Africa-Press – Eswatini. “What is the minister going to do to restore the image of the army in the country?” The above question was posed by Manzini North Members of Parliament Macford Sibandze during the debate of the annual performance report of the Ministry of National Defence and Security in the House of Assembly yesterday.
Sibandze stated that Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force had a damaged reputation and there was a need for brand activation to do damage control.
budget
He claimed that people on the ground were not happy with the army, saying that he expected the minister responsible, Thuli Dladla, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooporation to have what he termed as a laundry budget, that would help ‘dry clean’ the damage done.
“There is a need for social integration; the soldiers must be brought closer to the community and have a plan to accelerate communal interaction so that the nation doesn’t fear the soldiers anymore.
“My main concern is also how you are going to deal with this perception on the ground. The people’s disgruntlement can perpetuate divisive and polarised discourse. Going forward, there should be a budget for communication and media studies so that we understand what the media is about,” he said.
MP Sibandze also wondered if the intelligence personnel in the army was adequately trained. He said if the department was weak, the country would have an intelligence analysis informed by gossip, rumours and lies.
Therefore, he said there was a need for extensive training of the personnel, which also spoke to budgetary issues. Further, he said there was a need to bridge the gap between seniors and junior officers; a human resource issue. He said at times top secret and confidential information would be leaked because of unhappy officers.
grievances
“There is a need to close the gap so that even if there are disgruntled officers, they will handle things better. We live in an era of data politics and grievances are expressed easily and cheaper through social media,” he said.
Shiselweni I MP Sipho Mndzebele said the ministry was too quiet whereas its image isn’t good. He reminded the gallery of former prime minister Prince Maphevu who he said was the best public relations officer for the army because he knew everything within the army.
Mndzebele added that the prince practised and knew their mandate. He would defend the force when the need arose to do damage control and clarify.
Adding, he said through Prince Maphevu’s perception, they were clear what the soldiers were about and any negative perceptions were corrected. confidence “We are soldiers ourselves as members of the portfolio committee, we should have the information ourselves in order to play our role and defend from a positive perspective when the need arises.
“We also need a technologically advanced intelligence so that the people and investors would have confidence in the country as well. May our military be beefed up in the internal structures,” he said.
Further, Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said Eswatini cherished the soldiers presence, however their image wasn’t good, hence the need to repackage their image. He said the army’s image building should be resuscitated. He said the social responsibility initiatives must be for building trust, not for political purposes.
“I cannot support invasion of Eswatini, neither will I condone ill-treatment of Emaswati as I am a politician. Chairman, please work closely and engage the ministry on many issues,” he said. He noted that the nation wasn’t happy because the narrative is that they kill, harass, shoot and leave some civilians with disabilities.
“It would be a misnomer for me as an electorate not to mention this; just bite the bullet minister. This is your chance and time to clarify that as you have been very quiet for a very long time,” he said.
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