BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – During the last five years, Government has continued to improve its roads infrastructure with the construction of new roads and the maintenance of old ones.
New projects include the recently concluded Golf Course Interchange and the Nhlangano-Sicunusa Road which is nearing completion.
This was revealed by Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, during his end of term speech.
He mentioned a number of highlights made possible by his cabinet.
Through its *468# MTN MoMo platform, Government introduced an e-payment and tracking system for critical services such as Travel Documents, Civil Registration, Identity Documents and the renewal of Motor Vehicle Licence discs, among others.
Minister of Home Affairs delivers her Speech in the inauguration of the the E-visa and permit system.
Government recently launched the e-visa programme which makes it easy for tourists and investors to do business and promote tourism.
The country experienced several disasters over the last five years, two of which were declared national emergencies. Funds exceeding E1BN were mobilised from Government, the private sector and from friends of Eswatini to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
At least E5.9 million was disbursed to 43 community projects through the Eswatini Environment Fund during the period. Eswatini also won an Award for the development of the Best Urban Resilience Project in Africa at COP27.
The Board of Trustees of the Eswatini Environment Fund tours the Mgogodla Ecotourism and Botanical Garden Project, one of the selected community initiatives that was funded during the 2020-2021 period.
“The country was also recognised as one of the Top 5 destinations to visit in the year 2020 by Lonely Planet Magazine and became the first country in southern Africa to receive a Safe Travels Stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council during COVID-19.
“Further, the country was named Number 1 Most Tourist Friendly destinations in Africa by Globe Trotter and achieved top spot on Forbes-Five-Little-Known Nations that deserve to become tourism hotpots,” said the PM.
Worth mentioning is that the country was able to set up a Legal Aid office to provide free or low-cost legal services to the vulnerable and also developed an electronic case management system to streamline and modernise the judicial process.
The Government also completed and operationalised the Home for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities in Mankayane, accommodating 20 people.
The combined total spent on the project is E37.2 million , of which E9.27 million was a grant from the Government of the Republic of China, Taiwan. Government further introduced an Elderly Funeral Cover of E3 500 per beneficiary to help families of deceased elderly with funeral costs.
“In a bid to bring critical services closer to the people, Government operationalised Tinkhundla service centres at Mayiwane, Mhlambanyatsi, Lugongolweni, Lobamba, Simunye, Gege, Siphofaneni, Lavumisa and Kwaluseni. These service centres provide key services as civil registration, immigration, revenue services, social welfare, courts and others, ” said the Prime Minister.
He added that Government also launched a mopping up exercise aimed at improving national birth registration levels and ensure an updated and credible population register.
The exercise has been rolled out in the Shiselweni and Lubombo regions in which a total of 18 354 late birth registrations were recorded, 9 750 ID cards issued, 1 134 Swazi Law and Customs marriage certificates disbursed and 1 635 convertions made.
