Kwaluseni – Minister of ICT Savannah Maziya says Africans must cut the aid-recipient chords and be aid givers.
Maziya was speaking at the launch of the Eswatini Science Month at UNESWA Kwaluseni Campus on Monday, where she said adopting technology and science could significantly boost the economy.
“What are we doing as Africans to ensure that we’re not always seen as aid recipients but as part of aid givers, and to be able to be seen as people who are part of those who deserve to sit at the table because they deserve to be at the table and not where they have to be begging to be at the table?” she said. 
The minister said the youth run the risk of being excluded from the new economic rise if they are not exposed to science and innovation.
“What an amazing time to be alive. But also, what a scary time to be alive if you’re not prepared. How are you as students preparing yourselves for the future?” she asked.
Eswatini is pushing the ambitious goal of training 300,000 Emaswati to code and understand AI implemented from an early age, and the Ministry of ICT is working to unlock opportunities for online access.
The country intends to capitalise on the youth dividend, with 70% of the population aged 35 and under. Maziya argued that the numbers benefit the country, comparing it to ‘a treasure that needs to be mined’.
To see the gains, Africans must invest first and fight corruption, she said.
“We tend to go outside our continent looking for investment, and yet we do have the money to be able to invest. I do believe that as African leaders, if you just look at the numbers, the money that we lose, honourable minister, to corruption – that amount of money would make a great investment in our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We do have to look at corruption as treasonous.
“We do have to look at corruption as a thief to our current futures, and we do need to look at corruption as something that is stealing from our continent,” Maziya said.
