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IS PRINCESS SIKHANYISO SHEDDING CROCODILE TEARS?

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Whether the jury will be in anytime soon on Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Princess Sikhanyiso’s very public frontal attack on the kingdom’s tax regime is extremely impossible to say given that free speech is not the best of buddies with the Tinkhundla political system.

A case in point being that the princess can talk about just anything without having to look over her shoulders, a privilege that is not available to the ordinary folk. The fact is emaSwati are afraid to talk about the serious issues that keep them awake at night while trying to figure out how they can confront their daily challenges in order to have a better tomorrow and zest for life. Yet the princess’ utterances still took many of emaSwati by complete surprise for a variety of reasons and, in the event, triggered frenzied responses on social media, the one space through which compatriots are free to ventilate on their daily frustrations apropos the (mis)governance of this country. As it were the nation will be robbed of above-board, open and robust debate and discussion about the subject matter, the country’s tax regime, and its dire consequences on economic development, eradication of unemployment and poverty.

As I see it, it may be too early to expect the princess to appreciate the essence and meaning of the new political space she is occupying. It may take time for her to mature and acclimatize to her new position as a politician. The princess’ position has solicited all kinds of reaction from social media residents; some encouraging and hoping that this was a beginning of a new day given her proximity to the real seat of power; others thought she was merely grandstanding in order to gain favour of emaSwati for the obtaining political system, etc. But whatever the intention she has certainly made an impact in her brief spell as a politician and whether or not this will translate into a fundamental reengineering in the way government does business is yet to be seen. Indeed given her ranking, Princess Sikhanyiso’s presence in Cabinet may be a cause of discomfort to colleagues and all and sundry.

Paradoxically, what the princess ventilated on – high taxation, non-and delayed payment of service providers, demand for controlling shareholding from foreign investments is actually nothing new. Indeed there is more on the list she did not mention that is problematic in getting this country to be productive and competitive that has, over time, been spoken and written about. The beginning in unraveling these challenges is figuring out how they were created because they are not natural phenomena. Take the high taxation, for example, it is borne of a system that has no effective oversight and no expenditure controls. That is manifestly the story of this kingdom. Huge amounts of money are being spent on projects with no economic value for the luxury and enjoyment of a few if not to impress the world that indeed this country is on a trajectory to First World status irrespective that a majority of the people are wallowing in disease and poverty.

The consequence of spending on projects with no returns is that pretty soon the money runs out and the country either gets into debt by borrowing, increasing taxes, widening the tax base to tax people to death. Thus the answer to the high taxes Princess Sikhanyiso is complaining about is prudent management of the fiscus and spending on priority areas that are informed by national imperatives instead of spending on a superficial First World lifestyle. The question is could the princess have been ignorant of all these or is she simply courting support of a suppliant and politically comatose nation? The fact is the United Nations (UN) system has classified the Kingdom of Eswatini under the medium income category. In real terms this means a majority of the people ought to be within the middle class social bracket, which relatively means they ought to be able to afford basic things without having to break a sweat. Yet here we are with a majority of the people living below the international poverty datum line and afflicted by disease while the health delivery system is in ICU suffering a chronic shortage of basic medicines and drugs.

If she must know, the classification of the country as a middle income is not based on a committee resolution or someone’s idea but is based on a scientific process in which the following are factored; physical size and attributes of the country, population size, human capital (literacy rate) and available natural resources. If and when a country does not live up to its income classification, as is the case with the kingdom, this has nothing to do with the scientific classification methodology but has everything to do with bad governance. As it turns out, given the small physical size of the country and a corresponding small and reasonably literate population coupled with a sizeable amount of natural resources this country can afford to gift every citizen a million Emalangeni every budgeting cycle without negatively impacting national development imperatives, according to a UN expert. Yet here we are with a government suffering an acute cash-flow problem, an overtaxed poverty-stricken and sick nation while a small minority enjoys the trappings of a First World nation. Could it be Princess Sikhanyiso is shedding crocodile tears in order to appear to be empathetic to the man-made disaster that this country has become?

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