BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – Prime Minister Sipho Cleopas Dlamini answered pertinent questions about the Kingdom of Eswatini from the editors of media houses. This happened during the Editors’ Forum held at Sibane Hotel earlier today.
The Forum was the Prime Minister’s first since being appointed into the position. Questions ranged from the pending Sibaya National Dialogue, unrests, rape, education, and all other pertinent issues in the country.
Following is a transcript of the question and answer session from the Editor’s Forum.
QUESTION 1: Your Excellency, the Prime Minister has been quoted assuring the public that the dialogue will definitely be held. Given the political context that influenced the reason for the dialogue, level of public interest and debate on this issue, can His Excellency update us on the plans for the dialogue. In the context of the political unrest, what form can we expect the dialogue to take?
Prime Minister: His Majesty King Mswati III agreed and directed the Nation to engage in a National Dialogue; and for the Nation to find each other. Government has been mandated to facilitate the process; hence the budget allocation announced by the Minister of Finance in the 2022/2023 Budget. A lot of groundwork has been covered in terms of developing Thematic Areas around which the Dialogue would be centred upon. Government envisages that the Dialogue will be inclusive of every adult liSwati.
QUESTION 2: The dialogue was announced last year. When is it expected to be held, this year or next?
PRIME MINISTER: The date for the commencement of the National Dialogue will be announced to the Nation as soon as all the necessary consultations and logistical arrangements have been finalised.
QUESTION 3: SADC has been deeply involved in discussing the issues leading to the dialogue. Has there been any agreement on what role SADC, an international organisation, will play in the conduct of a domestic process?
PRIME MINISTER: SADC and other cooperating partners are providing consultative technical assistance to the process. They will also participate as observers in the process.
QUESTION 4: National dialogues in terms of our constitution start at the kraal according to an established format. What is your comment to the widespread public debate among key stakeholders involved in the unrest suggesting that Sibaya is unsuitable as a venue for the dialogue? Why are the names of the technical committee members not revealed to the public?
PRIME MINISTER: The technical committee that was appointed is working only on the logistics of the Dialogue. There is, however, a challenge these days of revealing the names of people who are working for this Government who get targeted and attacked. Sometimes, this can result in lack of transparency. For now, it is sufficient that I am the Chairperson of that committee. The other committees that will drive the process will be announced at Sibaya.
There is a difference between Sibaya submissions and resolutions. Therefore, just like in any other meeting, not every single thing raised at Sibaya can be implemented. There is a lot that was, however, implemented based on Sibaya. For example, changes to how we elect MPs were a result of Sibaya submissions as previously we elected an electoral college.
QUESTION 5: We understand that various other political groupings are holding their own meetings in preparation for the dialogue. Is government planning any processes to help the public understand the new political context and prepare for the dialogue?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, these will be shared with the public once all preparations and logistical arrangements have been finalised.
QUESTION 6: National security has become priority public concern since the outbreak of civil unrest that caused extensive damage to the country’s international image, national unity, peace, and stability. There is great public interest in how effectively this crisis is managed. Please update us on your assessment of the effectiveness of your efforts since assuming government.
PRIME MINISTER: Government has dealt with the situation in the best possible manner under the circumstances and, as it can be appreciated, law and order continue to prevail in the country. We are hopeful that with the upcoming Dialogue, whatever issues that have resulted in the current political impasse will be resolved.
QUESTION 7: There are concerns and perceptions that the continued turbulence and sporadic outbreaks highlight the competence of the intelligence services. Are you satisfied that the intelligence services are what they should be to bring this crisis under control?
PRIME MINISTER: The Intelligence Services in the country are working as per expectations and since their work is aligned to State Security, we cannot divulge much in relation to their operations. It is, however, virtually impossible to know who intends to do what and when. However, there has been a lot of arrests. Of course, some perpetrators are also at large. We can never be satisfied as this scourge continues to ravage the country threatening, as it does, our national security, peace and stability and our international image as a peaceful country.
QUESTION 8: There is now a so called “Solidarity Ground Forces” that is regularly associated in online media to various acts of arson and attacks on people. Is the Prime Minister aware of this terrorist movement?
PRIME MINISTER: We have heard reports of the existence of such a movement. However, I am happy to report that progress is being made on the ground by the Police in terms of rounding up the perpetrators of the ongoing violence in the country. No effort will be spared in finding the culprits.
QUESTION 10: There is widespread public perception of a breakdown of trust between sections of the public and the police over perceptions of police brutality. Trust is a relationship issue that cannot be corrected by force. It is public knowledge perceptions of police brutality underlie the ongoing national crisis. As Minister of Police, what have you done to correct the relationship between the police and the public?
PRIME MINISTER: It is not exactly true that the public has a problem with the police. It is only those who are loud who have a problem. I recently went to Luve, where the community requested for a police station. But a faction of the people burnt down the police structure. Of course, it is true that police have used more force than required in some instances when trying to bring order.
QUESTION 11: Your Excellency, Public Sector Associations (PSAs) issued a statement declaring they disapprove of your appointment. There are serious implications on the effectiveness and efficiency of government where the Prime Minister has to work with staff that publicly declared their opposition to him and the system of government. What assurance can His Excellence give that the public service is still a professional service?
PRIME MINISTER: There is a difference between PSAs and public workers. I am confident that civil servants in their majority are still giving their best. But, of course, there are also those who are no longer putting in effort. The PM was appointed according to the Constitution. If they have a problem with the Constitution, then perhaps this is what we should discuss when we go to Sibaya.
QUESTION 12: There have been public statements suggesting that health staff will not treat certain categories of the public. What measures have been implemented to ensure that civil servants remain professional, and what remedies have made to correct deviant conduct?
PRIME MINISTER: Public servants are employed by Government to serve the people and they are expected to serve the public without discrimination. In serving the public, they are also expected to uphold high standards of professionalism. One of Government’s strategic goals as outlined in the Strategic Roadmap 2019-2023 is to introduce and promote a culture of excellence across Government.
To achieve this, we need a calibre of public servants that will show professionalism and commitment in performing their duties. The Ministry of Public Service has assisted Ministries and Departments to develop client service charters that define the services offered by Ministries and the service standards that underpin the service that is being provided as well as what the public should expect.
We are therefore expecting officers to uphold those service standards and serve the public in a manner that would create confidence in the public they serve. Failure to do that is tantamount to failing to perform one’s official duties as expected and calls for that officer to be taken to task using the laid down disciplinary procedures for Government, wheninstances such as wilful dereliction of duty and neglect of duty happen.
However, I believe if something like this happened, it was a spur of the moment thing. I can assure you that health workers do treat police officer even as we speak.
QUESTION 13: Can His Excellency address us on what measures he has taken to arrest the turmoil that started since June 2021 and still continues? During 2022, we have continued to witnessed attacks against people, working equipment, investment, and infrastructure.
PRIME MINISTER: A hybrid of measures are in place and are being ably executed by the country’s Security apparatus. Government fully supports the security measures that are being rolled out through availing the requisite resources and all other forms of assistance needed to ensure that safety and security in the country is not further compromised.
QUESTION 14: Your Excellency, what action has the minister of police taken after revelations that some high-level politically connected people arranged for the murder of a rival. The killer has publicly named high level people who he said arranged for him to enter through the Ngwenya Border in a stolen car, and without passport. Were the people publicly cited in the events leading to the murder ever investigated?
PRIME MINISTER: Police follow up on every lead, but they do not reveal who they plan on arresting.
QUESTION 15: Since the onset of COVID-19, there have been high level leaks of sensitive information even relating to the person and office of His Majesty the King and the Royal Family. Credence of the credibility of the leaks was the dismissal of the head of the army. As minister of police and therefore minister of state security, can His Excellency assure us of the safety of His Majesty and this country?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I am 100% sure he is safe. I am not saying what happened does not mean anything, but it is difficult to guarantee who will say what to whom. It took one Judas Iscariot to destroy the process. There will always be such people.
We have, however, taken note of the incidents where information that is not for the public domain has made its way to that space under mysterious circumstances. Government continues to put systems in place to ensure that these damaging classified information leaks are curtailed, and, on that basis, we are assured that the safety of His Majesty and the country is guaranteed.
QUESTION 16: Royal Eswatini Air has purchased two jets to resume operations abandoned in 1999. Can His Excellence say what are the new opportunities and new prospects that suggest the factors that caused the airline to fail in 1999 have been corrected? What makes Government believe the airline will succeed this time.
PRIME MINISTER: Government, through the Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation, undertook a market assessment of the industry and the outcome was positive. A business strategy has been developed to mitigate against business risks that may possibly fail the airline, and these include:
• An appropriate business model, in terms of fleet type, fleet size, route network and destinations served.
• Professional Airline Governance to include a Government “eyes-on, hands-off” approach – direct government interference in operational matters of an airline is cited as one of the many causes for failure.
• Stability in leadership at Board and executive management level.
• A skilled workforce.
The revived airline is connecting to major regional air traffic hubs like Harare, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban. It therefore will not be focusing on passengers coming direct to Eswatini but also passengers that will be transiting in between these hubs and connecting to international long haulage airlines.
The number of air travel passengers have increased quite considerably since 1999, Eswatini Air is targeting a small percentage proportion of the travellers. Our business proposition show that there is still need for additional regional airlines to reduce travel and connection time in between the regional connection hubs.
QUESTION 17: There are worrying similarities between the airline and EPTC. EPTC entered into a JV with MTN that it has been unable to exit. Royal Swazi Air also entered into a 60-40 JV with SA Airlink. Can the Prime Minister assure us that the airline will be allowed to operate and compete against its Joint Venture partner, SA Airlink when SPTC was forbidden to compete against MTN.
PRIME MINISTER: There is an airline which goes by the name Eswatini Airlink, which is a JV between Government and SA Airlink. This airline has operated for more than 10 years and all along it is operating to a single destination of Johannesburg.
Business opportunities for Eswatini’s air travel market go beyond Johannesburg. Our new and soon to be launched airline will be offering services to four destinations initially, then add more destinations to its route network in years to come, growing the market and service offering portfolio.
The JV is not between Eswatini Air and Airlink, but it is between Government and Airlink. Eswatini Air is an independent entity which is not part of the JV. As such, Eswatini Air is free to trade in its own right. We have laws in this country which were enacted to enforce compliance to competition laws, as far as we are concerned, Eswatini Air cannot be stopped from entering the market for the purpose of preventing competition or protecting the interests of Airlink.
Competition is vital for any market; it forces competing service providers to be efficient and service different market segments. We believe the move by Eswatini Air to enter the market will increase direct services to various destinations, reducing dependence on Johannesburg as the only connecting point, and result in air ticket price reduction which will make many sections of our population to afford to travel by air for their daily needs, be it for medical, leisure, business, conferences, and other reasons.
QUESTION 18: Can His Excellency update us on the progress in the transformation of EPTC and if the Joint Venture with MTN will now be permanent?
PRIME MINISTER: The JVA between MTN and EPTC is a beneficial business agreement between these two entities. EPTC is reviewing its turnaround strategy which will address this very issue in the interest of EPTC and the ICT sector in the Kingdom. EPTC and MTN are in engagements for a non-confrontational new way forward. It is expected that these engagements will come up with a mutually beneficial solution. The revival of EPTC is pivotal for the transformation of the ICT sector.
QUESTION 19: There are various reports suggesting that the COVID-19 crisis has been a disaster for education, especially the education of girls. The two-year disruption in education has resulted in an epidemic of teenage pregnancies. What are the implications on the education of girls?
PRIME MINISTER: The implication for the girl is that she may drop out of school and not complete her education or not meet her fullest educational potential. Teen pregnancy compromises young girls’ development opportunities, making them vulnerable to poverty, violence, and social exclusion. On another note, the girls’ health end up being compromised as the opportunities of getting HIV and AIDs, STI are very high. Teenage pregnancy is a universal social and educational concern in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. Many countries continue to experience a high prevalence of teenage pregnancy regardless of the implementation of intervention strategies to reduce teenage pregnancy. The high incidence of teenage pregnancy has become a major societal and educational concern in this country, as it seems to perpetuate poverty and low levels of education. As a result, the Ministry emphasis on education, care, and support in its interventions for learners who are pregnant, despite divergent views and heated debate from concerned citizens and communities.
QUESTION 20: Teenage girls are protected under the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act which makes their pregnancies a result of statutory rape. Can His Excellency update us on how many people have been charged for the pregnancies, if not, what is the explanation?
PRIME MINISTER: During the annual year 2019/2020, 881 girls between the ages of 0-17 were raped. Of those, 647 were between the ages of 12-17. At least 57 were convicted for sexually violating teenage girls and 286 were awaiting trial at the end of the year. In 2020/2021, 696 girls between the ages of 0-17 were sexually violated, with 597 of those falling within the 12-17 age bracket. There were 30 convictions and 202 were awaiting trial at the end of the annual year We do believe there are more perpetrators out there who have not been reported for these offences either because the perpetrators are family, or the rape survivors have been intimidated into silence.
QUESTION 21: What policy reforms have been made to make sure that pregnant girls return to school and continue with their education?
PRIME MINISTER: Teenage pregnancy is an issue of major concern, obviously exacerbated by the prolonged schools’ closure. It is true that attempts to take children back to school are being made, although they may not necessarily return to the same school for ethical reasons. The rape issue, unfortunately, is determined by the age of the people concerned, e.g., when it is a teenager to teenager, it becomes hard to call it rape.
Currently, the Ministry is getting a lot of support from Government partners on interventions such as the following-
• With support from UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Training has adopted an overarching framework known as the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning that is currently implemented. It ensures that a school provide an enabling and supportive teaching and learning environment for all learners
• The Ministry of Health has developed adolescent sexual and reproductive health guidelines and UNICEF is supporting the dissemination and training of health care providers.
• The Ministry of Education is developing Sexual Reproductive Health linkages for a health care facility
Other interventions are being explored by the Ministry to counter this problem.
QUESTION 22: The lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic has been how quickly medical facilities can be strained by a pandemic. After many years of confusing delays, the Christian Medical University finally opened in 2013. It was promised to train doctors by 2019. The University’s Prospectus for 2021-22 makes no mention of training doctors. Is this not strange when the country currently relies on so many foreign doctors from as far as Cuba and continues to export patients at great cost to South Africa. Can His Excellency address us on the delay in the training of doctors to reduce reliance on South Africa?
PRIME MINISTER: The country recognises the importance of competent doctors in ensuring good health for the entire populace. Government is aware that improving the health of the masses increases their productive capacity and ultimately leads to rising economic growth. Whilst Government notes the exorbitant costs associated with establishing a medical school, it has continued to invest generously in training adequate emaSwati doctors outside the country to ensure optimal operation of the health sector. Efforts are also being made to support all initiatives aimed at establishing a local medical school. One of these initiatives is the Eswatini Medical Christian University (EMCU), a parastatal entity – supported by Government. It started its operations in 2013.
The plan with EMCU was to start with medicine-allied programme including Radiography, pharmacy, medical laboratory science to name but a few; consolidate and develop full capacity of the institution to offer those before the introduction of the Bachelor of Medicine. Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training through the Eswatini Higher Education Council is evaluating the admissibility of the proposed Bachelor of Medicine/surgery for the institution.
QUESTION 23: By the same token, the Institute of Health Sciences is still training nurses after more than 40 years after it was established. Can His Excellency update us on what are the difficulties in allowing Swazi children to study medicine? Is there any plan to upgrade the Institute of Health into a Faculty of Medicine?
RESPONSE: There is a comprehensive plan to transform the Faculty of Health Sciences into a Medical Faculty and offer the Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery programme. Significant ground has been covered in preparations for the start of the programme in January 2023. The following are key milestones that have been achieved:
• UNESWA has established collaboration with the University of Pretoria to offer the programme. This will entail sharing of materials and other inputs such as staff to ensure efficient delivery of the programme
• One of the key areas of collaboration is curriculum. UNESWA will offer the curricular (with comprehensive learning outcomes) that is offered by the University of Pretoria. The curriculum has produced competent doctors over the years.
• Arrangements to engage the Executive Dean for the Medical Faculty, a Medical Professor are at an advanced stage.
QUESTION 24: To what extent is Government using ICTs to provide quality education and education continuity given the perennial disturbances and teachers’ strikes?
PRIME MINISTER: In an effort to address the perennial disruption to the provision of education, especially at the primary and secondary school, the Ministry has been offering lessons through the Eswatini Broadcasting Services and sometimes through the daily local newspapers. But these are temporary measures aimed at providing quick solutions towards loss of teaching time and syllabus coverage. Furthermore, the Ministry is working very hard to introduce technology-enabled learning in the Eswatini school system. To that effect, the Ministry, with support from UNICEF and the Royal Science and Technology Park, introduced two Learning Management Systems. Both Learning Management Systems have been developed and are in their final stages. It is worth mentioning that the Ministry is in the process of customizing content which will soon be uploaded to the Learning Management Systems which will be launched in the 2022 school calendar year.
Alongside the customization and uploading of content, the Ministry will be training(re-skilling) teachers in an effort to ensure that they are well equipped to create and facilitate technology-enabled teaching and learning. Moreover, it is worth reporting that the Ministry through Emlalatini Development Centre is already offering technology-enabled learning with a particular focus on out-of-school children, youth, and adults. This system works with and complements the other two Learning Management Systems mentioned above. It should be noted that all our Learning Management Systems have the capabilities of being used for online and offline teaching and learning. Furthermore, they can be accessed through different devices including smartphones, tablets, and other computers.
QUESTION 25: What efforts have been made to provide cost effective data access for education?
PRIME MINISTER: To ensure equitable access to technology-enabled teaching and learning, the Ministry is engaging different network/internet service providers to find ways of ensuring that all schools have access to the internet with reliable and affordable rates for both schools and individual learners. The Ministry with support from the Natie Kirsh Foundation through Wanderport Africa has been working very hard to ensure that schools have an affordable connection to the internet.
It should be noted that the Ministry is actively engaging and working with different other stakeholders in this space to ensure that schools and learners have reliable and affordable internet connectivity. Furthermore, there are those schools which already have internet facilities and state-of-the-art ICT laboratories, some of which are supported by partners through the Ministry, however, the Ministry is working tirelessly to ensure equitable access and affordability to some extent. It is worth noting that the issue of affordability of internet connectivity can not only be facilitated by the Ministry of Education alone as there are many players in this space, hence the discussions that the Ministry continually have with the other entities.
QUESTION 26: What efforts have been made to reform the education curriculum to align
with the knowledge economy?
PRIME MINISTER: The Ministry of Education and Training understands a knowledge-based economy (KBE) enshrined in the National Curriculum Framework as a economy that uses information resources—skills, technologies, and processes—to achieve and accelerate economic growth potential. One of the main pillars of KBEs is education and skills.
It is worth mentioning that Eswatini as a country does not have natural resources in abundance. However, the country does have her people who could be easily trained to create a strong knowledge and skill base that could meet both local and international markets need.
In this regard, the Ministry has introduced Competence Based Education (CBE) programme which started in Grade 1 in 2019 following a phased approach in its roll out. In the school calendar for 2022, this curriculum will be rolled out to Grade 4. This curriculum places emphasis on the learner acquiring the 21st century skills, forms of knowledge, attitudes and values while demonstrating what the learner can competently do using that form of the knowledge and skills acquired.
Learners are exposed to an array of skills referred to as core skills which are outlined in the Eswatini Curriculum Framework for General Education (2018). These are the skills necessary for every liSwati learner to acquire in an effort to equip them to fit better in the knowledge-based economy. These skills include Information and Communication Technology Skills, Numeracy Skills, Literacy and Communication Skills, Creativity and Innovation Skills, Thinking Skills, Social Skills, Personal Skills, and Learning to learn Skills. Therefore, the Ministry is diligently working to ensure that the Competence-based Education is introduced in secondary schools of Eswatini.
The Ministry of Education curriculum goal is – To develop individuals for the realisation of a knowledge-based society which contributes to the eradication of poverty through promoting selfreliance, gender equity, and improved health to foster global competitiveness and accelerated socio-economic growth with environmental sustainability while instilling responsible citizenship and maintaining moral and cultural values. Drawing from the cited description of the general education goal, the Competency-based Education introduced in schools in 2019 is crafted such that its products can effectively to contribute to the knowledge-based economy.
The introduction of CBE in schools and the claim of the alignment of CBE to a knowledge-based economy can only be honestly verified by developing and using the right tools to assess and validate the claim with time as Curriculum reform by its nature shows its impact over time.
Alongside this initiative, the Ministry is piloting the 4-year high school education in 32 schools in the country beginning in the 2022 school calendar year. This has been necessitated by the fact that our secondary school graduates are required to have a qualification beyond the Eswatini General Certificate of Education (EGCSE) in order to be attractive for admission into international tertiary institutions. Allowing them to complete EGCSE in 4 years will enable them to enrol into A-level or AS level so that they can compete effectively for admission with their counterparts in the region and beyond.
Furthermore, the Ministry with the support of UNICEF has recently conducted a landscape analysis of skills for employability programs inEswatini. The overall objective of the skills audit was to undertake asituational analysis (audit) of the skills for employability programs for young people, identify scalable initiatives and develop a roadmap on the next steps to inform the development of a comprehensive multi-sectoral framework to guide government and non-government actors. The specific purpose of the skills audit was to inform the development of an overarching national framework for adolescents and youth to guide the implementation of skills development initiatives that will be more effective and aligned to labour market demand. This is with a view to support decent livelihoods and decent work in order to reduce high youth unemployment and promote economic development and industrialization of the Kingdom of Eswatini. The skills framework is currently under development.
QUESTION 27: The war in Ukraine threatens the outbreak of a Third World War. Eswatini joined the United Nations to become part of the international solidarity for preventing world wars. When other countries stood up at the UN to contribute to world peace at the UN, Eswatini did not participate. Can His Excellency help us understand the reasons Eswatini did not participate in the UN discussion?
RPRIME MINISTER: As mentioned in a Press Release previously, Eswatini, like the rest of the globe, is concerned about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We have made our position clear; that we support and encourage a process of rapprochement through which an honest engagement in dialogue and negotiation to find lasting solution and a permanent de-escalation of tensions is encouraged. We believe Member States should work towards a unified purpose to bring Russia and Ukraine on the negotiating table, bringing along all means possible to broker a peaceful resolution, in accordance with the UN Charter, which is a constant reminder about the goodness of humanity. We are of the view that International Law should take precedence and that the United Nations is very significant in playing its all-important role to mediate and persuade an inclusive process that will end the conflict with immediate effect. The UN may not fail in this regard and should find its relevance to build bridges of peace and security, by confronting the geopolitical challenges of this lifetime.
QUESTION 28: We are aware that international aid has been withdrawn from some countries that abstained from the UN vote. Can His Excellency assure us that he has explained the decision to not support the EU and the USA, our most important development partners with a vote at the UN?
PRIME MINISTER: Aid withdrawal notice has not been received yet. If anything, Eswatini does not have a position that can be deemed hostile to warrant withdrawal of assistance by any party.
QUESTION 29: What is the case for national interest in avoiding the Ukraine war issue? What are the likely economic benefits or consequences of this action?
PRIME MINISTER: Those who are not practitioners in diplomacy and international relations will not understand what a country’s national interest is in any given situation and these matters are better understood by practitioners in that particular field. Also, the country’s constitution spells out clearly what our national interest is. We don’t foresee any benefits or consequences specific to us given that the world is already impacted by the conflict.
