VISION 2022 SABOTAGE

Sir,

It is very disheartening that five years away from the realisation of Vision 2022, the vision has been sabotaged by the minister of education and the Swaziland Higher Education Council.

The unceremonious closure of SCU just shows the caliber of people on board the Vision 2022 ship, a behaviour similar to one of the biblical characters; Jonah (who was sent by God to Nineveh, totally disregarding God’s command he went to Tarshish and his action put at risk the lives of other people who were in the ship with him and because of his presence there, the ship started to sink and in order to save the ship and the people inside, he was thrown out into the sea).

Today, South Korea is described as a First World country because with its limited natural resources, it invested in education more than anything else and being a relatively small country investing in education propelled them into First World status.

Through bringing SCU to Swaziland their idea was to help Swaziland to swiftly achieve same.
Rewind to six years ago, the current minister of education was at the forefront advocating for the opening of this new university, and the fact that he has now closed it like that threatens Vision 2022.

SCU has much better facilities and equipment than most institutions in the country.
Not disregarding the fact that there may be some things that are not right, SCU also has an obligation to correct what has been identified as reason for closure.

For example; it’s no secret that SCU staff are underpaid and expatriates seem to be enjoying more benefits than Swazis who hold the same qualifications as them. That is discrimination and the labour laws of Swaziland do not allow for such.
Government should also assist SCU by providing them with the necessary tools and information so that they can improve.

And if the SHEC reports are anything to go by, then we expect all institutes of higher learning to close down.
Now here are questions to the ministry which they may not have answers for: Has government thought about the students, employees, parents and other stakeholders?
The answer is a big NO. Now without answers to these questions Vision 2022 is derailed.

In solidarity with SCU
SANU student

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