CUT ALL THE FLUFF!

We are a broke nation but repeatedly government never ceases to amaze us with how fast it is willing to dole out cash on non-priority items that have nothing to do with improving the lives of emaSwati.

Take for instance, the simple fact that government always manages to cough up a few million bucks for luxury vehicles such as the E2.1 million for a luxurious Mercedes Benz for the chief justice. Just the other week, we also read on the local newspapers that government issued a notice for a tender to local car dealerships to add to its fleet of vehicles in its scrap yard at CTA.

Basically our government is extremely competent on spending our money on ‘fluff’! When it comes to cars, trips and the big life, money to spend is always available but when it comes to things that really matter, such as medicines and drugs for hospitals, scholarships, old-age grants, etc, it is always a monstrous challenge for our government.

Yes, the chief justice is an important position and comes with status but it is an insult to the general public to see millions being spent on items the country can definitely live without – especially in a time of a fiscal crunch when government is failing to meet even basic public service delivery obligations.

The country cannot even afford to light-up the whole stretch of the Malagwane Highway at night, yet spending money on more vehicles for the benefit of a few individuals has become the top priority for our government.
The sad part is that even though government spends a lot of millions acquiring and maintaining its fleet of vehicles, that money does little for employment creation for the benefit of the local economy.

All the dealerships import cars from South Africa, and not so long ago government awarded a huge tender to Swazi Delta Car Dealerships for a fleet of Isuzus and Chevrolets. You only have to visit CTA in Mbabane to realise that a bulk of the Isuzus are grounded there, riddled with mechanical problems while it is only a matter of time before the Chevrolet Cruzes become a nuisance as General Motors announced that it would be leaving South Africa.

Why do police officers need to be driving up and down in Chevrolet Cruzes instead of a simple Toyota Etios? It is not that Isuzus and Chevrolets are a problem per se or that one car brand (Toyota, Izusu, Chevrolet) is better than the other, it is just that government has to think beyond the cost of acquiring the vehicle but also consider the maintenance costs and suitability of vehicles for purposes of delivering government services.
We cannot as a nation be going through millions upon millions each year on fleets of vehicles that add no value to improving the status quo in this country. With the outgoing Members of Parliament (MPs), the country will cough up more millions of Emalangeni in golden handshakes thanking both MPs and Cabinet ministers for their non-existent work during their five-year tenure.
Meanwhile, government has tabled a zero per cent cost of living adjustment for civil servants. In other words, there is no money to pay civil servants to a standard reflective of the true cost of living in Eswatini. It is not that civil servants do not deserve to be paid according to the costs structures of the economy; it is just that government has become mother hen to a lot of officers who add no real contribution to service delivery and revenue generation for government.
Everything is just a mess. If government were to retire more than half of its staff, believe it or not, Eswatini would continue to function without a glitch. The way government is so quick to spend money on useless luxury cars that benefit few individuals in high rankings can be taken as an example of all money government spends and loses in ‘fluff’ that the country can certainly do without.
In short, there is a lot of ‘fluff’ that needs to be cut from the G-wallet or government spending as a whole that could save the country E1-2 billion. More than freezing the new hires and promotions of civil servants, government should also cut all the ‘fluff’ within its spending that continues to drain the public purse.
The rule here onwards should be: if it benefits one or two individuals and not the entire population and economy in Eswatini, it needs to be cut!

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