2021: A year that left us with "gaping" scars

If there is one year that most people would like to quickly forget is the year 2021. The year has definitely left a lot of scars on most people, both in Eswatini and internationally.

For us at Eswatini the year brought serious tragedies, economically, politically, and socially. When we started the year we had hoped on recovering from last year's effects of the COVID 19, but it was not to be. Just when the year began, we lost some of our political leaders, including Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini and Ministers of Public Service and Labour Christian Ntshangase and Makhosi Vilakati, respectively. We also lost some other influential people in the business sector on top of other community and family leaders. This alone qualifies the year to be one of the bad years and worth recording in our history books.

As we were still focussing on the COVID 19 tragedy, another catastrophic tragedy hit the country, resulting in the deaths of some of emaSwati and destruction to property. For me, I describe this as one of the man-made tragedies, which I believe someone should be held accountable at some stage. For the first time in the history of the Kingdom of Eswatini, we saw the shooting of people by security officers who were trying to protect property and businesses that were being burnt and looted. Many have argued if there was really a need for the shooting of civilians by the security forces, while others have argued if there was a need for the burning and looting of businesses which resulted in the use of maximum force.

The year has indeed tested the determination of emaSwati to remain united as a nation. Some people have already lost hope because of the things that have happened in the year. The scars are too deep to heal for most of us if not all. Both the social and economic effects of the 2021 happenings cannot be overlooked. Many people lost their jobs, because of COVID 19 and the political unrest. The June unrests made it difficult for the government to even implement the post COVID - 19 economic recovery plan which aimed at reviving the economy of the country and at the same time creating employment opportunities for the youth. 

The education sector suffered the most in as far as the happening of the year 2021 is concerned. Children remained home for the last two years due to firstly the COVID 19 outbreak and later the political unrest. As children remained home in the last year, there has been a recorded increase in the number of teenage pregnancies and drug and alcohol use. This will definitely further affect the economy of the country and the social well-being of citizens. It is already said that some schools might have difficulty opening as the academic year begins due to the fact that the demonstrations left a trail of destruction on school buildings. It is unfortunate that this is likely to see a hike in school fees as parents are made to contribute to the rebuilding of the schools' structures. As this happens, one would only hope that teachers would also put an extra effort into ensuring that the children grasp all that they lost in the year for the betterment of this country. It is, however, worrying that the commitment of some teachers has also been found wanting as they concentrate more on politics than on the education of the children at their disposal. 

This being said, one is hoping that the next year will help the nation recover from all the scars of 2021. We need to work together as a nation to rebuild our country. All we need in 2022 is peace. We need to sort our differences amicably with each one of us have the interest of this great nation at heart.

One of the trucks that were burnt during the political riots on June 29, 2021.