EMASWATI MADE TAX SLAVES

IF I didn’t know any better I would say government was, through a controversial and highly flawed budget, staging a coup d’état either against itself or the Tinkhundla Political System.

If EmaSwati had not opted to spend their whole life waiting to start living they would be the patriots in the forefront of defending this the Kingdom of Eswatini from the destructive machinations and tendencies of government that has been manifested by reckless spending hence the flawed budget with a potential of triggering anarchy.

Or perhaps it is the knowledge that EmaSwati walk through life like zombies that may be causal to government’s penchant for its historical suicidal tendencies knowing very well that nothing would happen, however, much it tramples on the people. With a potential at independence in 1968 of becoming the oyster of the continent given its relatively small manageable geographical size with an equally small population yet plentifully endowed with natural resources, the kingdom has failed to live up to its potential as a medium to high income country with the majority of the people shackled by poverty.

With good governance and visionary leadership anchored on the institution of the monarchy, this country would have exploited its special attributes to be on the cutting edge on many fronts; heavily invested on its small human capital to become the most literate and educated nation per capita on the continent; employed its human capital to transform the country into an international academic and centre of learning of choice for the continent; pioneered high-end health and medical facilities to establish a thriving medical tourism industry; became the hub for information technology and cutting edge scientific exploration; the list is endless.

Silhouetted against this optimistic picture of a dynamic and highly mobile successful nation is the reality of a country in decay whose citizens have been forced to look elsewhere for a better life, better education, better health facilities and a net consumer of information technology and scientific innovations, etc. This is all thanks to a government lacking in creativity and innovation, itself a product of a dysfunctional political system that has aggressively and systematically driven the majority of the people into a conspiracy of silence and inaction for fear of the unknown, with a minority prioritising politics of the stomach by singing praises and licking the boots of their political benefactors. 
Instead of exploiting the full potential of the kingdom, government has tended to expend resources on security to enforce superficial peace by silencing the people as well as recklessly spending on uneconomical and unsustainable projects. No, it is not that EmaSwati chose to be silent about their unfortunate circumstances, it is because their inalienable birthrights bequeathed by the Almighty were not only alienated from them but they were also declared criminal. In time fear enveloped the nation and silence became the viable survival tool that has sustained to this day notwithstanding the dawn of a new constitutional order in 2005.

As I see it, it would not be unjustified, given the circumstances, to say government – especially this government - is responsible for nurturing and promoting poverty especially in recent decades when the people have been pushed to the margins and ceased to be the epicetre of policy directives. Instead of being the focal point, in deed and not merely through lip-service and grandstanding by an uncaring leadership, the people have been relegated to the bottom from where they are scrounging for leftovers and crumbs falling off from the high table of those they essentially entrusted with the responsibility of governing. Now not only have the people been disempowered politically but also economically hence poverty, unemployment and disease are on the ascendancy. 

But to a government not answerable and accountable to the people that is not enough, if the budget being debated in Parliament is anything to go by. In spite of the twin-scourges of poverty and unemployment government is hell bent on making life miserable for the people by taxing them to death. That, essentially is the import of value added tax (VAT) on electricity since reported to have been thrown out by the House of Assembly, E30 border entry tax, massive graded tax increase, high pricing - if not commercialising - of government services out of reach of the ordinary Swazi, the list is endless.

Instead of taxing people to death, a people-friendly government would be exploring ways and means of growing the economy through attracting foreign direct investments that would in turn create much needed jobs to address the unemployment problem. This in turn would broaden the tax base instead of encumbering a minority with huge taxes. Growing the economic base would, as correctly advised by authors of the National Development Strategy (NDS) in the last half of the 1990s, require political transformation. Put differently, it is the obtaining political order that is responsible for the poor state of the nation hence the shrinking economy, grinding poverty, unemployment, etc.

Making the people tax slaves is unsustainable and could burst the bubble of the superficial peace the leadership often prides itself exists in this country, After all, to quote Confucius, “In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed (such as the Kingdom of Eswatini), wealth is something to be ashamed of.”
Let us trust Parliament will for once do the right thing and reject the tax enslavement of the people caused by government’s reckless spending.     

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