Eswatini, 2013

It is a great pleasure for me to have

this opportunity to join my fellow Heads of State and

Government at the sixty-eighth session of the General

Assembly. We wish to offer our profound congratulations

and support to the President of the Assembly. We also

wish to express the Kingdom’s sincere appreciation to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his entire staff

for their efforts and the role they continue to play in

improving the working mechanisms of the United

Nations and for being such a good host.

The United Nations has brought hope to those who

are suffering, which is one of the pillars of its Charter.

The fundamental purpose of the United Nations is to

promote tolerance among humankind so that nations

can live together in peace with one another. We are

pleased that the United Nations has always worked

hard to promote and maintain international security,

and it has further taken positive action to prevent and

remove threats to the peace that humankind so desires.

We are also cognizant of the fact that humankind is

facing a test of unprecedented proportions in hotspots

that continue to pose a huge challenge for the United

Nations to address.

We have been deeply saddened by the senseless

killing of innocent people that took place this week

in Nairobi. We condemn such acts of terrorism in

the strongest terms. We send words of comfort to the

Government and the families who lost loved ones

through that tragic and senseless violence. The world

needs to stand together and wipe terrorism from the

face of the universe. We call upon those who support

such activities to cease from doing so forthwith.

We are also extremely disturbed by the deadly

conflicts in countries such as Syria, where innocent

people including women and children, are dying on

both sides, with some displaced now living as refugees

in other countries. We encourage all of the people of

Syria to immediately cease fire and use dialogue as a

means of solving their differences, because using the

barrel of a gun to settle a score will not help them;

instead, it will leave the Syrian people divided and not

seeing eye to eye. Infrastructure and social services

will be destroyed, leaving increased problems that will

have devastating effects for a very long time to come.

We trust they will soon find a peaceful resolution to

their crisis.

The findings of the United Nations mission on the

use of chemical weapons in Syria should be used as a

basis to chart a way forward in pursuit of the dismantling

of these unconventional weapons of mass destruction,

which pose a serious threat to humankind. As long as

chemical weapons continue to exist in that country, it

remains at risk of similar attacks, where nobody will

own up to them. Therefore, it is only proper that the

dismantling process begin with immediate effect to

prevent a similar attack in the future.

It is important that whatever action takes place in

Syria, it must fall within the mandate of the United

Nations. The United Nations must act quickly on those

issues and take a leading role in making sure that those

episodes where life is lost through the use of such

weapons are prevented.

It is important for leaders and Governments to

maintain contact and be in constant consultation with

their people at all times to avoid situations where leaders

do not understand the aspirations of their people. It is

imperative to create forums where people will have

access to Government to express themselves, because

a lack of such communication and detachment leads to

either Governments or the people reacting in a violent

manner towards the other.

The domino effect of such situations can lead to

an international crisis, as the problems of one country

can easily spiral into problems for others, which may

need to intervene. Such strife causes countries, as well

as the United Nations, to divert resources from the

objectives of socioeconomic development and channel

them towards financing conflict situations instead of

the welfare of the people.

The Kingdom of eSwatini is committed to a

process of consultation with the people at the People’s

Parliament — Sibaya — and other dialogue forums.

That practice is democratic and participatory in

that everybody is involved in key decision-making

processes.

Before I came to attend the General Assembly,

the Kingdom of eSwatini held a very successful and

peaceful election, which proved to be one of the most

successful we have had over the years. Some 40 per cent

of the Swaziland population were eligible to vote, and

70 per cent of them registered to do so in the elections.

The primary and secondary elections were also very

peaceful, free and fair, without any undue influence.

In the past, there had been only one day of voting,

but this year we had to extend voting for two days

during the primary and secondary elections. Our

elections embrace our traditions and culture, whereby

people from communities nominate people in their

chiefdoms to compete at constituency level, which

we call Tinkhundla. The winners then go straight to

Parliament as a direct representation.

As a result, the people are happy to be part of

the Government formulation process, because they

can claim ownership of the people who constitute the

Government of the day. It is in that vein that we trust

that the new parliamentarians will work very well with

the people in shaping the future of the Kingdom of

eSwatini, with a view to meeting their aspirations and

attaining the objectives of the Millennium Development

Goals.

We also note with interest the increased number

of observers in this year’s election. Regional and

international observers were highly impressed with our

elections. We therefore call upon the world to embrace

our system.

We are aware of the fact that many countries do

not understand how our system of government works.

We are happy to define our system as a monarchial

democracy. Monarchial democracy is defined as a

marriage between the monarchy and the ballot box.

The ballot box represents the will of the people. The

people provide advice and counsel to the King, and

that ensures transparency and accountability. It is a

combination of power and empowerment. It means that

the monarchy of eSwatini guarantees the continuity of

stability, and the democracy of eSwatini guarantees the

shared power of the people.

Therefore, the monarchy is married to the trust of

the people, who believe that the King does everything

in their best interests. It is home-grown; it easily

accords with the norms and values of the Swazis and is

therefore easily understood by all Swazis.

To those who proclaim that democracy is the

answer to all nations and their development, we present

ourselves as testimony of a new democratic ideology

that works. It has a place in modern-day democracy,

and it complies with all structures of the United

Nations family. The Kingdom of eSwatini is committed

to the ideals of the United Nations just as much as it

is dedicated to protecting its history, its legacy and

its dignity, while at the same time embracing the

opportunities and possibilities for cooperation within

the community of nations.

It is therefore the Kingdom of eSwatini’s position

that it believes in democracy as an idea, but not as an

ideal, because things that are ideal to some may not be

ideal to others. The Kingdom of eSwatini will, however,

continue to embrace the opportunities, the technologies

and the mechanisms that create a modern society.

Our ultimate goal is to have achieved first-world

status by 2022, or at least visible signs that we are

heading in that direction socially, economically and

otherwise. In the past five years, significant progress

has been made in the Kingdom towards poverty

eradication, improving the health of our people, and

infrastructure and agricultural development. We are

confident that we will see much more progress in the

next few years.

The kingdom of eSwatini has been implementing

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which

became effective in 2000 and most of which have a target

date of 2015. Good progress has been made in the areas

of education, gender, the empowerment of women and

malaria control. Although the country has implemented

a number of initiatives aimed at addressing the other

Millennium Goals, there is still a need to accelerate

efforts to address the issues of poverty, HIV and AIDS,

infant mortality and maternal health.

In order to solicit views on the post-2015 development

agenda, the Kingdom of eSwatini embarked on an

intensive consultative process. It involved a cross-

spectrum of stakeholders, including traditional leaders,

young people, women, men, the business community,

people with disabilities, faith-based organizations, civil

society organizations and different regiments.

On the goal of eradicating poverty, the nation

agreed that poverty was still a challenge and that

greater efforts were needed to address it. The poor

performance of the economy in recent years due to the

global financial crisis has contributed to the situation,

and therefore a great deal still needs to be done in that

regard.

As to providing quality education and lifelong

learning, the country has made significant progress

towards achieving universal primary education.

However, there is a need to focus, with the support of

the private sector, on the quality of education and to

introduce more vocational skills.

The Government has invested significantly in the

health sector. However, the burden of disease continues

to exist; hence that goal remains very relevant for the

people of eSwatini. The country is still faced with

the problem of HIV/AIDS, and therefore, in the post-

2015 development agenda, the pressure to address the

scourge as well as other, non-communicable diseases

should be maintained.

Ensuring food security and good nutrition remains

a priority and should feature prominently in the post-

2015 development agenda. However, the issue of

climate change continues to be a drawback to many

of our developing countries. Our food production has

been seriously affected by climate-change patterns and

the related challenges.

The provision of adequate financial resources and

the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and

technical assistance to developing countries are critical

if we are to achieve our global objectives. We therefore

appeal to our developed partners to honour the pledges

they have made to the Green Fund and the sustainable

development programme as a matter of priority. We

strongly believe that this could add the required

impetus in the context of our objective of increasing

food production.

The goal of achieving universal access to water and

sanitation is also important for the people of eSwatini,

since water is a very basic requirement for agricultural

and industrial production, as well as for domestic use.

Remarkable progress has been made in the area of

supplying potable water to households; coverage has

reached 71 per cent nationally.

The creation of jobs, sustainable livelihoods and

equitable growth is critical for the development of any

country and is linked to the goal of ending poverty.

Emphasis should be put on value addition, technology

transfer and the development of entrepreneurial skills,

particularly for young people. As a country, Swaziland

is fully behind the post-2015 agenda, because it remains

a guideline for the international community in working

together for the sustainable development of our

respective countries.

The issue of the reform of the Security Council

remains a top priority for the African continent. We are

calling for a Council that will give equal opportunities

to all regions of the world to voice their opinions as

an international family on issues regarding global

conflict. We believe our proposal is just and fair so that

as a region Africa can have a voice in the affairs of the

Council as equal partners in this global Organization.

The United Nations should continue to play its

advocacy role to ensure humankind continues to live

peacefully with each other. All nations around the

world should be given equal opportunities to share their

expertise and experiences with the Organization.

The Kingdom of eSwatini is happy to note that,

with solid international support and cross-Strait

developments, the Republic of China on Taiwan has

increased its meaningful participation in United

Nations specialized agencies and mechanisms. We

will continue to encourage positive interaction in the

international arena between the two sides of the Taiwan

Strait.

Finally, I hope that this session will come up

with the desired results and tangible targets. We also

look forward to a post-2015 agenda that will create a

conducive landscape for all humankind to live in.