid.

This, therefore, means the Prime Minister and his team cannot allow a devastating planned strike action to happen in an economy almost on its knees.

For purposes of making any meaningful recovery, we cannot afford to have a single government department not performing at expected full capacity because that would set us further back.

This, therefore, calls for sigejane or Special Cabinet Team to engage with all the parties here, the unions and the ex-politicians.

All the parties are in agreement that government has no money, and they all need to work towards reviving this economy. But this cannot be done without seriously engaging each other and agree on the way forward.

They need to all own the solution to our challenges. Any route we take is going to be catastrophic for the government. Any strike action would be disaster, whilst at the same time agreeing to any CoLA under the present circumstances provides a similar end result.

I am sure that both parties acknowledge the challenges and they need to take each party into confidence.

I just hope we will be mature about the prevailing situation and probably copy the attitude of the United States public servants, who despite going a month without pay, remained calm about the deadlock between Congress and the White House over the new budget, what they call shutdown, have remained restrained.

They have chosen to give the parties on the table a chance to arrive at an amicable solution, despite their challenges.

I am sure, public servants even here are willing to engage in honest discussions with a government that appreciates the seriousness of the challenges it faces.

I am sure Prime Minister Mandvulo’s select team, if he chooses to appoint one, would be interested to know what sort of solutions our public servants have to offer.

It is wisdom on its own to understand that no one person can claim to have solutions to the challenges facing the country. We all need to contribute both in terms of ideas, effort and sacrifice for the betterment of our general good.

Waya Waya must be averted at all costs.

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