Ubumbano Voice
By Bonginkosi Gama
Poor services are more than just a nuisance as they create public mistrust and create room for bribe. Ever since the recent political unrest in Swaziland, citizens are becoming more aware and ready to demand redress of issues that affects them. Recently at Home Affairs Department, a man by the name of Mzwandile Magongo from Msunduza community manhandled a female officer for failure to properly address him about his son’s birth certificate which he had been checking for a whole month without success.
For a start, the institutions responsible for delivering services lack accountability mechanisms. In other words, there are no systems for measuring how well they meet the needs of citizens. This means public servants are missing one of the basic incentives for performing well. This also leaves the system vulnerable to manipulation, with resources distributed on basis of connections rather than need.
Lack of accountability has led to yet another problem prevalent in public institutions more than any other organizations which is political connections seen as a vital ingredient for securing jobs and career advancement. This is worsened by the fact that the government is often not staffed with people that are incentivized, or motivated to deliver quality services. Additionally, there are limited channels for lodging complaints leaving the only option for many to opt out and use alternative, usually informal means to get their needs met.
With the majority of population struggling with ongoing political unrest where citizens have been killed and also the issue at hand of customer service, the government has a big task in rebuilding the fragile trust between citizens and government and this is an essential foundation for long-term stability.
