SUBSIDISE MODE OF TRANSPORT

Sir,

I decided to write this letter before the winds came and blow it off my typically- troubled African mind.

If I remember well, there was a transport issue which was being deliberated in Parliament a year or a couple of years back. Looking at what people were saying in the streets about this particular transport proposal, it might have not sat well with public transport operators. Maybe that’s why the issue was left alone.

In the business world, there’s the public and private sectors, and what we know as parastatals. When our current transport system is being referred to as public transport, it somehow creates a false picture to some who are critical about things, because they are in fact privately-owned!

I may not be privy to the full information on who was going to operate the now quiet bus proposal but in a way, there was some economic sense to it. It’s failure or disapproval does seem unfair to some, if not most persons. Considering the high unemployment rate and how unhappy most government employees are about their salaries, it is only fair for our government to intervene here.

In my Economics class, I learned that there are things referred to as price floors and price ceilings which governments have to be part of. In short, all governments of the world come to play when there’s a burning need to balance up scales on income versus expenditure of necessities affecting most of its citizens. Usually, we hear of our government’s intervention when it comes to issues of rising fuel prices. We are pleading with Parliament and the private sector to criticality look at our current transport system vis-a-vis what little money people have at their disposal. It does not make economic sense.

Balance

There is no balance between what people earn and what people are forced to spend, on a monthly basis, particularly on transport alone. In a nutshell, I am pleading with our current government to please look at a way to help the poor, needy and unemployed emaSwati when it comes to moving from point A to B or C. There should be a strategy in place so these people don’t make their situations worse one way or another. Loan sharks thrive in desperate situations and people are forced into debts before they are employed. By the time one secures a job, they are already waist deep into debt. Even when employed, the issue of transport is still a major factor for someone renting a one-room flat and does not earn much.

In neighboring South Africa, there are Metro trains, which are very cheap, transporting people together with privately-owned buses and kombis. In the Kingdom of Eswatini, we can’t afford to implement similar modes of travel but we could look at transport which will help job-seekers, people wanting to access health facilities, the orphaned and vulnerable getting to and from school. And government could look at the appropriate mode of pay for such persons. We are working towards attaining First World status angitsi?

Building more schools and health centres to reduce travelling and its costs could be doable, but so is considering a subsidised mode of transport, charging less than what independent transport operators charge.
Because the way things currently stand, no matter how demanding or urgent one’s situation could be, if they don’t have enough money, it means they are stuck, with whatever plan. That in turn contributes immensely to the unnecessary deaths, violence, debts, school drop- outs, teenage pregnancies, house breaking activities and dagga trade, among others. If, I’m dreaming, someone please wake me up!

Mabuy’embabane ngentima.

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