Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg is a businessman and based on his experience in business,he is highly expected to fully understand the significance of the Eswatini Revenue Service(ERS) in the operations of entire Government machinery.
The revenue service is collecting tax on behalf of the State and it is therefore,surprising to learn that the institution is sometimes forced to pay salaries with an overdraft amid scarcity of funds.
This is not only an embarrassment to the State but,a demonstration of incompetence by the entire Cabinet whose composition was not based on competence but royal supremacy and business interests.
When I grew-up in the 1990s,my grandfather Prince Mgungu who was a farmer,used to say "umuntfu lodla inhlanyelo siwula” and he was actually saying “a man who after harvesting,fails to keep sufficient seeds to grow more crops for a future harvest is actually a fool”.
Even though I was very young at the time but,I could remember that we used to keep the best seeds aside for future cultivation.
Indeed,once you consume everything after harvesting without thinking about the future,that would mean you are a foolish farmer with no plans for a sustainable future.
Now,here is a Cabinet that is failing to plant the best seeds by capacitating the Eswatini Revenue Service(ERS) with the best equipment including decent salaries and bonuses for workers.
A Cabinet that is failing to understand that, the payment of salaries for civil servants including Ministers and Members of Parliament(MPs) is fully dependent on the competence of the revenue authority among others.
It seems Government is grabbing everything collected by the revenue service without taking into account the fact that,the institution must be equipped with resources to produce the best results by collecting taxes to sustain the entire country.
A revenue institution is a very critical department of the State that should not run out of resources which include human resources or workers who are motivated with decent salaries,company resources cannot be mere computers but,well-capacitated and motivated human resources remain the engine of an organization.
Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg must therefore ensure that the revenue authority is sustainable,this is a State institution whose responsibility remains fundamental in funding social programs for the State.
But in as much as we expect the Finance Minister to deliver,we cannot overlook the fact that,the entire Cabinet is headed by an arrogant and corrupt political fool in Prime Minister(PM) Russell Mmiso Dlamini.
Well,while conducting a brief research about the conduct of the Prime Minister,I came to the conclusion that,Russell Dlamini is actually a fool and,a fool is not correctable.
A political fool like Prime Minister Russell Dlamini will always remind you that,his word is final,unlike a wise leader who takes advice, subject and submits collective decisions.
The problem with a political fool with power is that,you can prepare all the necessary documentation and present to Cabinet for approval,a fool will come and overrule the entire Cabinet without understanding that by so doing,he is compromising the entire country.
But we urge the Finance Minister and other Ministers to be patient,speak sense to our ‘national fool’, and try to make the PM understand Government operations, after-all,he is a political novice.
Finance Minister Neal Rijikernberg.