Africa-Press – Eswatini. The revenues to sustain the country are steadily dwindling while the needs of the citizenry are ever increasing.
Business Eswatini (BE) President Andrew Le Roux made the observation in his 2019-21 report shared with membership in the past week’s extraordinary annual general meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mbabane. The president saw an urgent need for investors – big and genuine investors – in order for the country to create the national wealth desperately needed to fund our fiscus. “EIPA (Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority) has their work cut out for them and we can only commiserate with them because it is not too easy to sell a location that has too many question marks attached to it,” he said. Le Roux further stressed that the business environment was not existing in a vacuum or outside the political environment which conceptualises the policies and laws that determine the rhythm of the nation’s economy.
Political
“This means the business community cannot ignore the obtaining political ramifications to its own peril as patently demonstrated by recent events. “It is a function of politics, duly embodied in our government, to ensure that the country has a conducive environment in which to thrive and create the jobs demanded by the people,” he highlighted. Some of economic policies, according to Le Roux, seem to thrive on political expediency and short-termism as opposed to creating a stable and durable environment that will create confidence for both local and export-oriented foreign direct investors. “It should not be lost that almost all the revenues that sustain this country and its people come almost exclusively from the private sector and its workforce. It is from our trucks doing cross-border transactions in the customs union that this country is able to receive its share of Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenues on which, sadly, it disproportionately depends. This is over and above the heavy corporate taxes and duties that we pay without fail,” he said.
Le Roux said Business Eswatini together with their over 75 000 strong workforce, they had come to accept that theirs was a huge burden and responsibility on which the hopes and aspirations of all emaSwati may well depend.
Difficulty
“Evidently, the private sector worked under extreme difficulty during the year, and it’s anyone’s guess how long we can sustain this act, especially given that a clear path to an inclusive future remains ever so slightly opaque at the time of writing this letter. “ That being the case though, one has full confidence in the resourcefulness of all emaSwati to reimagine an inclusive future that leaves no one behind, and to commit to a binding social contract whose foundation will be inspired by peaceful coexistence and tolerance,” he highlighted.
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