By Zweli Martin Dlamini

King Mswati is busy touring businesses and projects funded by Government through the Regional Development Fund(RDF) while giving a cold shoulder to the ongoing health crisis amid shortage of drugs in public hospitals.

Indeed,Mswati hardly speak about the shortage of drugs, to him business and/or money is more important than the lives of emaSwati languishing in pain within the various hospitals without medication and this, is very unfortunate.

The health crisis amid shortage of drugs is a life threatening situation and therefore, touring businesses while hundreds of emaSwati die in public hospital is a clear demonstration that, this country lacks visionary leadership.

As a country, we should be prioritizing the lives of the poor who are struggling to buy themselves medication and, relying on Government hospitals for medical care, we can’t pretend as if “it’s business as usual” while emaSwati die.

In fact, the King’s decision to ignore the health crisis says a lot about his leadership, you can’t spend money on traditional alcohol drinking events and then completely ignore the health crisis while claiming to love emaSwati.

Spending millions public funds organizing traditional alcohol drinking events to watch drunk women dancing and then, ignore the socio-economic issues impacting their lives, cannot be equated to love and care for the Nation.

Mswati as a King and Head of State in this country, should be taking the lead in addressing the health crisis and,the magnitude of the crisis suggests that, each and every single day,emaSwati are dying in numbers as a result of the Tinkhundla undemocratic regime incompetence.

It is therefore important to remind the King that, as he tours these businesses, he must remember that hundreds of emaSwati are dying within the various public hospitals.

But in conclusion, perhaps let me also remind the King that, the purpose of securing employment is to work, get paid and improve your life including that of your family members depending on the financial muscle.

Employment that defeats the fundamental purpose of securing a job which is to improve your life for the better, means you are subjected to modern day exploitation or slavery.

This is what some of these companies are doing to the poor and vulnerable emaSwati, paying them ‘peanuts’ so they can eat and sustain the breath in their bodies.

Therefore, as the King tours these businesses, he must consider encouraging the companies to pay decent salaries and further refrain from underpaying employees.

But it starts with the Government Gazettes that allows some companies to pay workers as little as two thousand Rands(R2000.00) or less amid the ever escalating costs of basic commodities, the King has all the powers to stop this exploitation and he must just stop it.

Workers must be left with memories saying; “after the King toured this company, our employers announced a salary increment”.