Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini is now among the most violent societies on the planet. Our rates of murder are almost as high as some of the most dangerous societies. This violence has a long history dating back to slavery and colonial times when nations were formed during a period of massive political instability.Violence has debased and dehumanised the majority of the people day after day, year after year. In some cases, this was internalised and produced violence within families. We are a deeply traumatised society and we seldom speak about this, let alone try to address it.
Toxic
Once a toxic culture has become entrenched and inculcated, it is very difficult to move beyond it. To do so requires a conscious and concerted effort. This is not being done in this country, we have never done any of the work that needed to be done to change the economic, political and social fabric of our country. We continue to traumatise new generations with endemic violence and the vivid schisms in our society. We are among the most unequal countries in the world and almost more than half the population is unemployed. The evidence of a country in decay and steady decline is all around us. It is an indictment on not just the politicians,but also the business sector and civil society that a lot of our people are in a worse position today than they were before.
Worsened
Personal security has certainly worsened and the people’s ability to look after themselves and provide for their families has dramatically declined. In a society like ours, where access to resources is scarce and one of the few available ways of getting this access is through the State, it is no wonder there is so much corruption in the country. Eswatini is unravelling in front of our eyes, therefore, decisive action is required in terms of intelligence, policing, investigation and prosecution. But we also need to give people a sense of hope for the future if we are to have any chance of healing a traumatised society. And the crisis of unemployment needs to be addressed with all the vigour that would be brought to waging a war.
We need our people to feel safe and secure because only then will they be able to begin to uncoil the trauma that sits inside all of us.
More than anything else, our people need hope. Without hope, the cycles of violence will only get worse.
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