Mbabane – The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology has assured the nation that it is working hard to have Emaswati in the digital space to monetise their content.
This follows the ministry’s call for the registration of all content creators in the country on an online registration platform that has been set up.
Digital transformation and archiving director in the ministry, Nqoba Msibi, said the minister of information, communication and technology, Savannah Maziya, has highly prioritised monetisation and has issued a directive for the ministry to form a task team. 
“The monetisation issue is a high priority for the minister. The minister has directed us to speedily set up a task team that will drive this initiative,” Msibi said while speaking at the Eswatini TV Kusile Breakfast show today.
Msibi clarified why the ministry wants all content creators to be registered, stating that the data extracted from the register will help the country understand the various types of content created and that they will be better positioned to negotiate payment terms with platform owners such as Google, Meta, and TikTok.
The country would then make agreements that understand the processes and compliance matters to better help Eswatini. He said Emaswati themselves stand to benefit too from this process.
“For example, after they have been monetised, they will see the value of their work. This will also develop Emaswati to be globally exposed through the various platforms. As we know that there are no boundaries on viewership across the globe, they can even promote themselves to companies of the world that work with influencers. This is where you find that others become brand ambassadors while others are sponsored,” he said.
Msibi said they are hopeful that the youth can benefit from monetisation. The process is highly expected to contribute to job creation, especially among the youth, and reduce unemployment.
He also said there are no restrictions for content creators to be registered and that the ministry has not set up a deadline yet for the registration. Msibi also clarified that the registration was not initiated to censor people but said Emaswati will have the opportunity to learn about the code of ethics and how they will get paid, among the number of challenges they face, cooperatively.
Msibi said they will be guided by the analysis of the database on how they will proceed.
“It is an online registration process which is widespread on social media, including on the government Facebook page, Instagram and LinkedIn,” he said.
