CONGRATULATIONS PRINCESS SIKHANYISO

Sir,

I want to take this opportunity and congratulate Princess Sikhanyiso on her appointment to serve the people of Eswatini. As a young person and a young woman, I believe it is for a good reason and this is a good time, if not the best time.

Young people in Eswatini are more than 55 per cent of the population but they are not in the country’s decision making processes, which contribute to the level of poverty we face.

As the youth we are thankful that we are represented in the House. We would have loved to see other young people voted into Parliament so that you can have brains to relate to; people who can easily understand your view point and who can relate with technology as you do.

Crucified

Young women in the country are being crucified for not being married and their political journey is a dead road because of their youthful age. It takes us back to patriarchy and all the other social norms that are fighting young people.

Women are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination. Gender discrimination means women often end up with insecure jobs and they constitute only a small minority of senior positions. This curtails access to economic assets such as land and loans. It limits us in our contributions towards shaping our own country’s economic and social policies.

Negative

These policies end up affecting us as women in a negative. The fact that we are pre-occupied with the bulk of household work limits our ability to contribute to economic activities or benefit from economic  opportunities. We, therefore, end up being secretaries, waitresses, cleaners, etc, and continue to be underpaid for the jobs that we do for our communities.

Being minister of ICT is a blessing to us young people and we are seeing an angle for growth and development in the country’s politics. I see a dream come true for our Parliament being online so that it gives us young people a chance to connect and talk about our own issues for once. We have good politicians who could be working in SADC but because no one knows anything about them except us, we end up seeing people running for the same seat for more than the two terms and you ask yourself what new ideas will he/she bring.

I believe your appointment will open doors for growth. It is a double challenge for us young women, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities, to compete politically. As a young person I believe you will consider moving the country forward in a way that accommodates everyone. We believe we will enjoy using the internet as a means of developing ourselves, rather than for wasteful spending, especially for us who are unemployed.

Your appointment, we believe, will open up conversations in our communities that will point that young people/women are capable of serving their country’s interest and they’re ready to lead. We believe your leadership will substantially add value to the country, as you put your leadership skills to use. We believe one day our Cnstitution will have a provision for youth representation in Parliament.

Ngcongwane

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