By Zweli Martin Dlamini

I once attended a parents meeting a few years ago in one of the schools and knowing the modus operandi of the Tinkhundla Government, I found the school with no chalks, water, food with the Headteacher literally struggling to hire a grass cutting machine and the situation was exposing the children to serious danger of being killed by snakes.

During that meeting, the Headteacher made a presentation clarifying why it was important for parents to contribute top-up fees so that, the school could function as the Government Free Primary Education (FPE) grant was not sufficient and would sometimes delay.

But it appeared that some parents were mislead by the Government propaganda, they told the Headteacher that, they won’t contribute because Government warned them through the National Radio not to pay top-ups fees, the meeting subsequently became a centre of confusion as some parents were literally ignorant.

Firstly, emaSwati must know that, the Tinkhundla Government is a regime of political thieves who strive on lies and deception, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla would issue a statement saying; “Government wants all children in class and went as far as threatening parents and Guardians who will not ensure that children are in class, with arrest”.

But emaSwati must different between a political statement and reality, Headteachers and the teachers who interact with these children on a daily basis in the various school, are fully aware of the situation.

Schools are not only facing shortage of working equipment but even human resources amid Government reluctance to employ teachers, this is not a fabrication but reality.

I’ve been an investigative and political journalist for twenty (20) years now and I’ve come to realize that, the term “political statement” is actually used by politicians as a diplomatic description for lies, deception or propaganda.

Indeed, it’s easy for Tinkhundla politicians to run to the State controlled Radio Station, telling parents to ensure that all children are in class, knowing very well that there’s no money, food and working equipment including human resources.

When you demand accountability as a journalist, some would confirm ‘off-record’ or after asking not to be quoted that, “they are aware of the terrible situation in school but, they were just speaking politics.

So now, some Headteachers have been served with “show cause” letters merely for demanding top-up fees, the Tinkhundla Government is using these teachers as sacrificial lambs just to send a political message that, the Eswatini Government cares for emaSwati, kutotsiwa Hulumende weMbube uyawatsandza emaSwati ubhadele etikolweni ngako-ke bo-Thishelanhloko batentela kwabo ngekufuna ema-top up fees.

The Tinkhundla regime is at its lowest these days, almost everything is funded by donors, so they want to be seen caring for emaSwati so that, the people can think there’s a Government, Tinkhundla is living from hand to mouth.

Any person who is politically inclined will understand that, the “show cause letters” served to the Headteachers, is a political strategy to dilute public opinion regarding Government’s failure to fund education in the country.