STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

DR B.SIBUSISO DLAMINI

AT THE 2015 NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON SOCIAL PROTECTION IN SWAZILAND

AT HAPPY VALLEY CONVENTION CENTRE

FRIDAY 7 AUGUST 2015

 

Honourable Deputy Prime Minister

Honourable Ministers

United Nations Resident Coordinator

Representatives of other United Nations Agencies

Representative of the European Union

Director of Institute of Development Studies, University of

Sussex

Director, Save the Children Fund

Directors of Non-Government Organisations

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

 

It is a great pleasure for me to be with you all this morning as you start this National Dialogue to develop further your thoughts on one of the most important aspects of a country’s development: social protection.

The citizens of our country represent its most valuable asset. It does not need me to explain the meaning of ‘valuable’ because in this day and age it is clearly understood by the leaders of all decent societies that, apart from a human being’s ability to work and produce, there is a fundamental humanitarian obligation to provide as great a degree of social protection to one’s fellow citizens as is appropriate and possible.

The two criteria – economic and humanitarian – are, of course, closely intertwined. If you have a nation of people protected in their misfortune that has arisen from birth, personal accident, illness or just straight unemployment, with the ensuing poverty, then you have a nation better equipped to work and produce the goods and services that contribute to faster economic growth.

The Government of Swaziland already invests heavily in social protection – in 2014 that was the equivalent of 2.2 % of gross domestic product (GDP). We have grants to the elderly, free primary education, educational grants to orphans and vulnerable children, and grants to ex-servicemen grants and the disabled of our society. But we know it is not enough. We still have too many of our people who, for whatever reason, are stuck in what we might call the poverty trap, and faced with an absence of income generating ability.

These people have to be protected. Those who simply cannot work need to have sufficient support to give them a reasonable standard of living. Young people, disadvantaged through family poverty, need to be able to complete their education. The elderly need to have sufficient financial recognition of the service they gave to the Nation. Those who are unemployed need support, encouragement and the opportunity to train, with the proviso that such a system does not create, and maintain an unjustified dependence on financial support. There needs to be a fairer balance between public and private health care. All these worthy elements of a good social protection system do, of course, come with a price tag.

An appropriate and effective social protection system is not easy to design, nor is it necessarily affordable. It needs to be properly planned and designed in such a manner that makes it both equitable and sustainable. And after implementation there needs to be the capacity within Government to assess need, calculate impact, develop information systems and the capacity to coordinate and fine-tune the system as progress is made and lessons learned.

Today, at this workshop, we have a gathering of the erudite, the willing, the experienced and the capable – an excellent mix that promises a great deal. This is the second workshop of its kind, and its outputs will have a very significant bearing on the future of social protection in Swaziland. One look at the agenda tells me that you are receiving important and meaningful presentations from experts in this field.

We expect to see, from the discussions of today and tomorrow, a common definition of Social Protection that is the most appropriate for the Kingdom of Swaziland. You have a head start in this. The First National Forum on Social Protection in Swaziland took place in July 2012. Three years have passed since then. In the meantime we have had the benefit of a United Nations funded consultancy, for which we are very grateful. Its Report identified the opportunities for further strengthening of our service delivery and coordination capability. The Report also set out the requirement of conducting a Social Protection Needs Assessment, creating greater awareness about social protection, building institutional capacity and developing a National Social Protection Strategy.

From this two-day workshop there must, inter alia, be produced the framework and a time-bound action plan for developing that Strategy. Time marches on and this entire initiative will only sustain its credibility if we can see progress, not only in developing the National Strategy, but in the subsequent processing and implementation of that Strategy to re-assure the Nation of a new Social Protection System that will leave no one behind.

It is not an easy task, not least because no social protection system, that I know of, can be provided without either an additional cost to central government, or some additional sacrifice from the ‘haves’ in the community to finance improved social protection for the ‘have nots.’ In countries with well-established social protection systems we see those, who are working and earning income, having to contribute to funds that will finance social protection schemes that include pay for the unemployed and more substantial and sophisticated public health facilities and programmes.

There has to be equity and there has to be balance. I hope the deliberations will take into consideration the dissimilarity that exists between countries of the world, even on our own African continent. As the saying goes: one size does not fit all. Some countries have adopted social welfare programmes creating a high dependency syndrome, to be contrasted with what we favour, which is social development programmes that will bring about entrepreneurial development.

And while we have not yet rigorously evaluated the social and economic impact of our social protection programmes we are aware of the empirical evidence from other countries which demonstrate a significant impact. This has then been used to justify an up-scaling of social protection systems.

 

At this Workshop I see representation from Government, development partners, civil society, academia and community leadership. Already there has been created a stronger platform for National Dialogue on Social Protection. The discussions and crystallization of ideas in these two days will not only provide further strength to that platform but will, I trust, give rise to an agreement on the Social Protection system that is most relevant and achievable for Swaziland.

Above all, we look for a well-targeted and efficiently-managed social protection programme, a social safety net that empowers the poorest and most marginalized which includes children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

It remains for me to thank you all for participating, express our gratitude to those making presentations, and wish you all the most fruitful deliberations and a very satisfactory outcome from this National Dialogue.

Thank you.