Africa-Press – Eswatini. Government has taken a firm stance to strongly deal with the ‘faceless commander’ who continues to impose ‘national shutdowns’ and make countless threats, which greatly affect economic stability in the kingdom.
The acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, advised the nation not to be led by a faceless individual whom they could neither see nor shake hands with.
Masuku said at least the nation knows who the people who lead the country are at the moment, as they had the chance to vote them into power.
“When we have stabilised the transport industry, we will turn our focus to the commander. We will smoke him out from the hole where he is hiding. Emaswati should not be fooled by this commander. We know they spew bile but they will now face reality even though I cannot tell you how. They must know that we cannot be intimidated by them,” Masuku declared during an interview at The Gables, Ezulwini yesterday.
Masuku had been at The Gables as part of a national tour where he visited businesses and bus ranks to ensure that there was transport to ferry members of the public to different destinations after public transport operators defied a court order, which declared their two-day (Tuesday and Wednesday) stay-away illegal.
The unavailability of public transport, which was also supported by the said commander through audio clips circulated on various social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp, prompted government to devise a ‘Plan B’ to counter the national shutdown. The government plan entailed providing buses to commuters for free.
The acting premier went on to commit that they would protect Emaswati against all odds.
He said government would now be resolute in dealing with any kind of threat towards peace and stability in the kingdom. For two instances now, the commander has imposed instructions to the effect that everyone must stay at home or face dire consequences.
“We need to be resolute and ensure that the country is protected. We cannot have commanders who will speak as they please from unknown locations and instil fear in the entire nation. We are not going to accept that. If we had not been paying attention to it before, now is the time to act,” firmly said Masuku.
Masuku promised that by the time of the country had to convene the 2024 general elections, they would have appropriately addressed issues which hinder with effective economic progress arising from uncertainties imposed by the faceless commander.
Outlining government’s solution to ensure sustainable availability of public transport in the kingdom, Masuku said every citizen ought to assist in removing ticks (emakhathane) going forward.
“Stability of the country is in the transport sector. If transport is unstable, the economy, peace and stability gets affected. The short-term is to get the current situation stabilised and the next step will be removing all ticks which destabilise the local system,” said Masuku.
The acting premier declined to provide details as to what would be done to get rid of all factors, which negatively affect peace, which had previously existed in the kingdom.
Negative forces
Masuku promised that the removal of negative forces within the transport industry would be undertaken in partnership with the public transport vehicle owners.
However, he humbly requested not outline what initiatives would be implemented in the process of ‘cleansing’ the public transport industry.
“If the public transport owners do not play ball, government has the responsibility to protect Emaswati. As such, Emaswati will be able to visit hospitals, attend school, get to work and be transported to shops,” promised Masuku while continuing to be economic as to how this would be made possible.
Masuku recently said government now knew better than to trust other people when it came to providing transport.
He said when they assured the nation that public transport would be available for the past two days, they had trust that all the parties concerned would keep their end of the bargain.
Masuku said they were working on the basis of trust as they had an agreement with the transport operators, who said they would avail themselves for the public.
He said it was not only government which announced that transport would be available as the operators did so as well.
“When we said pupils should go to school, it was on the basis that everyone would take responsibility and do what they promised to do,” he said.
He said government took the decision to provide transport with the knowledge that the other parties did not fulfil their part and did not even bother to let them know about their change of heart.
“So going forward, we know better, no one will be without transport. We will provide it,” he said.
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