Africa-Press – Eswatini. Government has set aside E22 million in this year’s budget for the Sibaya National Dialogue.
Members of Parliament have welcomed the announcement yet expressed differing views on the matter while calling for government to speed up the process.
They further insisted that this was a chance for all Emaswati to grab the opportunity with both hands and engage in a meaningful dialogue.
This was announced by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg while delivering the budget speech for the next financial year.
The announcement will come as music to the ears of a majority of Emaswati including politicians and the general public which has been calling for calm in the nation and for all to sit down and hash out differences in a peaceful manner.
The minister asserted that His Majesty King Mswati III had called on all Emaswati to constructively engage in dialogue, within the framework provided by the country’s Constitution and Sibaya, which is the ultimate consultative and decision-making forum of all EmaSwati.
“As our society and economic activity resumes post COVID-19, the nation now has the opportunity for this dialogue to resume,” he said.
He confirmed that Government had set aside E22 million in this year’s budget for the Sibaya National Dialogue.
He added that His Majesty the King had called on all Emaswati to engage in the Sibaya to find the best way forward and ensure that the tragedies experienced during the past year were never repeated.
“In order to achieve this, we need an all-inclusive process that will allow everyone to be heard. We need to reflect on our words and put aside our weapons. We need to focus on healing rather than hurting, reconciliation rather than conflict and unity in directing our efforts towards common goals of peace and prosperity and a better life for all EmaSwati,” said the minister.
Siphocosini MP Mduduzi Matsebula welcomed the budget and said the budget for dialogue should not go to waste.
He insisted that this was an opportunity for a meaningful dialogue.
“We should think and reflect together, we need to discover how to talk to one another and harness the collective intelligence,” Matsebula said.
He added that a meaningful dialogue existed when all parties no longer took their own position as final.
He urged all Emaswati to unite in order to make the country a better place for all.
“If we engage in an effective, meaningful dialogue I am sure we can come up with one of the best models of democracy or political system which will enhance investor confidence and give us a chance to be competitive in the region and the world,” he said.
heart-warming
He reserved his comments on the other issues because he said they would have a chance to debate the budget next week Wednesday but stated that it was heart-warming to hear government through the minister of finance acknowledged where they were failing as government while recognising where they could have done better.
Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga welcomed the announcement and the initiative to set aside the budget for the dialogue which.
“I would like to commend government for setting aside the budget which shows commitment towards the dialogue as per the assertion of His Majesty through the Speech from the Throne,” he said.
He added that it was now up to government to facilitate the dialogue and emphasised on ensuring inclusivity and affording an opportunity to all Emaswati. His sentiments were echoed by Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko who welcomed the budget and said this should come as a relief to all Emaswati who had been eagerly waiting for the dialogue.
“Now that the minister has announced that the budget is there, we urge the executive to speed up the process and provide timelines,” Nhleko said.
Meanwhile, Shiselweni II MP Strydom Mpanza also welcomed the commitment from government. He however shared a differing view in that he could not comment on whether the budget set aside was enough or not as there was no plan yet.
“It is not easy for me to comment on the matter since we do not yet have a detailed plan for the activities,” he said.
He stated that a dialogue should ideally be broken down to activities and programmes with defined timelines and since there was no plan yet, he could not ascertain if the funds would be enough or not.
He also outlined that a dialogue constituted of many activities and he would be able to comment more on the matter once a plan was in place and the dialogue was set in motion.
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