Enemies of the state are from

The article below should have been published in The Times of #Swaziland on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 under the column “As I See It” but could not ostensibly because it is offensive to the senses of the leadership.

Enemies of the state are from  within #Tinkhundla system

By Vusi Sibisi

Recent events must surely make those fellow compatriots who walk blind-folded through the maze of life reconsider their positions, especially when it comes to the polity of this the Kingdom of eSwatini unless of course they are in deliberate denial simply because they are beneficiaries of the Tinkhundla political system.

But before venturing any further into my subject matter, I think I should paint my perspective on the canvass of history from which I should be judged. I consider myself to be your average patriotic citizen always concerned about the direction the ship of state is being steered by those who, without necessarily being in possession of express approval from anyone outside themselves and their small circle of praise singers, bootlickers, grovelers, etc., appropriated to themselves the task of thinking for and acting on behalf of all of us citizens.

Like all serious minded and concerned citizens, I am always befuddled by the thinking that those demanding political plurality, specifically multiparty democracy, have been christened with all kinds of names, the favourite among these being termed enemies of the state. No one in authority has sobered up enough to try and put a human face to these fellow compatriots, such as yours truly, so that they are able to listen hard enough to their disgruntled voices before accusing them of being enemies of the state. Perhaps that is because this is not necessary ostensibly because the leadership knows the truth but is in denial because the truth does not serve its machinations.

As I see it, the truth is that the real enemies of the state are within the ruling oligarchy and blind followers of the so-called Tinkhundla political system. The truth is that those holding the reins of political power are afraid to expose the ruse that the obtaining Tinkhundla political system is hence it cannot compete with other systems because of the fear that this may open the eyes of even those presently blinded by the largesse accruing from the excesses of the current political status quo to the limitations and transgressions of the Tinkhundla system. The truth is that once the ruse is removed they are afraid what the people might see could be the beginning of the end of an era and the ushering in of a new political and social epoch anchored on the pillar of equality before the law and social justice for all.  

Ironically but conveniently so, the so-called enemies of the state, a majority of which are within the labour movement – not forgetting the huge army of unemployed youth – are only good for their taxes that are an essential lubricant to the state machinery. A typical end-game scenario from the perspective of those holding the political reins is that they should be allowed to use, anyhow, the tax Emalangeni from the taxpayer without necessarily being accountable to the people at large. The rot does not end there but extends to the exploitation of this country’s natural resources for personal aggrandizement other than for the enjoyment by all citizens, which those wielding political clout believe is part of their exclusive birthright entitlement.

As I see it, it is the difference between what we have and what some of us aspire for, that is politically speaking, that is causal to the huge political schism inherent within our society to the extent that the latter, advocates of political pluralism, are termed enemies of the state by the former, the champions of the obtaining Tinkhundla political order, who hold exclusive privileges for expropriating the country’s wealth for their and benefit of their cronies. The sin of the so-called enemies of the state, those espousing for multiparty democracy, is to threaten the livelihoods of the political elites and their blind followers engendered by the sub-culture of entitlement by calling for the decentralization of political power from the clutches of a minority to the people in order to ensure transparency, accountability, social justice, etc., the sum total of which is good governance that is all foreign to the obtaining Tinkhundla political system.

A recent revelation on the typical mafia-like workings of the Tinkhundla political system as uncovered by this newspaper, is the controversial issue of the procurement of 900 vehicles for government at a cost of E400 million to the taxpayer. After all the contradictory statements in relation to this particular procurement, it has finally emerged that it was initiated by an instruction, not by Cabinet, some odd nine months ago to the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ntuthuko Dlamini. Nothing about the rationale behind this expenditure points to a need, as we have often been made to believe by the same minister and who was later echoed by Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini. Public Works and Transport Minister, and by extension Cabinet, was simply carrying out an instruction that was not necessarily informed by any need. Additionally, the instruction was that the vehicles had to be procured from one source, a particular supplier, which all goes against government procurement procedures that are underpinned by open public tendering. If this is not naked corruption then this can only mean that there are differing interpretations of the term corruption.

As I see it, that the source of the instruction to procure the vehicles has not been disclosed to the public is neither here nor there. At issue here are the issues of transparency and accountability notwithstanding the need for fiscal prudence especially in the aftermath of a debilitating fiscus crisis from which the country has barely emerged. Then we still have to wonder how the country dug itself into a financial abyss in the first place when the truth is abroad for every patriot to behold. Even assuming all one million plus of us, the people, willingly and voluntarily chose the Tinkhundla political system above others as our political path of choice, we all would still be wrong for nurturing a system that is not accountable let alone predictable even to us, its authors and indeed owners. Unless of course there is something terribly wrong with all of us, which luckily and by God’s will cannot be the case.

So, in all reality who is or are the enemies of the state in these circumstances. It certainly cannot be the people calling for a just society underpinned by social justice for all. In which case, the enemies of the state must be those responsible for an otherwise fractured system that is inequitable and has concentrated political power in the hands of a minority instead of the people. The system’s novelty of decentralizing services to the people, which is very basic in governments of the people, by the people and for the people, or giving the people an insignificant political space to vote for their lawmakers who have no political clout whatsoever, is meaningless if real political power does not vest with the people as the case is here. The enemies of the state are those presiding over the systematic breakdown of the rule of law that has culminated in the rape of moral values and civil decency. The enemies of the state are those riding rough shod over the constitution by acting contrary to the dictates of the supreme law of the land. The enemies of the state are those defending the indefensible. But truth is the ultimate enemy of the leadership and by extension the Tinkhundla political system.