WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

Government is determined to have so greatly transformed this country in seven years that it can be classified as a first world country. That is a noble goal, certainly one I can get behind. I am curious though, do Swazis even know what Vision 2022 entails? Or what government’s 2013 to 2018 programme of action is about? I ask because there is not much time until 2018, not for a country which is still struggling with corruption, service delivery, health and economic prosperity; all these being some of the focal areas of government’s development plan. I am going to go through some of these areas and demand accountability as well as including some new necessary aspects to the conversation on Swazi development.

I am passionate about my country, young people and my continent. I am one of those peculiar people who believe in that idealistic notion that saving one person has a positive impact on the broader scheme of things. It is for this reason that I consider it my right to know where government is on a development plan it produced itself for itself. The interesting thing is that this programme of action was set up by the current Cabinet so this could be a mid-term probe, if you will. I want to weave a tale about how all of the different elements should complement one another and how they affect each other.

EDUCATION

The 2015 World Population Data Sheet from the Population Reference Bureau reflects that although secondary school enrollment in Swaziland is 60 per cent of girls and 61 per cent of boys we are still the lowest in the region. In this aspect we are lower than countries which are ranked as third world. One of the things this government wanted to focus on was improving primary school enrollment through the Free Primary Education Programme. Really great idea! Except there was no continuation plan. A few months ago the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education spoke about how there are simply not enough secondary school classes to handle next year’s intake. Government then swiftly decided to construct 54 Form I classrooms. I am a sucker for a quick reaction but does this solve the problem? We get pupils into Form I but at the end of 2016 we have the same problem of not knowing where to put them the following year. Frustrated teachers have threatened to not reopen schools until this is handled. So as far as our education system goes it pains me to say in the two years this government has been in office they have failed to provide long term solutions for a huge problem.

HEALTH

There is empirical evidence that access to education is directly linked to HIV statistics and contraception usage in that the more educated one is the more likely they are to know to protect themselves and how to go about doing so. Swaziland has failed its people when it comes to sexuality education and realistic access to contraception. Save for organisations such as the Family Life Association of Swaziland, PSI and somewhat NERCHA, government has not done enough to ensure that culture does not encroach on attitudes of contraception. We have our heads stuck in the sand and people are dying because of it. When you don’t teach nurses that they may encounter adolescents or men having sex with men in need of condoms during their careers you create a space where they believe they should preach and pass judgement to them. What that does is to make the shroud of secrecy more fertile in Swaziland’s sexual relations.

When you issue reports that HIV is under control do you factor in how many people still die because they are stigmatised by health practitioners, or frustrated because they queue all day at government hospitals to get their ARVs? Does that ever make it into your reports? I ask because I am tired of losing friends and family to something you are quite frankly doing not enough to prevent due to conversations you are not willing to have.

The World Population Data Sheet places Swaziland as the highest in the region when it comes to percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS between the ages of 15 and 24. Boys/men are at 7.2 per cent and girls/women are at 15.5 per cent. I believe the over 50 per cent difference is due to cultural inhibitions to not speak plainly about these things. When adolescents asked to be able to access contraception there was an uproar, particularly that this would be promoting sexual activity in children.
Last year 338 pupils dropped out of primary school due to pregnancy. Why can’t you realise that these things are connected? By encouraging this culture of silence we are killing the youth.

I wasn’t even able to go unpack all the other things which we are struggling with like economic prosperity. If we aren’t teaching our girls and positively socialising our boys we are ensuring there is never any substantial economic stability for them. They will continue having children, our population will be predominantly children who are dependent on these people we have not done enough to provide economic stability.
The rest of Africa is fighting to achieve a desirable demographic dividend where the largest contributors to the population are the people of working age, those who can carry the economy. Reducing the number of dependents will allow us to keep more money in our pockets. Let’s get to work, serious work.

THE BURDEN OF MIDDLE CLASS PRIVILEGE

Privilege is an extensive issue and I speak a lot about it because I know what it is to not have it. This week , however, I want to write about the privilege I do have – it annoys me that I have it only because it distinguishes me and my particular set of problems from those of those in a lower class than mine. I hate the world guys, I honestly am just tired of the boxes we found existing which we are seemingly intent on keeping there as well.
First of all I don’t know what it is to go without. I grew up in a home where my dad always made sure we had food to eat, my mom made sure we had clothes to wear and unless I was visiting my grandparents in the rural areas of the kingdom I have always accessed water through taps in the house. So when news of the drought began to dominate the news I was distractedly concerned. SWSC has always been my water provider I have never had to go directly to a river for water unless this was recreational and a way to experience rural life. Now please understand me well, I don’t say these things to prove a senseless superiority I say them to show how hardly hit I was by seeing the DPM wiping his tears at the gravity of the water shortage in the kingdom. I have family who live in rural Swaziland, who only see running water when they visit the cities or more developed parts of the country so when rivers dry up I stand to lose people who matter to me.
Growing up in my father’s house there was always water in 25 litre containers because he is a ‘prepare for the worst case scenario’ type of man and that is something I do even in my own home. I do it out of habit more than necessity. My point is being middle class gives you options.

As much as I appreciate SWSC deploying water tankers to affected parts of the kingdom I am also concerned that this water is only being availed to people with water meters. This provision leaves out those who are probably hardest hit by this situation. You see, it’s not SWSC’s fault that they operate the way they do, obviously its clients are priority but where then is government intervention to offer aid to the places SWSC cannot service?

Here in the middle class circles we talk about internet being a basic human right, students in tertiary institutions have, at one time or another, stopped attending classes and protested over it. Where does access to water come in with regards to being necessary for survival. On Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ‘physiology’ forms the base of the pyramid with ‘safety’ coming in second – safety includes things like job security and access to amenities, these are things which are important for human survival, or so the theory goes. I am frustrated at watching this apathy from government and not because I am the sort of person who constantly looks to any government for intervention but our government almost always seems to be under prepared for things which they warn us against.

If it isn’t ‘tighten your belts there is an economic crisis looming’ then you see a new fleet of government vehicles being purchased and promotions which results in higher pay grades being made it is ‘sell your cattle a drought is coming’ and then they have no actual intervention strategies in place to help people when that drought comes. I’m so stressed out I am typing run on sentences.

You see the burden of middle class privilege is that I have space to air my views and know that they will reach diverse audiences all over the kingdom. What my middle class privilege also grants me is the false sense of having achieved something by writing this alone and expressing my indignant stance. People are still thirsty. About 12 000 cows have still died. The rains have still not come but along with access to running water, electricity and audiences to address, middle class privilege allows me to be panicked by the statistics but not overly so because the burden of water provision is not my own it belongs to SWSC – conversations I have been having throughout the week have had these exact sentiments expressed to me. ‘kani baholelani masengite emanti?’ (what are they getting paid for if I don’t get water). Another middle class burden; passing the buck, almost no accountability and far too little ‘get up and do for myself’.

This water crisis is a national concern, unless we all play our part in being resourceful with our water usage we will indeed begin to lose relatives. Worst case scenario; the crisis comes straight to your middle class life, claiming you’re your comfortable middle class trimmings because some issues are bigger than the privilege we claim.