We all love a party. But sometimes in all the excitement we do or say things that we later go on to regret. In most cases only a small number of people get to hear about our indiscretion and eventually we live it down.
At some parties though (special birthday parties, for example) we have to make a speech and there’s someone there to record it. King Mswati III celebrated his 40th birthday with a huge party on Saturday (6 September 2008) and the world’s media were there to record his speech. The Swazi Observer yesterday (9 September 2008) even published it.
Below are some extracts from the speech. They are the parts where King Mswati III makes promises for the future of Swaziland. What he says is now clearly on the record.
But on what basis does he make the promises? My request is for anyone who genuinely wants to see a bright future for Swaziland to make careful note of the King’s promises – for education, for food production, for the economy and for the development of all our talents.
The King has made his promises, will he live to regret them? One way to help the King is to make sure nobody forgets what he said. Here are his promises, let’s help him to stick to them.
Today, I would like to emphasise that each one of us has a role to play in making Swaziland a better place for all of us in the next 40 years. I am convinced that each one of us has something to contribute towards the development of our country.
Capacity building is key to enabling each one of us to play a part in nation building and development. In light of the fact that the Swazi nation has vast untapped potential, the time has come for us to develop every talent that has been entrusted to individual citizens. Ultimately, it is our people who are going to make the difference between us making it or not. So talent identification and nurturing, preferably at a tender age is critical for our country.
This has to be done through the teaching of life skills, arts and the virtues of honesty and integrity. Once a child learns the skills and master their artistic abilities, that child will successfully do anything in life as they will be alert, innovative, determined and cooperative for a better Swaziland.
I therefore urge all those responsible for the education and development of our children from parents, pre-school to tertiary education to assist our children to know and develop their talents so that we build a successful nation with a purpose and clear destiny.
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The education of all our children will always remain government’s priority.
We are doing everything possible to make sure that we achieve universal education by This we shall achieve by building many schools and making education affordable and accessible to all children including the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC).
On the economic front, I am confident that we will turn our economy around and improve the standard of living of all our people within the next few years. Our emphasis will be on Agriculture where we need to support our farmers by availing more arable land increasing access to finance and constructing more dams for irrigation.
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The nation is aware that the national parliamentary elections are currently ongoing. I urge you all to elect people who will be able to tackle the complex issues the country, and indeed the region, is faced with. We need leaders who will take their responsibility seriously and be part of the solution to the challenges faced by the communities.
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