{"id":2954,"date":"2022-03-02T12:47:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image"},"modified":"2022-03-02T18:04:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T18:04:59","slug":"mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image","title":{"rendered":"MPS CALL FOR \u2018CLEANING\u2019 OF ARMY\u2019S IMAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>\u201cWhat is the minister going to do to restore the image of the army in the country?\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Sibandze stated that Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force had a damaged reputation and there was a need for brand activation to do damage control.<\/p>\n

budget<\/p>\n

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 \u2018dry clean\u2019 the damage done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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\u2019t fear the soldiers anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main concern is also how you are going to deal with this perception on the ground. The people\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

grievances<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shiselweni I MP Sipho Mndzebele said the ministry was too quiet whereas its image isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Adding, he said through Prince Maphevu\u2019s perception, they were clear what the soldiers were about and any negative perceptions were corrected. confidence \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Further, Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said Eswatini cherished the soldiers presence, however their image wasn\u2019t good, hence the need to repackage their image. He said the army\u2019s image building should be resuscitated. He said the social responsibility initiatives must be for building trust, not for political purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d he said. He noted that the nation wasn\u2019t happy because the narrative is that they kill, harass, shoot and leave some civilians with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. \u201cWhat is the minister going to do to restore the image of the army in the country?\u201d 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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,16],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-2954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nMPS CALL FOR \u2018CLEANING\u2019 OF ARMY\u2019S IMAGE - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cWhat is the minister going to do to restore the image of the army in the country?\u201d The above question was posed by Manz ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MPS CALL FOR \u2018CLEANING\u2019 OF ARMY\u2019S IMAGE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhat is the minister going to do to restore the image of the army in the country?\u201d The above question was posed by Manz ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-02T12:47:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-02T18:04:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/03\/img-621fb1b5bbc84.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"409\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MPS CALL FOR \u2018CLEANING\u2019 OF ARMY\u2019S IMAGE\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-02T12:47:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-02T18:04:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/03\/img-621fb1b5bbc84.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mps-call-for-cleaning-of-armys-image\",\"name\":\"MPS CALL FOR \u2018CLEANING\u2019 OF ARMY\u2019S IMAGE - 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