FUND THE PEOPLE FIRST: MICROPROJECTS CRISIS EXPOSES A MONARCHY THAT HAS FORGOTTEN RURAL ESWATINI

Sigwe Member of Parliament David Cruiser Ngcamphalala has said something in Parliament that exposes the uncomfortable reality behind the endless speeches about development under King Mswati’s Government. Microprojects is grounded because there is no money.

That statement should trouble every liSwati.

Microprojects is not some luxury programme designed for people who already have everything. Its importance is felt in rural communities where development means access to water, roads, bridges, community infrastructure, employment and opportunities for small businesses.

Government itself has previously celebrated Microprojects as an important vehicle for infrastructure development and employment creation. It eventually assumed responsibility for financing the programme after the original European Union supported arrangement.

Now MPs are telling Parliament that the programme is grounded.

This is where the political contradiction becomes impossible to ignore.

Eswatini is constantly presented to us as a country marching towards prosperity. We hear about transformation. We hear about billions being invested. We hear about ambitious national programmes and a First World future.

Then you travel into rural Eswatini and encounter a completely different country.

There are communities still waiting for basic infrastructure. There are unemployed young people sitting at home. There are families struggling against poverty. There are small businesses desperate for opportunities.

And now one of the programmes specifically intended to take development closer to those communities reportedly does not have enough money to function properly.

Ngcamphalala raised the matter while Parliament was debating financing for the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. His argument was simple. If Government can mobilise substantial resources for a State owned company, then programmes directly affecting rural communities cannot simply be abandoned.

That argument goes directly to the heart of political priorities.

Development is not measured by what Government announces.

Development is measured by what reaches the people.

A rural woman who needs clean water cannot drink a government speech.

A young unemployed liSwati cannot feed a family with promises about becoming a First World country.

A community waiting for a bridge cannot cross a river using a national development plan.

A small contractor cannot pay workers using political slogans.

This is precisely why the situation at Microprojects should become a national political issue.

For decades, Tinkhundla has been presented as a system specifically designed to bring development closer to the people. The monarchy has repeatedly defended the political system partly on the argument that communities participate in development through their constituencies.

If that is true, then Microprojects should be among the last institutions allowed to become grounded.

Instead, MPs are standing inside Parliament pleading for money so that development can continue in their constituencies.

That exposes something much deeper about Eswatini.

The problem is not that this country has no money whatsoever. The real political debate concerns how national resources are prioritised and who ultimately determines those priorities.

In a democracy, those questions carry political consequences.

Citizens elect a government. That government determines priorities. If communities remain poor, infrastructure collapses and development programmes fail, citizens can remove those governing them.

That basic democratic relationship is fundamentally weakened in an absolute monarchy.

King Mswati remains at the centre of Eswatini’s political system regardless of whether rural development succeeds or fails.

The ordinary citizen does not possess the ballot capable of removing the person occupying the highest position of political authority.

That matters.

It means political power at the top can remain secure while the consequences of failure are experienced at the bottom.

The worker loses employment.

The contractor waits for payment.

The young person remains unemployed.

The rural family waits for development.

The MP returns to the constituency and faces frustrated residents.

Yet the political system itself survives untouched.

This is why Eswatini needs more than funding for Microprojects.

It needs a political system where those controlling national priorities are directly accountable to the people living with the consequences of those decisions.

Fund Microprojects.

Finish abandoned community projects.

Pay legitimate contractors.

Put rural development ahead of political prestige.

But above everything else, give emaSwati something far more powerful than another development programme.

Give them democratic control over their own Government.

Because genuine development is not something a King gives to his subjects.

It is something citizens demand from a government they have chosen themselves.