By Zweli Martin Dlamini
Africa-Press – Eswatini. The decline in sales affecting the print media might soon manifest into a struggle to buy data to read online news as more emaSwati struggle to afford a decent meal.
It is for this reason as journalists, we must prioritize the issue of salaries for civil servants including the police and all security officers, emaSwati need money to buy cellphones, electricity and data so that they can read online news.
Therefore, if a majority of emaSwati are financially broke, struggling to even buy electricity units and data, the constitutional right to information will be under threat and by extension, our jobs as journalists will be affected.
Indeed, we write news so that, emaSwati can read and know what is happening in their country but now, we are fast reaching an era where citizens will have to choose between bread, electricity or data.
As the media, we must put pressure on the Tinkhundla oppressive and undemocratic Government to increase salaries for all civil servants,our job among others, is to act in the public interest.
We can’t have a country where almost everyone is financially struggling including those who are working or employed.
I sometimes ask myself what type of a Government is this, a regime that signs Gazettes allowing companies to underpay workers, even Parliament is allowing this ‘nonsense’!
The current situation where almost all emaSwati are financially broke is not only a threat to businesses including shops but, even to journalism.
The media was established as the Fouth eState to provide news and in this era of technology, people must be paid decent salaries so that they can afford to buy data, otherwise, if we allow this Government to oppress emaSwati and refuse to increase salaries, we will lose our jobs as journalists.
As the media, “the people are our jobs”, we have jobs because we provide a service to the Nation, even our sources will struggle to buy data and give us information as the financial situation deteriorates.
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